THE PARABLE OF THE DEAD BRIDESMAIDS

Many times people read this parable like it were a wake; like someone died; like it's the end of the age. It's a wedding! And for communities then and now, it's about new beginnings; moving forward; a celebration of life. The groom and the bride were very late for their wedding. It happens. Most of the weddings I have attended started late.

The bridesmaids, all ten of them fall asleep waiting. Five were wise. Five were naive--not foolish. The Greek text supports that reading. And all ten girls were, yes, girls, about 12 years old or younger. Five were mature for their age and prepared. Five acted their age and did not. Those who prepared were not prepared to share. Those who did not prepare were afraid of the dark. Many of the wedding guests were shut out.

Given the horrors that is happening to the Palestinian people especially in Gaza, I propose reading this parable like it were a wake. Over ten thousand have been murdered by the Israeli Defense Forces using US-made weapons of mass destruction. It's the end of the age! It's genocide.

The grooms are late because they are dead. So are the brides. And all the bridesmaids who were waiting? Those young girls--12 years old or younger, with their names written on their arms and legs--are also dead! Mature, naive, prepared, unprepared? Those bombs that drop morning, noon, and night have only one purpose: death and destruction. And those who miraculously escape the bombs are shot.

No more time for births. Nor weddings. Nor wakes. Nor burials. Because unless a ceasefire is declared now, EVERY.ONE.IN. GAZA.WILL.BE.DEAD! And that is what the perpetrators want. Do know that this ethnic cleansing in Palestine is not new-- it began way before 1948!

*PHOTO: (ALJAZEERA) The body of a Palestinian child lies at the al-Shifa Hospital after an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on October 9 2023 [Mohammed Saber/EPA]