Ted Johnston—Year A Proper 27

Anthony: All right, let’s move to our second passage of the month. It’s Matthew 25:1–13. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for Proper 27 in Ordinary Time, November 8. Ted, read it for us, please.

Ted:

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten young women took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. ² Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³ When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, ⁴ but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. ⁵ As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. ⁶ But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ ⁷ Then all those young women got up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ ⁹ But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ ¹⁰ And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet, and the door was shut. ¹¹ Later the other young women came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ ¹² But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ ¹³ Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Anthony: This parable is often interpreted primarily as warning, and it is warning, and I don’t want to dismiss that at all.

Ted: Yeah.

Anthony: Because it says, “Be ready, and you might be left out.” But if Jesus is the bridegroom and who has been lifted up to draw humanity into the life and fellowship of Father, Son, and Spirit, how might that change the way, or does it, our understanding of the call to keep watch? What does readiness look like when it’s rooted in relationship rather than fear?

Ted: Just a reminder, again, of the context. This is the period of time during which we refer to as Holy Week, and the theme is Jesus teaching about being ready through faith. Matthew 25:13 uses words that echo Matthew 24:42 with its admonition to keep awake, keep watch. So there, there’s something about readiness that is being addressed here.

The scene, of course, in this parable is a village wedding with young women, perhaps bridesmaids or friends or servants of the bridegroom, waiting to escort the bridegroom in a torch-lit procession as he brings his bride home. The lamps are probably torches that would be wrapped in oil-soaked rags and then put on fire and would burn for several minutes and then would go out.

Without a further supply of oil, they would go out as soon as they were lit or very shortly after. Thus, an important aspect of this parable, this I think is key, is the delay, the issue of delay. The inference being that there will be a long time until the appearing of Jesus. That’s the bridegroom. And note, and this is, I think, really important, that all 10 of these young women are included in the wedding party.

Ted: And I think that speaks to the issue of a universal inclusion. The wise and the foolish are included.

Anthony: Amen.

Ted: That’s where it starts. It starts with grace. Yet all of them — and this is also, again, this issue of universal — all of them fall asleep during the long wait. So much for the wise.

Thus, the point is not that we should be on constant hyper alert, and sometimes this passage is used to make that point, but this is saying just the opposite. We’re not being called to constant hyper alert, but we must have the necessary provision for the wait. And who knows how long that wait is actually going to be as we think in terms of the period of time between Jesus’ first coming and second coming.

Now, this parable does not spell out exactly what that provision for that wait is, but it does point to the importance, I think it’s pretty clear, of faith in Jesus. The 10 young women are part of the wedding, yet only half of them exhibit that sort of faith. And those who do not, having been included, now exclude themselves.

And Jesus says to them, “I do not know you.” Which by the way, echoes the statement that Jesus makes in Matthew 7:23, in Jesus’ words of warning there. You can … Those who are preaching from this pericope might want to look at some of these other passages in Matthew where similar terminology is used. But here’s, I think, the point we want to take away. And once again, just like in the previous passage, Jesus is showing that faith in him is the sole criterion for judgment. And so, the question is this: do we or do we not in faith accept the inclusion we have with God in and through Jesus? And here the time has come when each person’s answer becomes evident.

Anthony: I’m struck that the wise bridesmaids didn’t give their oil to the others. What do we make of that?

Ted: Yeah, I don’t know. Let’s put it this way. I think sometimes a bigger deal is made of that than we’re probably asked to. Keep in mind in parables, there’s one main point. You don’t want to press the details on every little detail.

But I think maybe we could say this: this is not an issue about selfishness. It’s about the need for each person personally to trust Jesus. And so, what can be looked at as a communal happening also has a very personal application. And again, the issue is, do you recognize Jesus for who he is, your judge and your Savior? And so, there is a way in which one person’s trust in Jesus cannot be transmitted to another as though I can believe for you. I think I would take that from it, but I wouldn’t press it too hard.

Anthony: Yeah, that’s an excellent point. We can only survive so long on secondhand convictions, right? We all need pastors, mentors, coaches and whatnot, but at some point, we stand on our own convictions, right? And therefore, because of our conviction that Christ is, as you said, our Savior, we’ll keep awake. But in doing so, we won’t worry so much about the day and the hour because we don’t know, right? So why waste our energies on that sort of thing?

Ted: And the fact of the matter is having trust in Jesus is sufficient provision for that waiting.

Anthony: That’s right.

Ted: Hallelujah.

Anthony: Yeah.