Skip to main content

PARABLE: the wise and foolish bridesmaids

 {PARABLE} the wise and foolish bridesmaids_ 

Matthew 24:36 – 25:13 

 
It is the classic love story... The bridegroom is called away from the bride, the love of his life. He asks her to wait for him. He asks her to believe he will come back for her no matter how long it takes. He asks her to trust that he will come back because of his great love and devotion. The bride is grief-stricken but promises that she will wait for him and not give up hope. But the years pass and the hope fades. She begins to question his promise. She begins to distrust his love. Until one day she realises that she is no longer waiting for him. 

 
[Group discussion starter] Think of an example of when you waited a long time for someone or something important to you. What was the waiting like? What helped you maintain hope? 

 

In the series of short parables that Jesus presents in this text, he calls us to not give up hope. He calls us to trust his love and his promise that he will come for us one day. He calls us to wait in expectation for his return... 

 
[Read Matthew 24:36 – 25:13] 

 
List the parables Jesus uses here. How do they compare and contrast? 
 

 
Put yourself in each parable. How would is change the picture if you, as the character, were waiting with expectation for “the coming of the Son of Man”? 

 
In Matthew 24:36-41, how will the coming of the Son of Man be similar to the days of Noah? 
 

 
Christ’s main point wasn’t to warn against “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage”. So what is he emphasising? 
 

 
[Activity] Jesus compares his coming to a thief breaking into a house (24:42-44) and a master returning home (24:45-51). What does each story emphasise about; 
(a) the nature of the Lord’s return_ 
 

(b) our responsibility_ 
 

 
In Matthew 24:45-46, if the Lord returned today, what would he hope to find us doing? 
 

 
In the verses we’ve just focused on (24:36-51), would you say Christ’s illustrations about his coming were joyful or fearful events? Explain. 
 

 
In biblical times the bridegroom would come to the bride’s home, after dark, where the bridesmaids (virgins) were also waiting, and then would take her (and them) in procession to his home for the wedding feast. In Matthew 25:1-5, what are the similarities between the wise and foolish bridesmaids? 
 
 

 
In 25:6-12, how did the bridegroom’s long delay reveal differences between the wise and foolish bridesmaids? 
 

 
According to this parable, what constitutes wisdom in relation to Christ’s return? 
 

 
It has been more than two thousand years since Jesus promised to return. 
What negative effects might this have on us? 
 

 
What can we do to overcome these negative effects and wait with expectation and hope for his return? 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

{SEVEN CHURCHES} #3

  {SEVEN LETTERS}    The Attractiveness of Suffering_   Revelation 2:8-11     In the year AD 177 persecution broke out against the Christians living in what is today the French city of Lyon. Christianity had raised the suspicions and hatred of the Roman  bureaucrats who governed the city. The vicious persecution that raged, touched Christians at every level of society. After the persecuti on subsided, church father Irenaeus, arranged for a letter to be written to Christians in other parts of the Roman Empire describing the faithfulness of the  martyrs...   We  can’t  even begin to put into words, much less describe in detail, the  magnitude  of the persecution here: how the pagans raged so terribly against the saints, and how the ble ssed martyrs endured so patiently... To begin with, they nobly endured all the abuse the whole mob collectively piled on: screaming  at them, punching them, dragging them through the stre...
Post a Comment
Read more

{SEVEN CHURCHES} #1

  The Lord Who Speaks_   Revelation 1:9-20   We  don’t  tend to get many letters these days. We get emails, text messages,  WhatsApp  and other electronic messages, but rarely  a handwritten, pen-and-paper letter.    I tend to save any good ones I get... notes from when Leah was little. Letters that encourage or bless me.   I’ll keep them in my  bedside  drawer or  tucked  into books on our shelves. Then I get to read them again and feel loved and blessed by their words. ..     [Discussion starter]    Tell the group about a significant letter you have received and why it meant so much to you.     Revelation 2-3 records seven letters written by Jesus to seven churches.   It must have been a thrill for an early church congregation to receive a letter from the apostles Paul, Peter, or James... but here were letters from Jesus himself . And we all get to read everyone else’s ma...
Post a Comment
Read more

David #12

  [DAVID] Generous giving_   1 Chronicles 29     Giving has become a sore spot for many Christians. Every day we are bombarded with appeals for money – from TV and radio evangelists, from missionaries, from parachurch organisations , from charities and from our own churches. Sometim es we might feel like shouting, “Enough is enough!” How can we adopt godly attitudes toward giving so that we don’t live with a closed fist but an open hand and a generous heart?     [Group discussion starter] How do you tend to respond when people ask you for money? Explain.     David had a refreshing attitude toward giving. In this chapter he illustrates what it means to give joyously and generously to the Lord...     [Read 1 Chronicles 29]     What does this chapter reveal about David’s perspective on giving?       In verses 1-5, how does David provide an excellent example of what it means to give generously to God?    ...
Post a Comment
Read more