Abstract
Jesus' logion about the presence of the bridegroom and his future removal corresponds to the conditions of Jesus' pre-Easter activity. In the light of the Old Testament prophetic concept of the Lord's covenant with his people as the marriage covenant, Jesus used this logion to convey a message to his contemporaries that he was coming as the divine bridegroom to the eschatological messianic marriage.
Within this basic framework, his disciples could understand their role as "hyioi tou nymphiou" (the sons of the bridegroom), possibly corresponding to the Hebrew expression "bney ha-huppah," which attributed to them an active participation on Jesus' messianic mission. The logion has not lost its relevance even after Jesus' resurrection, because it has influenced the conception of Christian eschatology and ecclesiology.