Introduction and Traditional Interpretation
Matthew 23:1-25:46 is known as “the Judgment Discourse.” And really all of it builds together. Unfortunately, by skipping most of chapters 23 and 24, we find ourselves in the middle of a complex parable. Without any narrative context, traditionally this parable is all about preparedness, right? “Keep awake therefore!”
There are ten virgins (or bridesmaids). The designation of “virgins” has nothing to do with virginity but only that they were unmarried women. Five are said to be wise and five who are foolish. The only distinguishing characteristic is that the five wise bring extra oil and the foolish do not. That’s important because every bridesmaid falls asleep. It is not just the foolish who sleep, but the wise too.
**Now, there is an interpretation that “sleep” here is allegorical for “death.” However, I do not necessarily think that is what’s happening here nor is the meaning of “sleep” the most important detail. Afterall, while Jesus prays at Gethsemane, the disciples fall asleep (26:40, 43, 45). Sleep can just mean sleep sometimes.**
They are all woken by a shout that the bridegroom is coming. Again, the wise don’t set an alarm clock or anything. All are woken by the shout. After waking, the foolish see that their lamps are dwindling and ask the wise if they can borrow some oil. The wise bridesmaids tell them “No” and to go to the dealers to buy more. But by the time they get back, the bridegroom has come, and the door has been shut. When they knock, they are told, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you,” by the bridegroom.
Preparedness. That’s the moral lesson in traditional interpretation. Always be prepared. Even though the final words (signifying some level of interpretation) are “Keep awake,” the only distinguishable difference is that the wise had extra oil. All of them fell asleep. All of them were awoken by a shout. It’s just a matter of oil.
So be prepared for the end times. Because apparently if you don’t have enough oil, you’ll be locked out of the kingdom forever. Go to Costco, they sell it in bulk.
Transitional Context
But from everything that Matthew has been doing, this honestly feels wrong. And I think that’s because it is. This is another setup. Afterall the big parable of Matthew 25 is still coming and if we take the sheep, goats, and king seriously, then this parable should be turned completely on its head.
My Interpretation
Matthew’s Eschaton
As I said earlier, the only distinguishable characteristic that is explicitly stated is that some of the bridesmaids have extra oil and some don’t.
As I’ve talked about in other commentaries, Matthew’s eschaton is far away. It never occurs within the Gospel of Matthew, and it really is supposed to be the end times and the final judgment. Matthew is using it like the Hebrew scriptures talk about the “Day of the Lord.” It is a time to come when there will be (depending on the prophet) a day of destruction or a day of renewal. But it is always a day to come in the distant(ish) future. The rhetorical purpose of this is to dually suggest that it is ‘soon’ AND that there is still more time. There is still time for us as humanity to course correct and begin to take care of one another and return to God.
This is a big shift from Mark’s Gospel. Mark is writing concurrently with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple (around 70CE). This is why Mark is so immediate. This is why the Gospel message is so urgent. Because clearly the end is coming. We don’t need a resurrection appearance scene in Mark because the next time that we see Jesus will be the end times that will occur imminently.
Depending on the commentator, Matthew is written as Early as 80CE to as late as 100CE. No matter what, what is means it that some time has passed. If it’s been 10-20 years since the fall of Jerusalem. At this point in time, Matthew needs to start moving on from the immanent coming of the kingdom and moving towards invigorating the church for the world.
So, the preparation idea can be somewhat tongue in cheek for Matthew. Yes, the eschaton is important, but how can we be constantly ready and prepared for a time to be announced? If the bridegroom had shown up 6 hours later, would they still have had enough oil? What about 10 or 12?
The moral of the story being preparedness gives us so little to work with/on as a church. There is so much more that can be understood if we leave that interpretation behind.
The Message for the Church
In the parable of the ten bridesmaids, what if the characters that the church should identify with are not the bridesmaids but instead is the groom who does not open the door?
In connection with this parable, many commentators will refer to the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:21-22, 21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’” They say this is the guiding verse for understanding why the foolish bridesmaids are locked out of the kingdom.
However, earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew writes (7:7-8), “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” The foolish bridesmaids ask for help from then wise and receive none. They ask to come in at the door and are barred out.
Additionally, during this same scene, two chapters earlier, Jesus says to the Pharisees (23:13), “13But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them.”
And as I have mentioned time and time again, in 16:19, Peter and the disciples are given the keys to the kingdom and given authority to bind and loose. The bridesmaids have knocked, are searching, and are asking. Who then is at the door to allow or bar those from entering?
It’s Peter, (representing the Church), who is behind the door. While Jesus is speaking widely to the religious authorities, Peter is in his midst listening to it all, with the keys of the kingdom in his hand.
And the double cherry on top, as the foolish bridesmaids ask to come in, the bridegroom responds, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” In Matthew 26:70, 72, 74, when Peter is questioned if he is a disciple, he denies Jesus three times saying, “I do not know the man.”
This becomes a preamble to Matthew 25:31-45 when Jesus tells the parable of the sheep and the goats, he says, “41Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ 45Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’”
In rejecting the bridesmaids who are asking and in need, the bridegroom (Peter, the Church) is rejecting Jesus who is knocking on the other side of the door.
Preaching Possibilities
Somebody’s Knocking
I’m not one to often advocate for mixing in different texts, in Revelation 3:20, “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.”
Whereas there are some parables that I think I take a little too far, I think we absolutely need to flip this one on its head. There are far too many scripture verses that suggest that the door should be opened (knocking scenes: Matthew 7:7, Luke 11:9, Luke 12:36, Acts 12:13-16, Revelation 3:20). And isn’t that so much more informative for us?
Who is it that is knocking at the door of the church and hoping to find a place among us?
Toxic Sweet Justice
But there’s another way to look at this too. Do we think that the wise bridesmaids felt a bit smug at the end of all of this? They were smart enough to be prepared. They were smart enough to have enough oil when those others were too lackadaisical. Serves them right!
I think there’s a lot of that in society right now. We would rather be smug and be “right” than correct the hardship or difficulty before it happens. We want to see the other political party, or the person that we don’t like, suffer for their mistake or their actions rather than help to course correct along the way.
And it gets sinister and getting even more sinister day by day. It’s getting dicey as both political parties play chicken with the debt ceiling and put thousands of people’s livelihoods in jeopardy each financial quarter. Both sides wanting to make a political point that jabs the other. Both wanting to make the other appear foolish.
But what if the wise bridesmaids had shared? What if at the beginning of the evening they had said, “You know, you might want to get some more just in case?” What if they had advocated behind the door that they had been waiting the whole night and should be let in too?
Is the Christian thing to do to be prepared ourselves and leave everyone else behind? Or are we called to something more?
Micah Krey 
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