Readings for the Twenty Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 27 – Track 1 – Year A)
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
Psalm 78:1-7
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Matthew 25:1-13
This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on November 8, 2026.
Today we have a challenging parable about a wedding banquet. The wise bridesmaids are prepared to welcome the groom because they bring along extra oil for their lamps, but the foolish bridesmaids fail to do so and, as a result, are refused entry into the banquet by the groom who denies even knowing them. So, perhaps this is Jesus’s elaborate way of teaching us to be prepared. Bring extra batteries for our flashlights. Good, practical advice from Jesus. Jewish New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine says, “If the only conclusion we draw from this [parable] is, ‘Be prepared’ (thus turning the first five virgins into Boy Scouts), Jesus has wasted his time.”[1] Often this parable is allegorized so that the wedding banquet represents heaven, the bridesmaids represent humanity, the groom represents Jesus, and the oil represents love. However, if the wise bridesmaids bring extra love, then why can’t they share the love? The poor bridesmaids who did not bring enough oil are left wondering, “Is heaven really a wedding party in which my companions refuse to share their oil with me and then send me off to buy more as the already-late bridegroom denies even knowing me when I try to get back in?” I also find Jesus’s conclusion confusing. He says, “Keep awake,” but didn’t all the bridesmaids fall asleep in the first place? The foolish and the wise? Jesus’s parables often generate more questions for me than answers.
The psalmist today proclaims, “I will open my mouth in a parable; I will declare the mysteries of ancient times…so they might put their trust in God” (Psalm 78:2, 7). This verse, which has been understood as a prophesy of Jesus’s preferred style of teaching, reminds us that there are multiple mysteries offered in his parables, mysteries intended to help us deepen our trust in God (Psalm 78:7). If the message you need to hear this morning is “Be prepared” and this helps deepen your trust in God, then please receive this message with gratitude. For those who might be seeking another word of hope, I invite you to reflect with me more deeply on this mysterious parable, in which Jesus never actually says “Be prepared.” He says, “Keep watch.”
When we remember Jesus’s Jewish context, we recall another story of oil and light that every Jewish person knew intimately: the story of Hanukkah. My Jewish wife, who has a PhD in ancient Judaism, suggested I consider this parable in the context of this Festival of Light, which Jesus himself celebrated (John 10:22), commemorates the rededication of the temple of Jerusalem in the year 164 BCE after it had been desecrated by the Syrian King Antiochus Epiphanes who splattered pig’s blood on the altar. When the Jews reconsecrated the sacred space, they needed to follow the instructions of the Torah and light the temple candelabra, the menorah.[2] However, they could not find any oil because the temple had been pillaged by the Syrians. Eventually they found a tiny bit of oil, but they knew it would only keep the candelabra lit for a couple hours at most. And that’s when the great miracle of Hanukkah occurred. The tiny bit of oil kept the lights of the menorah lit all through the night and then all through the next day and then the next night and next day. And the lights of the menorah remained lit for eight days, giving the people plenty of time to purify more oil. That’s why Jews celebrate Hanukkah to this day because that little bit of oil was enough.[3]
Also, the book of Second Kings tells the story of a poor widow who needed to pay off her deceased husband’s debts, but her only possession was a tiny jar of oil. The Prophet Elisha told her to gather all the empty vessels in town and pour her tiny bit of oil into them. Miraculously, she was able to fill up hundreds of vessels with that oil, giving her more than enough to pay off her husband’s debts (2 Kings 4:1-7). That little bit of oil proved to be enough, even more than enough.
These stories of mere drops of oil becoming seeds for miraculous abundance were stories that Jesus’s listeners knew well, stories that Jesus and his disciples grew up hearing. So, with these stories in mind, we turn again to Jesus’s parable of the bridesmaids. Jesus says the foolish bridesmaids took their lamps, but no oil. Clearly, Jesus is saying that they brought no extra oil, no flasks of oil as the wise virgins did. An oil lamp without oil is like a battery-powered flashlight without a battery, it’s not going to produce any light. They’re foolish but they’re not that foolish. We know this because the foolish say later that their lamps are going out. There would be no light to go out if there was no oil at all. So, the foolish bridesmaids had a little bit of oil, but they feared it was not enough to last, even though the Jewish tradition revels in stories of the lasting power of a tiny bit of oil. Perhaps their great folly was not forgetting to bring extra oil but refusing to believe that they already had enough and then leaving the party at the most important time.
Earlier in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus’s disciples urge Jesus to send away the crowds to buy food (just as the “wise” bridesmaids sent away the foolish to buy more oil), but Jesus says, “They don’t need to go away. You feed them. We have enough. It looks like a tiny bit, just five loaves and two fish, but just watch. It will be enough” (Matthew 14:13 – 21). Although our translation has Jesus saying in the conclusion of the parable, “Keep awake,” the original Greek is watch (gregoreite)! Watch, because you don’t know how long God will make your little bit of oil last. You don’t know the day nor the hour. Don’t leave before the miracle happens.
Episcopal author Debie Thomas arrived at a similar conclusion after reading this parable. She wrote, “The fatal mistake the five ‘foolish’ bridesmaids make is that they leave…they ditch the scene at its most crucial moment and go shopping, depriving themselves of a wonderful celebration and depriving the bridegroom of their companionship, support, and love on his special day.” She says, “This is a point I want to press into, because I understand the foolish bridesmaids’ rationale in this narrative moment. I get how hard it is to stick around when my ‘light’ is fading and my reserves are low. I get what it’s like to scramble for perfection, to insist on having my ducks in a row before I show up in front of God or the church or the world. After all, it’s scary and vulnerable-making to linger in the dark when my pitiful little lamp is flickering, my once-robust faith is evaporating, and my measly, leaky flask is filled with nothing but doubt, pain, grief, and weariness. Only a bridesmaid who trusts [that God works some of his best miracles with just a drop of oil] will find the honesty and courage to stay.”[4]
So that’s a message for us from this mysterious parable, a message that calls us to deepen our trust in God. With God, we have enough. We are enough. Even though we might feel small, even though we might feel like we’re running on fumes, like we have no more gas in our tank, or not enough money in our bank, we have enough. Just watch. During this stewardship season, we are invited to trust that we have enough, enough to give to God who gave us everything in the first place, enough to give to those in need, enough to keep the lights on and the candles lit in this church. You have enough oil in your lamp. We have enough time, talent, and treasure. Don’t give up. Don’t leave. Stay and watch. Watch what God will do. Amen.
[1] Amy-Jill Levine, Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2015), 280.
[2] The reason we light candles in church today is because God commanded his people to light candles in the temple and to keep them burning continually. See Exodus 27:20 and Numbers 8:1-4.
[3] The Hanukkah miracle is not recorded in the Books of First and Second Maccabees. The Hanukkah miracle was described by the Rabbis in the Babylonian Talmud, specifically Tractate Shabbat 21b.
[4] Debie Thomas, Into the Mess & Other Jesus Stories: Reflections on the Life of Christ (Eugene OR: Cascade, 2022), 162 – 163.
