For me, the parable of the “foolish bridesmaids” sounds almost like an anxiety dream I’d wake up from in a panic.[1]

It feels like Jesus is saying the Kingdom of God is like a bad dream where I’m supposed to go pick up someone famous at the airport, like … Keanu Reeves.

But, in this nightmare, I forget to fill my gas tank and then I’m idling in the cell phone parking lot for so long I doze off and then when Keanu Reeves finally texts that he’s arrived, my car starts beeping that it’s nearly out of gas.

But then I realize the guy beside me has a gas tank strapped in the back of his monster truck and I ask if he can help me out but he just points to the overpriced gas station outside the airport. And in a panic I use the fumes to get there.

But then when I’m filling up my Volkswagen I see Keanu Reeves drive off in the passenger side of that guy’s F150 and he doesn’t even return my wave—like he doesn’t even know me.

So, stay alert! The kingdom of God is like that. So, where is the good news in this parable?

We receive this story nearing the end of the church year. We are also approaching the end of 2023. I don’t think I’m alone in saying 2023 was a tough year, to say the least. For many, personally, dealing with losses; and, in the world—all the wildfires, floods, droughts, the wars in Ukraine, Sudan and Gaza with millions fleeing and dying from brutal violence.

We are like those bridesmaids waiting for the groom to come. Perhaps we can feel their desperation. Waiting is hard and is often tinged with uncertainty and anxiety.[2] We all have to do it.

We may even be praying for the Lord to come. And come now. We may feel that there isn’t enough oil in the world can keep our lamps lighted in this long, dark night. No matter how hard we try, we may not feel we have enough proverbial gas in the tank to endure it all.

We need some good news.

The usual interpretation is not good news. The “wise” bridesmaids, though I’m not sure “wise” is the word, refuse to help those without enough oil. Are we to conclude that we should not rely on others? That we should not give to those who ask of us?

I mean, that would be strange wouldn’t it, if Jesus just suddenly took back everything he said about generosity and self-giving and instead gave us a parable about how we should be stingy and self-reliant?

This parable doesn’t sound like most of the other stuff Jesus said. Here is a smattering of three other sayings of Jesus from Matthew’s Gospel:

“Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.” (Matthew 5:42)

“If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor.” (Matthew 19:21)

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces!” (Matthew 23:13)

No, the good news in this parable isn’t about reiterating a Boy Scout sentiment of always being prepared. Because I think if we peel off another layer of meaning, there is some really good news hidden underneath all the surface drama going on in this parable, good news that actually helps us claim who we truly are in relationship with God.

So, what is the good news that Jesus has hidden for us in this parable?

Sometimes in approaching a difficult biblical text, we need other stories from scripture to release for us the good news.

Three, I want to relate to this parable: First, the snake in the Garden of Eden; Second, the Light in Book of Revelation; Third, The Feeding of the 5000.

First, remember that wily snake—the devil—in the Garden of Eden, from Genesis? The snake tempted Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of life. Consequently, Adam and Eve became self-consciously ashamed.

Filled with shame, they tried to hide from God. When God finds them, they say they are naked and afraid. And God says, “Wait, who told you that you were naked?”

My money is on the snake.[3] Adam and Eve listened to the false voice of the snake. They believed that voice more than they believed God’s voice.

Which brings us back to the bridesmaids. The foolish bridesmaids weren’t foolish because they didn’t bring extra oil. Or because they fell asleep. I think they were foolish for listening to the other bridesmaids tell them what to do.

And they were certainly foolish for doing it. I think they were foolish in the exact same way we are foolish. They were foolish because they listened when voices other than God’s tried to tell them who they were. They listened to those whispering voices telling them that they can only approach the groom if they have already met all their own needs first.

Because in the last book of the bible, Revelation, we read: “In the city of God, they will not need the light of a lamp, for the Lord God will give them light.”[4]

Think about it. If at midnight the guy who was on watch said, “Hey, wake up, the groom is coming!” the groom must have had a lamp or torch of some kind, right? How else could the groom have been seen coming from a distance at midnight?

The foolish bridesmaids weren’t foolish because they didn’t bring back-up oil. They were foolish because instead of trusting that the light of Christ was enough to shine the way, they wasted all that time and energy and money trying to get their own. Someone shamed them into thinking they could never approach the Lord with what they lacked.

Rather than just trusting that the light of those around them and the light of the groom was enough, they assumed they had to provide their own—and then they were so consumed by the shame of not having and being enough, they busied themselves trying to fix it—so much so that they missed the wedding banquet, altogether!

They missed everything.

Of course, the bridegroom said, “I don’t know you” because they hadn’t come to him in their need and lack and want. But Jesus knows us not by our independence from him, Jesus knows us not by showing our resourcefulness. No. Jesus knows us by our need of him, for which we should never be ashamed.

They, perhaps not unlike us, mistakenly assumed that all God is interested in is our strength, our preparedness, our exceptionality. When what God really asks of us is to know our need for him.

When Jesus asks the disciples on the remote mountainside what they have with them to feed the crowd—do you remember? He asked, “What do you have?” and they said, “Nothing – nothing but a couple loaves and a few fish.” They said it like it was a problem.[5]

But do we not have a God who created the universe out of ‘nothing’?[6] Do we not have a God who can put flesh on dry bones ‘nothing’?[7] Do we not have a God who can put life in a dusty womb ‘nothing’?[8]

‘Nothing’ is God’s favourite raw material to work with! God looks upon that which we dismiss as ‘nothing’, ‘insignificant’, ‘worthless’, and says, “Ha! Now that I can do something with.”

So, all that is to say, the Kingdom of God is not like an existential anxiety dream.

Maybe you are sitting here today having listened to a voice other than God’s: That we have to be better than others. Our church has to be bigger and more entertaining and attractive. Maybe you are thinking, “I have to bring my best to the Lord for God to take notice, etc., etc.” And maybe the story that voice says is so familiar that you think it’s the truth.

But consider that maybe you’ve been listening to the wrong voices all along. Listen and maybe you can hear God saying, “Wait, who told you that you were naked? Who told you that you have to lie to be loved? Who told you your body is not beautiful? Who told you that your only value is in your excellence, and how much you have accomplished in life? Who told you that what you have done (good or bad) is actually who you are? Who told you that you don’t have enough? Who told you all that?

My money is on the snake. And he’s a damned liar. Always has been.

So, when snakes and well-prepared bridesmaids start talking blasphemy, don’t listen. You don’t have to show up with everything you need. The light of Christ is bright enough. Always has been.

And always will.

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[1] Thank you, to Nadia Bolz-Weber, for her brilliant take on this Gospel. It’s her sermon I basically preach here. Read it in its original:  “Listening to Snakes and Bridesmaids: A Sermon on How Self-Reliance is Overrated” (Substack: The Corners, 26 February 2023). Read also Matthew 25:1-13.

[2] David Lose, “Pentecost 22A: Hope and Help for Foolish Bridesmaids” in Dear Partner (www.davidlose.net) 3 November 2014.

[3] Genesis 3.

[4] Revelation 22:5.

[5] Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:31-44; Luke 9:12-17; John 6:1-14.

[6] Genesis 1:1-2.

[7] Ezekiel 37.

[8] Genesis 15-17, Luke 1:7-24