November 8, 2026
Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-16
Matthew 25:1-13
Usually when Jesus told a story, he described a set of actions and characters that would be basically familiar to his listeners. A woman searching for a coin in her home. Day laborers looking for work. A sower scattering seed.
Here we have another familiar situation – wedding attendants waiting for the groom – that would have been familiar to anyone. The delay was probably pretty common, too. In thirty-eight years of ministry, I have never once had a wedding begin on time. We’re always waiting for somebody. The groom is late? Not a surprise.
Surprise, however, is important. O. Wesley Allen, Jr., writes at Working Preacher, “Parables by definition have a twist in them that is key to understanding the intended impact of the parable (for example, a tiny mustard seed becoming a great tree, when everyone knew there was no such thing as a mustard tree; Luke 13:18–19). That is a problem for this parable because our knowledge of ancient Jewish and Roman wedding practices is somewhat sketchy. It is difficult to know which elements in the parable reflect actual practices and which the original audience would have recognized as being twisted.”
I did officiate at a wedding once where all the bridesmaids carried lit candles, but I don’t think that’s relevant to Jesus’ story. That wedding didn’t start on time, either.
It’s the surprising moments that count in Jesus’ parables. It’s the departure from the expected, from the accustomed, that makes the teaching point.
Jesus described half of the women as wise, and half of the women as foolish. All ten came to meet the bridegroom on time. All ten brought lamps. All ten fell asleep as they waited. All ten awoke to the announcement that the groom was on his way.
Then the differences appeared. The five wise women had extra oil. The five foolish women didn’t. The five foolish wisdom asked the five wise women to share, and they said there wouldn’t be enough oil left. Then they suggested that the foolish women go wake up the oil sellers and buy more oil – at midnight. The foolish women took the suggestion, missed the procession they were supposed to be part of, and missed the wedding feast.
D. Mark Davis writes at LeftBehindAndLovingIt, “Most first graders will wonder why the wise ones do not share. In the parable’s terms there is not enough oil to supply for all of them. The story does not suggest that the wise are being greedy or unhelpful.”
Is that the surprise? Is that the teaching point? I don’t think so. That’s the thing I’d expect a prudent and prepared person to do. “I brought extra. But everything is now so late that I don’t have enough extra for more than one lamp. If there’s to be enough light for the procession I’ve got to have it for my lamp.”
I’d say that. You’d probably say that, too.
But would I, would you, say at midnight, “Go buy oil”? I wouldn’t. At least, I wouldn’t if I liked you. Or if I liked the oil seller I’d just doomed to be awakened in the middle of the night. No. It makes no sense. It sounds vaguely wise, but I don’t think it is.
Off they went to buy oil. It was foolish not to have extra oil. I think it was probably more foolish to leave the place where the bridegroom was expected.
As Debie Thomas writes at JourneyWithJesus.net, “You’re more valuable than your oil supply. So stick around. As far as I can tell, the fatal mistake the five “foolish” bridesmaids make is that they leave. They assume that their oil supply is more important to the groom than their presence at his party. So they ditch the scene at its most crucial moment and go shopping, thus depriving themselves of a wonderful celebration, and depriving the bridegroom of their companionship, support, and love on his special day.”
They were foolish not to anticipate that the groom might be late, and to prepare for that. They were probably more foolish to leave as the crucial moment approached.
The ancient wisdom writers of Judaism, those who wrote the materials later collected in Proverbs and the Wisdom of Solomon we heard from today, those ancient writers liked to compare wisdom and light. For most human beings, light really helps them perceive and learn things. It’s hard to see in the dark. If you’re accustomed to dealing with the world mostly through your eyes, it’s helpful to have light.
People have said over the centuries that if you want to deal with the world, if you want to live a life of faith, it’s helpful to have wisdom.
What is the wisdom of this story?
For Matthew and the Christians he wrote his gospel for, one of the crucial learnings of this story was that the followers of Jesus had to anticipate a delay. They expected Christ’s return any day now, but forty odd years after Jesus’ resurrection, it hadn’t happened. As Kimberly R. Wagner writes at Working Preacher, “The ones who brought oil are labeled as ‘wise,’ not because they had some kind of predictive powers to know how much oil to pack. Instead, their wisdom was in being ready for a timetable that might be different than the one they would have preferred.” Two thousand years later, we’re pretty well reconciled to the idea that Jesus’ return might be imminent, but probably isn’t. Nevertheless, wisdom calls for preparation, for seeing that we have the resources to maintain our light for when it’s needed to illuminate the celebration.
So when you think about what your wisdom might be, think about the things that keep you alight. What keeps you energized and engaged? What equips you to help someone else? What fills you so that you can celebrate?
I think that’s why the oil couldn’t be shared. The things that maintain your spiritual light aren’t strictly sharable, are they? Someone can inspire you. Someone can guide you. But they can’t hand that energy to you. That’s something you summon yourself.
I think Debie Thomas is also right to tell us that we are important, you and I are important, more important than the light we may or may not be able to shine. Yes, it’s better if our lamps are lit, but our presence, even in shadow, is desired more than our absence to gather resources. If you don’t have the stuff to shine at the moment, that’s OK. Come to the party anyway. If you need to sit quietly in a corner to catch your breath, do that. But be in the celebration. When you’re ready to shine, you’re ready to shine.
As Elisabeth Johnson writes at Working Preacher, “Are our priorities aligned with God’s priorities, or are we so distracted with secondary concerns that we risk missing what is most important — the presence of Jesus in our midst?”
The presence of Jesus in our midst. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst. The very embodiment of wisdom in our midst. Are we prepared to look for wisdom, for the Spirit, for the Christ, in the world around us? Are we prepared to listen to the words of others, to delve into the Scriptures, to appreciate the beauty of Creation, to attend to the movements of our own soul, to discern the promptings of wisdom?
The presence of Jesus is one of the sources for filling your lamp. It’s not the only one, but it’s definitely one, and it might be one that can’t be duplicated. Wisdom “hastens to make herself known to those who desire her,” wrote the author of the Wisdom of Solomon. Jesus hastens to make himself known to those who desire his grace.
There’s also something that lies outside this parable proper. Matthew included a series of parables on this theme of waiting. What do you do while you wait?
In chapter 24, you don’t abandon your responsibilities and abuse your co-workers. Here in 25, you don’t leave the preparation to the last minute. The next story in this chapter is the one about two servants who actively worked to increase their master’s wealth, and one who hid it away. And finally there’s the story about the judgment, when some will be rewarded for showing compassion to their neighbors, and some will be rejected for withholding their support.
What is wisdom in the mind of Jesus? Letting your light shine in kindness, caring, and love.
Amen.
by Eric Anderson
Watch the Recorded Sermon
Unfortunately, we were having technical problems on this day and the sound recording is very low. We regret the error.
Pastor Eric makes changes while preaching, so the sermon as prepared does not precisely match the sermon as presented.
The image is Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins by William John Wainwright (1899) – Art UK: entry parable-of-the-wise-and-foolish-virgins-33822, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46118588.
