When April and I planned out this sermon series on An Abundant Harvest, we chose Proverbs 3 to be the focus text for this week. So, it stands to reason that it has been the gospel text that has consumed my thoughts and wonderings all week. Interestingly enough, the very things lauded in the Matthew text, planning and preparation, seem to have failed me this week. But perhaps even the changing of plans was part of the plan.

This parable from Matthew 25 completely vexed me all week. I kept trying and trying to make the bridegroom fit with who I know Jesus to be and equate the virgins to Christians and the oil to faith or hope or some other Christian virtue. But none of them seemed satisfactory. There was always something in the text that stood in stark contrast to something I believe about Jesus. I wanted it to fit neatly and I was not prepared for something else. I was not prepared for the arrival of doubt and confusion. Yet I couldn’t seem to just throw this parable aside. But as I pondered its complexities, I decided to take another look at the Proverbs passage for this morning.

Proverbs 3 is about loyalty and persistence and faithfulness. It is about not giving up on God no matter what we see going on in the world, no matter how painful everything feels, no matter how angry we are at the things that are happening in our world. We must hold onto hope and lean into God. Verse 3 says, “Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.” We are to hold close to us the reminders of God’s unfailing and unending love for us. We are bound, in our human sinfulness, to forsake our loyalty and faithfulness to God on occasion. But the closer we are to God, the less far God has to reach to pull us back every time.

Proverbs goes on to say, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.” I will be completely honest. I think I’m pretty terrible at this. Most of the time, I find my own insights to be, well, insightful. And I like to think that most of my beliefs about things are right and true. And I’m probably right about that. But even when I’m right, I’m wrong, because I’m putting my trust in myself rather than in God.

I think the struggle for many of us with putting our trust in God is that we cannot see God. We can see reflections of God in nature and in the people around us. But God is not visible to us in a really tangible way. I was reading recently about black holes. You cannot see a black hole. As you can tell from the name, it is black and so is space. And for many years black holes were just a theory that had no empirical proof. Yet many scientists believed in them. And over time, as telescopic technology improved, scientists began to see the effects of black holes out in space, but they still could not see the black holes themselves. Then in 2018, the first image of a black hole was released by scientists to the public. Now, technically the picture does not show the black hole itself, but light emitted from the swirling plasma on the outer edges of the black hole. The black hole itself remains unseeable. That is the way it is with God. We cannot see God directly, but we can see the outline of God in the reflections of our world and of our neighbors.

This leads us back to the text from Matthew 25. In this parable, we encounter ten bridesmaids. They are preparing for the arrival of the groom, most likely alongside the bride. The tradition is that once the groom has finished constructing a home for he and his wife, the wedding banquet will be announced and the groom will go to gather his bride for the feast. When he arrives at her home to bring her to the banquet, her bridesmaids (usually younger girls not of marrying age) are ready with lanterns lit to provide light for the bride and groom as they travel to the party. They make their way to the wedding together and then enter in to party and to feast. That is the plan of the ten bridesmaids. They have their lanterns lit and ready to go.

But then the groom is delayed. Perhaps he had some last minute painting at the new house to finish up. Maybe he got hungry and stopped off at the local McDonalds. Maybe he got a last minute phone call from work and had to take it. Whatever it was that delayed him, that delay had a great impact on these bridesmaids. You see, all ten had brought lanterns with wicks and oil in them. But half of them also brought some extra oil, in case of emergency. The other half didn’t. And lo and behold, but the emergency comes with the groom’s delay. He is behind schedule so far that all of the bridesmaids fall asleep and it isn’t until the groom has very nearly arrived that they wake back up. They quickly get their lanterns ready. The half that brought extra oil get their lanterns lit and ready, but the other half are out of oil. They ask their fellow bridesmaids to share their oil with them. But the five with oil tell them that there isn’t enough for all of their lanterns, so the bridesmaids without oil should go and purchase some more.

Now, this is where this parable became really uncomfortable for me. I found myself with a whole lot of questions. Why was the groom so late? Why wouldn’t the five “wise” bridesmaids share their oil? Doesn’t that seem pretty selfish? Where were the “foolish” bridesmaids going to go in the night to get more oil? I don’t think Jerusalem had a 24-hour Walmart yet. And most importantly, if we apply these details to the kingdom of heaven, what do they mean? Every way I tried to reconcile this story with what I believe about God, it just didn’t fit. But in some ways that’s how all of Jesus’ parables are. They are told for the message they communicate and not the details. So, what is the message of this parable?

Jesus tells us at the end, “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” “Keep awake,” Jesus says. Interesting choice of words. Who fell asleep in the story? All of the bridesmaids. It wasn’t just the foolish bridesmaids who fell asleep, right? So what is Jesus saying here? I can’t say for sure, but maybe all the bridesmaids did things wrong. And maybe the kingdom of heaven is not about who gets in and who doesn’t (as a surface read of this parable might lead you to believe). Maybe this parable is about focusing less on what we have or don’t have and more on Jesus. No matter how prepared we are, how much faith we have, how many good works we’ve done, the only thing that truly matters is Jesus. Maybe the parable is not about us at all. Maybe it is totally and completely about Jesus, the groom.

Proverbs 3 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.” All week I’ve been trying to rely on my own insight in interpreting this parable. And I think maybe I was going about it the completely wrong way. I got so focused on the details that I missed Jesus. I missed what Jesus had for me.

We are now 43 days away from Christmas, a time where we celebrate the birth of Jesus. But it is also a time we give each other presents. For most kids, the presents are the best part of Christmas. As a kid, did you ever look at the presents under the tree and try to figure out what is in each package? Or maybe you searched the house for weeks leading up to Christmas trying to figure out what your parents got for you. Did you ever figure it out? Did you either see your presents in advance or figure out what they were from shape, size, weight, and sound made when shaken? When Christmas morning came and you opened those presents, was it a bit of a letdown? Just like with those presents, in our faith we can get so wrapped up in figuring it out, in understanding it perfectly or doing it exactly how we are supposed to that we forget about the joy of being with Jesus. We forget what being a follower of Jesus means. It’s not about understanding everything, though knowledge and understanding are important. It’s not about living perfectly in line with what the Bible tells us is good. What being a follower of Jesus is about is following Jesus. It is about being with the groom, whether we are in the dark or in the light.

I think primarily this parable is about Jesus and about celebrating every opportunity we have to walk with him. Jesus doesn’t need our light, but he wants our presence. The foolish bridesmaids were so focused on not having the light they needed, but what they should have been focused on was celebrating with the bride and groom.

I’m reminded a bit of the story in the gospel of Luke where Jesus is in the home of Mary and Martha. Martha is busy serving everyone and making sure the house is in order, while Mary sits at Jesus’ feet to learn from him. This makes Martha mad because she thinks Mary should be up helping her. But Jesus says to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” Martha got caught up in the distraction, but Mary realized that Jesus was all that mattered.

Have you ever watched the show Dancing with the Stars? I never watched it a lot. But in the episodes I saw, the dancers that I felt were the best were the ones who looked like they were simply moving to the music and not just executing the moves perfectly. They had all prepared rigorously. But in the end, it was those who focused on the music and not on the steps that stood out. The music had become a part of them and the dance steps were just a celebration of the music inside them.

Proverbs 3 says, “Honor the Lord with your substance and with the first fruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.” When we stop worrying about getting into heaven or about doing everything on our to-do lists or giving just what we need to to feel like we are good enough, and we focus on celebrating Jesus with all of our substance (our gifts, our voices, our hearts, our talents), then we will receive an abundance of hope and love from our God. We will not just be going through the motions, we will truly be dancing. The Lord of the Dance will fill out hearts with music of healing, peace, and joy. There will still be times of struggle, times when we fall asleep for a bit. But God’s abundant love will come to meet us and guide us back to a place of hope. Amen!