Matthew 25v1-13
The parable points out the personal nature of our relationship to the Lord. Our commitment and desire to see Jesus face to face when he comes for us should encourage us to prepare appropriately.
These heartrending events strike home to each of us in dramatic ways to remind us that life is fragile and fleeting. In one brief moment, all of the work and effort and expense of these men and women throughout their lives were gone.
That is the message of the Olivet Discourse in a nutshell
Preparedness. The theme of preparedness also permeates the Olivet Discourse
The appearance of the Lord in the parables in the Olivet Discourse is sudden, with no warning. Therefore, since Jesus addresses disciples who will live throughout this age, one crucial feature of our discipleship to him entails awaiting his return, which will arrive with suddenness.
Suddenness. The suddenness of the return of the Son of Man permeates each scene in this section of the Olivet Discourse
Suddenness. The suddenness of the return of the Son of Man permeates each scene in this section of the Olivet Discourse
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” As in the preceding parable, this is another distinction between two types of people—those who are truly disciples of Jesus and those who are not. Disciples of Jesus will be ready for the arrival of the Son of Man. The destiny of those who are not ready awaits outside the shut door
“I tell you the truth, I don’t know you” (25:12), a stark, straightforward statement of rejection of a person who does not have a true relationship with Jesus (7:23).
The long wait causes both the wise and foolish virgins to become drowsy and fall asleep, which is not a note of condemnation but a detail that heightens the drama of the interval
Following typical Jewish marriage customs (see comments on 1:18), a groom left his parents’ home with a contingent of friends to go to the home of his bride, where nuptial ceremonies were carried out. After this, the entire wedding party formed a processional to a wedding banquet, normally at the home of the bridegroom. The wedding feast was often held at night (22:13; 25:6).
The ten virgins are bridesmaids who are not yet married.
Jesus says, “Let’s reduce the whole story to one simple warning: ‘Have your Christian life so in order that when you are surprised [by my return] you will be ready.’ ”
Jesus says, “Let’s reduce the whole story to one simple warning: ‘Have your Christian life so in order that when you are surprised [by my return] you will be ready.’ ”
celebrated Matthew scholars Davies and Allison summarize this point nearly perfectly when they write of the five fools, “[T]hey do not have enough time at this point because earlier they had too much time.” Only Jesus summarizes the point better: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (v. 13).
faith plus nothing equals justification plus works, obedience, love, and eschatological readiness.
This is not justification by works, but neither is it justification by dramatic conversion. The salvation equation is not faith plus works equals justification or teary-eyed profession of faith plus no works equals justification. Rather, the equation is faith plus nothing equals justification plus works, obedience, love, and eschatological readiness.
blessed assurance—prepared disciples can fall asleep each night without undue worry about Christ’s judgment post-midnight.
blessed assurance
As one scholar puts it, “Now, suddenly, everything is terrifyingly individual.” Don’t count on other Christians’ preparedness or righteousness. You’re on your own before the judgment throne.
If and when the time comes, let’s borrow from the prepared” is their attitude. Sure, we need church fellowship and more mature believers around us in order to persevere, but here Jesus places individual responsibility before us.
here you might be bothered at the groom’s apparent harshness. Why is the door shut? Why does the groom say to those he asked to be in his wedding that he doesn’t even know them? And what did those silly girls do that was so sinful? Verses 10, 11 provide the picture of hurried activity. Those five fools aren’t lazy fools (cf. 25:26).
The first rejection comes from the true Christians. The second comes from Christ himself, and this second rejection is far more serious.
At first reading you might be bothered at the apparent selfishness of the wise. Why didn’t they share? True Christians are to love others. True Christians are to sacrifice. True Christians are to share with those in need. True. But they are also to be responsible for or obedient to the work the bridegroom has called them to do
At first reading you might be bothered at the apparent selfishness of the wise. Why didn’t they share? True Christians are to love others. True Christians are to sacrifice. True Christians are to share with those in need. True. But they are also to be responsible for or obedient to the work the bridegroom has called them to do
At first reading you might be bothered at the apparent selfishness of the wise. Why didn’t they share? True Christians are to love others. True Christians are to sacrifice. True Christians are to share with those in need. True. But they are also to be responsible for or obedient to the work the bridegroom has called them to do
prepared in the present because they longed for the future
A number of colorful descriptions of Heaven and Hell in the New Testament make “vividly clear the glory and awfulness” of salvation and judgment, but perhaps the most powerful image of Heaven is “to be ‘with the Lord for ever,’ as Paul puts it in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 (cf. Phil. 1:23),” and the most powerful image of Hell is, “to quote Paul again, to be punished ‘with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people (2 Thessalonians 1:9–10).”
A number of colorful descriptions of Heaven and Hell in the New Testament make “vividly clear the glory and awfulness” of salvation and judgment, but perhaps the most powerful image of Heaven is “to be ‘with the Lord for ever,’ as Paul puts it in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 (cf. Phil. 1:23),” and the most powerful image of Hell is, “to quote Paul again, to be punished ‘with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people (2 Thessalonians 1:9–10).”
The blessing or reward (I’m not afraid to use that word when preaching from Matthew’s Gospel) is the wedding banquet with the bridegroom. It’s not only quite the feast, but it’s quite the feast with Jesus.
Their “obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5) is rewarded with the messianic banquet in the kingdom of heaven: “those who were ready went in with him [the groom] to the marriage feast” (v. 10).
The lesson is this: the wise virgins teach us that preparedness for the parousia is rewarded with paradise.
the oil is secondary to the oil-keeper. The focus falls not on the oil but on the person who has oil reserves
The difference between the two groups comes out in verses 3, 4. The difference is preparedness and lack of preparedness; more specifically, it is preparedness and lack of preparedness for the unexpected.
First, they “took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom” (v. 1). This was obviously an act of obedience. They had a part to play in the wedding (likely providing light for the bridal party procession), and they were ready to play that part when the groom arrived.
The wise virgins symbolize true Christians—the prepared and persevering saints.
I think that covers all logical possibilities,” Craig Blomberg summarizes, “and ought to put a stop to Christian guesswork about the timing of the end once and for all.”
Christ will return later than expected, sooner than expected, and at an unexpected time
From what we know of first-century Jewish marriage customs, the groom would leave his house and journey to his bride’s house. Usually the wedding ceremony was conducted there, sometimes (often?) at night. After the wedding, everyone in the wedding party would return to the groom’s home for a “marriage feast” (v. 10).
The first lesson is this: the bridegroom, with his unusually long delay and unexpected time of arrival, teaches us that predicting when Jesus will return is pointless.
Now “the bridegroom” could represent God, as it would be if we were reading the Old Testament (e.g., Isaiah 54:4–6). In the New Testament, however, the bridegroom represents Jesus (cf. 9:14, 15)
A more appropriate reflection on this particular story might have been the slogan of 22:14, “Many are invited but few are chosen.”
The comparatively trivial lapse of a failure to be provided with oil has come to symbolize an ultimately false relationship; they are not part of Jesus’ true family (12:50).
the closing of the door symbolizes that final division at the last judgment
the hard-nosed realism of the sensible girls invites the reader to reflect that spiritual preparedness is not something that others can provide for you: each needs their own oil.
the sensible girls did not stay awake while their companions slept. All were equally disappointed by the delay, all fell asleep, and all were equally taken by surprise by the eventual shout.
The opening formula is similar to that which introduced parables in 13:24; 18:23; 22:2 (see p. 522, n. 1), but whereas in those cases the verb was in the aorist tense, here it is in the future (“will be compared to”), as in 7:24, 26, probably because of the eschatological situation to which this parable will be applied: it speaks not of how things are now, but of how they will be at the parousia of the Son of Man.
. 13 seems quite inappropriate to the story on which it comments: “keeping awake” is precisely what none of the ten girls did, and the sensible ones did not suffer because of their dozing. The verse looks like an editorial comment, virtually repeating 24:42, where it preceded a parable which was about staying awake.
the metaphor of keeping awake was more concerned with readiness than with disrupting the normal routine of life
readiness, whatever form it takes, is not something that can be achieved by a last-minute adjustment. It depends on long-term provision, and if that has been made, the wise disciple can sleep secure in the knowledge that everything is ready.
The problem goes back to the preparations they had made before going to sleep.
v. 5 says explicitly that they all slept and all had to be awakened by the midnight shout.
the wedding feast in the bridegroom’s house, the high point of the celebration. To miss that is to miss everything,
that matters is the delay, and the effect it had on the readiness of the girls when the time for their part in the ceremonies eventually arrived
friends or relatives of either the bride or the bridegroom. The story tells us that their role included escorting the bridegroom in a torchlight procession (and dance?) to his house, but that they were not present at whatever part of the ceremonies immediately preceded this procession.
the Greek term (literally “virgins”)
Weddings provided one of the high points in village life, and the question of who was and was not included affected one’s social standing
It is most essential to know the Lord Jesus and be known by him. If he knows you and you know him, you will conduct your life so that you are ready to welcome him at all times, even while you sleep.
The result is that hearers face several questions. Does the Master know you or not (7:21–23; 25:12)?
The Son of Man will return at an unexpected hour (24:42, 44). Jesus will return visibly and audibly, with a loud trumpet (24:27, 30–31). He will return personally, with his angels (24:30–31). He comes to gather his people, “his elect,” whether alive on earth or not, “from one end of heaven to the other” (24:31). Jesus comes to judge the world, to separate the sheep and the goats, according to what they have said and done (25:31–46; 12:37; 16:27)
since no one knows the hour when the Son of Man, the Lord, comes (24:36–37), his faithful servants will always be ready to meet him. This readiness (almost paradoxically) means to “stay awake” (24:42) or to “watch” even when asleep (25:5, 13).
The problem is not lost time but lack of preparation
In weddings, delays were common, and a culture without clocks was not so vexed by them. The problem is not lost time but lack of preparation
The groom’s delay revealed what was in the women and separated them.
They had one task: to bring a torch and oil. Their failure to do so both shames them and insults the bridal party. Their neglect shows they are not true friends, and the groom bans them.
the explanation that “there will not be enough for us and for you” (v. 9) is best understood as concern for the procession, an important cultural event. It would spoil the procession if all of the friends of the bride ran out of oil.
The brightly burning lamps enhance the procession.
The parable depicts a wedding celebration that generally follows Jewish marriage customs. Weddings could last all day. After dancing early in the day, the groom typically left his house with a contingent of friends, walking to the home of the bride. After ceremonies there, the wedding procession, accompanied by singing and dancing, returned to the groom’s home for the wedding proper and the ensuing feast. The procession and wedding typically occurred at night.
In this parable, the bridegroom serves as a “natural symbol for God,” since the prophets present God as Israel’s husband (Isa. 54:4–6; Ezek. 16:7–34; Hos. 2:19). Jesus also compares himself to a bridegroom in Matthew 9:15
The wise prepare to watch at length, but the foolish do not. The parable compares genuine disciples to wise wedding attendants. Both are prepared to watch and wait as long as necessary. Foolish attendants and superficial “disciples” are not. The parable assumes that waiting is difficult when time stretches on. Vigilance is a mark of true faith.
