Jesus talked about weddings. For his audience,  which was primarily made up of humans, it was a familiar metaphor to explore. He used weddings as a way to illustrate relationship. He used weddings to illustrate the gracious invitation to the kingdom of heaven.

In Matthew 25, he uses weddings as a way to illustrate thoughtful anticipation.

There are 10 friends of the bride, Jesus says. They are waiting for the groom to show up. It’s going to be late when he gets there. They have tiki torches to carry in a parade.

At this point we stop in our reading. We think, “tiki torches? Wedding parade? Groom showing up? The Bible is way too complicated. I don’t get it.”

I understand.

That’s why I spend time here exploring some of the background to some of the images. But sometimes, we don’t have to understand all of the cultural nuances to understand the point Jesus is making.

Let’s go back to the story.

Five friends were foolish. They took the torches but no extra oil. Five friends were wise. They took the torches and extra oil.

See? That’s not so hard to understand. Call it extra batteries for the walkietalkies. Call it chargers for their iPhones. There are people who planned ahead and people who didn’t, people who paid attention to the situation and people who didn’t.

At midnight, the call came: “The groom’s here.” The foolish friends discovered they had no oil, the batteries were dead, the phone didn’t work. They couldn’t borrow any. They had to go buy some. The groom came. The party started. The door was locked.

It sounds pretty human, doesn’t it. Being prepared to wait, no matter how long it takes.

Therefore, Jesus says, watch for me. Be prepared to wait as long as it takes.

Simple.