Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!” Matthew 25: 1-13

                                                                                                                

Dear Parishioners: As we near the end of the liturgical year, Jesus gives us another parable in today’s gospel relating to the end of times and our own personal end. At the time of Jesus, and in the early church when this gospel was written, there had been a great expectation that Jesus’ second coming was imminent and that it would likely happen during the lifetimes of the first disciples. Today’s parable brings up the possibility that the bridegroom might be “delayed.” As those in the early church came to accept that the timeline for Jesus’ return might be much different from what they had originally expected and hoped, they saw the need to keep up the urgency that first accompanied the task Jesus had given them: to go out and spread the gospel to all nations. In today’s gospel we are reminded of the need to be prepared and “stay awake.” We do not know the hour or our Lord’s return, nor do we know the hour when our lives will end. As we read every Ash Wednesday in St. Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, we do not need to wait for a more “acceptable time” to fully give our lives to Christ, for “now is the day of salvation.”                       

“Be prepared” seems to reflect the attitude of many of the parables in Matthew’s gospel. Though Christians often imagine a forgiving God, that concept needs to be squared with the parables we read, such as the one we have today. Why didn’t the master simply let the “foolish” ones in? Is it really that important that they forgot to bring extra oil? Does the punishment fit the crime, so to speak? Again, these questions come readily to mind, but they are not the focus of the story. Instead, the point of the parable is “preparedness” with respect to the coming of the “Lord.” And this likely reflects the situation in Matthew’s community. This is the same gospel that gives us the parable of the weeds and the wheat growing together. Matthew seems to be aware that the church is a mixed bag of the wise and the foolish, those prepared for the Lord’s coming and those who are unprepared. It is not for one group to throw out the other. God will allow those to enter whom he will. The ill-prepared, hoping on that day for someone else to bail them out, will not be allowed to enter.

                       

The meaning of Jesus’ parables can be difficult to discern. And they may have more than one meaning. One can read into them almost anything. The parable we read today should be a clarion call to “be prepared” for the coming of Jesus at the end times. And even if we think the end times are far, far away, my own personal end (death) may come when I least expect it. So, it can be a fruitful exercise to read these parables in terms of my own death: Am I prepared for that? How would I live on this earth if today were my last? Or if this week were my last? Would my priorities shift? This kind of exercise can clarify our own priorities and behaviors. Jesus reminds us that the fools are the ones who were not prepared for the coming of the master. Let us be like the wise ones, attentive to the coming of the Lord, for we know not when that day might be.

                       

In the Good Shepherd,

Rev. Robert B. Adamo