A Slippery Fish

While we have heard a thousand preachers explain all those strange Biblical customs of days gone into history books, they still seem like strange unknowable creatures.  Some of the practices and customs described are so out of our experience orbit that we have to re-orient ourselves each time we find ourselves reading about them.  The parable of ten bridesmaid is a teaching of Jesus which is filled with difficult to understand customs although each part of it was surely common knowledge to all those who heard Jesus speak it into existence. 

 

What we do get is that the parable is about the Kingdom of heaven.  And what we do get is that the world is filled with people who are foolish and wise, people who are prepared and unprepared, and people who live complacently and people who live expectantly.  And, of course, the parable ends with a warning that the Kingdom about which Jesus preached will come fully upon us at the time of God's choosing.  "Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour."  (Matthew 25:13)  If this Kingdom parable has a bottom line, this final word is it.

 

Figuring out the Kingdom of heaven and wrapping it up in a neat theological package may seem like a thing which can be done, but it is more like a slippery fish.  Just when we think we have it securely in our hands, it has slipped away.  After all, how can we figure out something in its entirety which has already come, is present in our midst, and yet, still to come.  It seems that this parable is simply a reminder to us that God has not finished His stuff yet and the best thing we can do in response to this benevolent and unpredictable God is to live always ready for whatever it is that is ahead.