The Ten Bridesmaids

Midnight. The village is asleep. Then a shout breaks the silence. “Here comes the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!” Ten young women wake with a start. Five of them are ready. Five of them are not.

It is the last week before the cross. Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Olives, looking across at Jerusalem, and his disciples come to him privately. They want to know when he will come again, and how they will know the time is near. Jesus tells them plainly that nobody knows the day or the hour. So the question is not when. The question is whether you will be ready. And to show them what ready looks like, he tells a story about a wedding.

“The kingdom of heaven,” Jesus says, “will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.” It is a happy job. When the bridegroom comes, they will light his way with a glow of flames and walk with him to the wedding feast. Five of them, Jesus says, are foolish, and five are wise. The foolish ones take their lamps, but no extra oil. The wise ones take their lamps, and little jars of oil as well. Then they wait. And wait. The bridegroom is late. Much later than anyone expected. The evening wears on. The lamps flicker. One by one, heads begin to nod, and all ten of them, wise and foolish alike, fall asleep. Notice that. Sleeping is not the problem. Everybody sleeps.

At midnight the cry goes up. “The bridegroom is here! Come out and meet him!” All ten jump up and trim their lamps, cutting the wicks and getting them burning bright. But five lamps are sputtering. The oil has run low, and there is no more. “Give us some of your oil,” the foolish ones say. “Our lamps are going out.” The wise ones shake their heads. “No. There might not be enough for us and for you. Go to the people who sell oil, and buy some for yourselves.” It sounds harsh at first. But some things cannot be borrowed at the last minute. Being ready is one of them.

So off they hurry into the dark streets, looking for someone still selling oil at midnight. And while they are gone, the bridegroom arrives. The five who are ready go in with him to the wedding feast. There is music and laughter and light. And then the door is shut. Later, the other five come running back and knock. “Lord, lord, open the door for us!” But the answer comes from inside. “Truly, I tell you, I do not know you.” Jesus turns to his disciples, and he gives them the whole point in one line. “Keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”

In Jesus’ world, a wedding was a whole-village celebration that could last for days. A central moment came when the bridegroom arrived to take his bride to the wedding feast, and that procession often happened in the evening. Friends of the bride went out with lights to welcome him and escort the party through the streets. Nobody minded if the bridegroom was late. Arrivals could be delayed by family bargaining over gifts and arrangements. So waiting into the night was normal. Running out of oil was not.

The Ten Bridesmaids. You’ll find it in Matthew chapter 25, verses 1 to 13. All ten were invited. All ten waited. All ten fell asleep. The difference was what they had prepared before the cry went up. So here is a question to carry with you. What would it look like for you to be ready today, not someday?