Göttinger Predigten
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Pentecost 23, 11/12/2017
Sermon on Matthew 25:1-13, by Carl A. Voges
The Passage
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wide, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.” Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.’”
[English Standard Version]
“For since we believe that Jesus died and rise again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.” [1 Thessalonians 4.14]
In the Name of Christ + Jesus our Lord
As the Lord’s people rush through the closing weeks of the six-month Pentecost season, they find the context of their lives to be changing. Throughout the season the Scripture readings have had us exploring the ways in which the Lord’s Life deepens the lives of the baptized while exposing the contradictions and weaknesses of the world’s life. Slipping into these closing weeks, we’re suddenly aware that the time frames with which we normally work are expanded as the Scripture readings throw us to the End-of-Time.
This happens today as we see Jesus describing his Life through the parable of the wise and foolish women. The story is based on a custom in Palestine where the bridegroom goes with these women to the bride’s home so he can bring her to his home.
While we are first inclined to wade through the machinations of the politicians in Washington, DC (along with the politicians in our states and cities); or attempt to confront the debris and sewage flowing from the entertainment centers of this country; or try to eliminate the violence that individuals spray on others, we recognize such inclinations to not be our first responsibility. The first responsibility is the one streaming from our baptisms. While we do have to confront and make our way through the world’s life on a daily basis, the baptismal life (also on a daily basis!) is much more vital because its ways are undergirded and shaped by the Life of the Holy Trinity.
This parable is plainly spoken as Jesus describes the attitudes and actions of these ten women. Five of them are wise about their participation in the ritual and five of them are foolish. Those who are vigilant are able to meet the bridegroom and take part in the ritual with him. The others try to catch up but they are not successful. While we may wonder why the wise women are not more helpful with the foolish ones, we cannot get to the center of that discussion. Such wondering, though, gets amplified when the foolish women finally get to the marriage feast but are prevented from getting into the place where the feast is being held. We even wince when the bridegroom states that he does not know them as they pound on the door!
Here we are, then, looking at a parable that begins with the phrase, “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom…” The parable closes with Jesus’ words, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
The Greek word for “watch” is intriguing, one that helps us better understand this parable. In its biblical usage, the word is urging people to be vigilant (especially in relation to the End-of-Time). What adds to the intrigue is that the word, “watch,” is closely related to another one that carries these meanings: “to awaken from sleep; to arouse or stir up; to set up; to awaken the dead.” These meanings tilt to the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and extend to those who believe in him. This leads us to begin concluding that Jesus’ command, “Watch!”, is more than an attempt to fight off the drowsiness of a late night appointment, it is alerting us to the realities of his Life as it comes boring in on us!
This is expanded when we look at the context for the passage. The previous chapter (twenty-four) first deals with our Lord asserting the destruction of Jerusalem (verses 1-3).
It then continues with sayings on the end of the age (verses 4-36). It goes on to sketch out the horrors that occur both now and at the End-of-Time.
Jesus then describes how quickly the Flood broke into the lives of people at the time of Noah, a suddenness that anticipates the coming of the Son of Man. Our Lord describes two women grinding at a mill (one is taken and one is left), alerting us to watch because we cannot anticipate the coming of the Lord’s Day. Jesus mentions a homeowner who, if the owner knew when a thief was coming, would have watched and prevented the break-in of his home; Jesus is urging us to be ready for the Son of Man’s coming at an hour we do not expect.
The chapter concludes with the story of the faithful and wise servant. He always has the food ready for the proper time. Such a servant is richly blessed when the master finds him doing what he is supposed to do. However, if the servant is wicked while the master is delayed, and begins to beat his fellow servants, eating and drinking to excess, then the blessings do not exist. Jesus alerts us that if the master comes on a day and in an hour unexpectedly, the master will punish the wicked servant, placing him with the hypocrites, a place where people weep and gnash their teeth.
Then we come into this parable with alert at its end – Be watchful; be vigilant! It’s clear that the wise women grasped that alert, the foolish ones did not. This watchfulness and vigilance is directed to coming of the bridegroom, but now expands to the coming of the Son of Man. This coming (anticipating the Advent season next month) has three reference points. The Son of Man’s first conclusive appearance was in his dying and rising. The second conclusive appearance will be his return at the End-of-Time, completing his work of redemption. The third conclusive appearances are occurring now as his Life emerges through the Scriptures and the Sacraments of Baptism, Forgiveness and Eucharist in the weekly liturgies of the Church.
Our Lord is using this parable to spur us to watchfulness and vigilance as far as his Life is concerned. From the weekly conversations that go on in our parishes, this is easier said than done. We get wise in our own lives, we get surrounded by troubles, we get stuck in the world’s life, we get foolish with our assumptions. The result is that the appearances of our Lord and his Life are taken for granted or ignored, causing us to miss the intersections of his Life with our own, missings that can lead to painful and permanent consequences.
Earlier we noted how the closing weeks of the six-month Pentecost season suddenly shift our time frames. We have gotten used to the present times in our lives. In a way these closing weeks startle us because they stretch our lives out from this week to the End-of-Time! As they do, however, they freshen our lives in the Holy Trinity now.
We need to remind one another again of how the world’s life, dominated by the attractive and terrifying realities of sin, Satan and death, is always seeking to have its gods grip us with their lives. The world and its gods are always clamoring for our attention and allegiance. They want us to sign up with them, but only so that our lives will go down with them.
What sustains us in the closing weeks of Pentecost is the reality that the Lord’s Life is constantly pushing into his parish communities with the holy realities of his Scriptures and Sacraments. We recognize that the world ruthlessly seeks to get us rutted in its life and ways. Thankfully, we also recognize that the Lord, out of his grace and mercy, relentlessly seeks to deepen the Life we have in him while he pulls us away from the weaknesses and contradictions of the world’s life.
May our Lord, then, through his rescuing and sustaining activity, continue to spur us to be watchful and vigilant as far as his Life and the life of this world is concerned!
Now may the peace of the Lord God, which is beyond all understanding, keep our hearts
and minds through Christ + Jesus our Lord.