Matthew 25:1 - 13
Most of us who have listened to Jesus’ parables over the years could probably name a favorite; The Prodigal Son, the Rich Man and Lazarus, the Good Samaritan -- I guess one of them would get the highest number of votes. But what is your least favorite parable? The one about the ten virgins is one of mine. When we hear it read, we usually see it as another effort Jesus makes to wake us up and be prepared. But there are some things about it that kind of put me off. The wise virgins seem kind of mean when they send the foolish ones off -- in the middle of the night, no less -- to buy more oil. The groom that they have all waited for for quite a long time slams the door in the faces of the five foolish virgins, saying “I don’t know who you are”. He was at least partly responsible for them running out of oil, wasn’t he? It seems kind of mean and petty not to let them in to the party. And Jesus tells his hearers to “stay awake” for you know neither the day nor the hour. And yet both the wise and foolish virgins had fallen asleep. If it hadn’t been for the person who shouted “Behold, the bridegroom!” he would have caught them all sleeping.
Now you know that I like to pick apart Jesus’ stories. I think you should do that as well. Because most of the time you can find something more than just what seems to be the main point, something that can be summarized in a single sentence. I don’t think Jesus told his stories so we would remember a single point; I think he wants us to think about them, ponder them, and see what we can make of them. So these are some of the things I got when I did this.
First, there is going to be a wedding. If the wedding is the union of God with his people, as it seems to be, Jesus is reminding us that this is going to happen, and Jesus doesn’t lie. The whole point of his becoming human, his life, death and resurrection, is to make it possible for us to attend the wedding. And I think we forget that much of the time. The first Christians lived in breathless anticipation of his second coming; and for us the default is that he is not going to come during our lifetimes, or those of our children. And whether his coming is to me on an individual basis -- he did tell his apostles that he was going to come for them -- or on a communal basis -- as Saint Paul seems to imply in the second reading, we have to switch our perspective back to that of the first Christians -- it could happen at any moment. Because that completely changes the way we live. We don’t sit up on a mountain top waiting, we make sure we are prepared every waking and sleeping moment.
Second, we have to remember that sometimes doors close, they close for good. We put things off. I ought to call that old classmate of mine; we were so close when we were kids. I’ll do that, maybe next week. When I have more time. Then I discover he has passed away. See, the only way Jesus’ message will get out is if we do it through our relationships, and in order to do it well, we need to nurture and strengthen those bonds. It’s a win-win because we profit as well. We’re meant to be in strong positive relationships with each other -- but we don’t work at it like we should. And doors close.
Third, the foolish virgins are really foolish not because they haven’t brought enough oil in case the bridegroom came really late, but because they equate their worth with the worth of the oil they go out to buy. If they had stayed, even without their lamps -- if they had greeted the bridegroom along with the five wise virgins, would he not have overlooked the fact that their lamps were not lit? If the bridegroom was that petty, I wouldn’t want to go to his party anyway. But if the bridegroom is Jesus, we know that he wants us to come to him with all our faults, with all our imperfections, because that’s the place where he can make things right. The last thing Jesus wants is for us to hide and avoid him until we are perfect. Then we would be the foolish ones.
Lastly, the wise virgins who come across to me as selfish, are forgetting that in God’s world there is no such thing as scarcity. One of the great sins of our society is that we are consumers; we want to have more and more, better and better. And the reason is simple, we are afraid of running out. No one will forget the panic buying of toilet paper at the beginning of the pandemic; and even today, as I discovered recently, its very hard to get parts for your bicycle. They are on back-order because for some reason, the world-wide demand has skyrocketed. If we ever learned to really live those words we pray every day -- give us this day our daily bread -- if we paid attention when our Lord reminded us that if he took care of the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, how much more would he care for us -- we would enter into the world of God where there is enough, enough for everyone to be satisfied.
So there are a few things buried in this story that speak to me. I am sure you might be able to find a few more.
