“Got a Light?”

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour” [Matthew 25:13]

And so, we wait.

Oh, I bet you thought I was talking about the results of the national election. No, I’m actually referring to something much more important: the return of the Messiah. That return, the so-called Parousia, is more or less the central theme of Matthew’s Gospel from chapters 23 through 25, inclusive. That challenging swath of Scripture, sometimes referred to as “the Judgment Discourse,” is shoehorned into Matthew’s treatment of Holy Week.

Having completed his jousting matches with the scribes and Pharisees during the early part of the week before he’d give up his life on the Cross, Jesus, along with the disciples has retired to the Mount of Olives, a specific location whose importance zooms right over our heads [see Ch. 24:3]. Those with Jewish backgrounds in Matthew’s early church–and there were quite a few–would perhaps have been reminded that the prophet Zechariah had once looked forward to a day when the LORD would stand on the Mount of Olives and be recognized by the entire world as king [Zechariah 24:4]. That day has not yet come, Jesus is clearly saying that it most assuredly will.

The text of the Judgment Discourse before this week’s reading contains all sorts of warnings about the “end times,” when many will fall away from the faith and, moreover, when the world will turn against those who remain faithful [see Matthew 24:9-13]. If you think there are divisions within our present world, just you wait.

Ah, and waiting, of course, is the central message in this week’s Gospel reading [Matthew 25:1-13, the Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year A]. The text is typically labeled the “Parable of the Ten Virgins” (the NRSV prefers the more “modern,” bridesmaids). The parable may be relatively unfamiliar to you since it isn’t the favorite of many preachers. Particularly at first blush, the message may be a little harsh for tender ears.

Jesus says:

At that time [i.e., when the Messiah returns] the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise” [Matthew 25:1-2].

Jesus goes on to say that the five foolish ones took their lamps, but took no oil. The wise maidens took extra oil in jars (flasks) with them. The groom was delayed and all ten maidens fall asleep. As the saga continues, the gals hear a commotion at midnight. It’s the bridegroom! Alas, the foolish girls have no oil for their lamps and the wise bridesmaids won’t lend them any.

So, while the foolish girls head off to the oil dealer (at midnight?), the wise maidens go on into the party with the groom (no mention is ever made as to the bride) and when the foolish ones return sometime later, now having purchased oil for their lamps, they cry out to the groom, who says he doesn’t know them. Matthew completes his telling of Jesus’ parable with Jesus’ final words to the listening group, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”

There is sometimes a tendency to turn this little parable into a story about good and evil. We should be careful not to do so, for Jesus did not describe the two groups of maidens in those terms. It wasn’t that the “good” girls had oil and the “bad” girls didn’t. Instead Jesus spoke in terms of wisdom; some had it, others did not. And if watchfulness is the core thought here, we must remember that all ten maidens fall asleep. And so, not only is this not a sweet little, good versus bad story; there is much more going on here than mere watchfulness.

It isn’t enough to be “on the watch.” One must also be ready. Indeed, readiness is important in multiple parts of Matthew’s Gospel. Readiness is living the quality of life described by Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount. Alas, many can live the sort of life preached by Jesus for a short time; the difficulty arises when the Kingdom is delayed.

In the short run, if the Messiah returns quickly, it’s easy to practice forgiveness. Yet when the Kingdom is delayed, forgiveness becomes for many a burden. When your friend or family member has wronged you the 76th time, you may find it difficult to forgive the 77th offense. Alternatively, one can look at the divisiveness within our society and be a peacemaker for a little while. It’s when the Kingdom is delayed and the divisions among and between us continue, when the harsh words not only fester, but turn septic, that peacemaking becomes truly difficult. It’s often easier just to take one side. It’s easy to show mercy once or twice; yet when the Groom’s arrival has been delayed for so long, mercy can become a mere vapor.

As the Reverend Dr. Tom Long has put it so well in his Commentary on Matthew [Matthew (Westminster Bible Companion, 1997): “The wise bridesmaids are distinctive not because they were ready for the groom, but because they were ready for the groom’s delay.”

As a close friend recently shared with me, when we discussed this Parable together, “At the beginning of Faith’s journey, one often can’t tell the followers apart. All are excited, all are expectant. They all have lamps, so to speak. They all are dressed for the celebration. They all claim to know the Groom, and they all know how to sing, “Lord, Lord.” Yet as we move deep into the darkness of the night, when we see some of our fellow sojourners franticly trying to fan a dying ember back to life, we begin to distinguish wisdom from foolishness.”

The Parable invites us to imagine ourselves as we wait for the Groom’s return, since only then can the wedding feast truly begin. I’m saddened, however, that so many within the Church have given up waiting altogether. The Parousia, literally, Christ’s “presence that follows absence,” is all too often considered a quaint, peculiarly literalistic belief in an event that no longer seems likely to occur at all. Not only do many within the Church no longer have any oil, they’ve even discarded their lamps as well.

As we wait with watchful readiness, may we be mindful of the words of our Lord: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” [Matthew 5:16]. Amen.