Friday of 21st Week in Ordinary Time
LOOKING FORWARD TO THE LORD’S COMING
Paul knows that the Christians of Corinth are not only divided in their loyalties but are also influenced by the Greek tendency to philosophize about everything. But their salvation, their true wisdom lies in Christ, who saved them by the cross.
The key point of the parable of the wise and the foolish virgins in today’s gospel is not so much vigilance as foresight, readiness for the kingdom, and only then, consequently, vigilance.
First Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:17-25
God didn’t send me out to collect a following for myself, but to preach the Message of what he has done, collecting a following for him. And he didn’t send me to do it with a lot of fancy rhetoric of my own, lest the powerful action at the center—Christ on the Cross—be trivialized into mere words.
The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerfully as it turns out. It’s written,
I’ll turn conventional wisdom on its head,
I’ll expose so-called experts as crackpots.
So where can you find someone truly wise, truly educated, truly intelligent in this day and age? Hasn’t God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense? Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb—preaching, of all things!—to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation.
While Jews clamor for miraculous demonstrations and Greeks go in for philosophical wisdom, we go right on proclaiming Christ, the Crucified. Jews treat this like an anti-miracle—and Greeks pass it off as absurd. But to us who are personally called by God himself—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God’s ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one. Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can’t begin to compete with God’s “weakness.”
Gospel: Matthew 25:1-13
“God’s kingdom is like ten young virgins who took oil lamps and went out to greet the bridegroom. Five were silly and five were smart. The silly virgins took lamps, but no extra oil. The smart virgins took jars of oil to feed their lamps. The bridegroom didn’t show up when they expected him, and they all fell asleep.
“In the middle of the night someone yelled out, ‘He’s here! The bride-groom’s here! Go out and greet him!’
“The ten virgins got up and got their lamps ready. The silly virgins said to the smart ones, ‘Our lamps are going out; lend us some of your oil.’
“They answered, ‘There might not be enough to go around; go buy your own.’
“They did, but while they were out buying oil, the bridegroom arrived. When everyone who was there to greet him had gone into the wedding feast, the door was locked.
“Much later, the other virgins, the silly ones, showed up and knocked on the door, saying, ‘Master, we’re here. Let us in.’
“He answered, ‘Do I know you? I don’t think I know you.’
“So stay alert. You have no idea when he might arrive.
Prayer
Lord our God, source of all wisdom,
you invite us to be wise
and to encounter your Son
with burning lamps in our hands.
Help us to be prepared to meet him
in the events of daily life
and in people around us,
that we may enter with him
into your feast that lasts for ever. Amen.
Reflection:
26 August 2022
Matthew 25: 1-13
No one can substitute you.
The parable of the ten virgins is a bit confusing: the foolish virgins could also have joined the wedding with the little oil they still had! When the markets are closed at midnight, where would they go to buy oil from? The wise virgins are so selfish that they refuse to share the oil they had, which is very much un-Christian!
Fr. Fernando Armellini gives a beautiful reflection of the parable and says that the call to “stay awake, for you do not know the day nor the hour” is confusing as well: even the wise virgins slept and have not been vigilant. The figure of the groom behaves strange – he was late to arrive but then slams the doors on a few who, in fact, waited for a long time for his arrival.
The number five and the image of virgins are symbols of the people of Israel. Number ten indicates the totality. The ten virgins represent the people of Israel awaiting the Messiah. Only a few of them – the five wise virgins – are prepared to accept and enter the Christian community, while the five foolish virgins are not attentive to God’s plans. This was the message of the parable.
However, fifty years after the time of Jesus, when Matthew wrote his Gospel, the problems faced by his community were different. Therefore, Matthew adapted the parable to the catechetical needs of his communities. The early Christian communities were expecting an imminent second coming of Jesus. Many decades have passed, but nothing has happened. Gradually they lose patience and return to their previous lifestyles and behaviours.
Matthew adapts the parable to emphasise the importance of being prepared. Here, the ten virgins indicate the Christian community that awaits the return of Jesus – in his second coming. However, why are some of them foolish here? The co-existence of good and bad was a theme that Matthew had developed already: the wheat and the weeds grow together; the good fishes and the bad are in the same net; clean and dirty people sit at the same table; thus, the wise and the foolish are side by side.
The wise virgins, who refuse to share their oil with their companions, contain a valuable message. It is not because they are selfish, but it shows that no one else can substitute for your faith and preparedness. The closing of the door indicates the end of every opportunity to accept Jesus. It is urgent to discern how to use life well.
Jesus comes not only at the end of our life. He comes in every moment and wants to find us engaged in service to our brothers and sisters. We should always keep the lamp of hope, love, and justice burning in our rooms – in our lives, for the poor and the stranger seeking help.