Jesus Tells the Parable of the Lamps, and Cautions Us: When Good Enough in Our Spirituality is Not Really Being Ready (TA)

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Jesus Tells the Parable of the Lamps, and Cautions Us: When Good Enough in Our Spirituality is Not Really Being Ready (TA)

The Lord be with you. A reading from the holy gospel according to Matthew.

Jesus told his disciples this parable. 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 of them were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them. But the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps.
Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry. Behold the bridegroom! Come out to meet him. Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise ones replied, No, there may not be enough for us and you.

Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves. When they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards, the other virgins came and said, Lord, Lord, open the door for us. But he said in reply, Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.

Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Homily

There is a note of seeking and waiting in all of our readings today. From the ardent longing expressed in our responsorial psalm, to the exhortation to desire and seek after wisdom that we have in our first reading, to the Lord’s parable of the virgins, five wise and five foolish, and to the statement that St. Paul makes to the church at Thessalonica with regard to their brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep in death. And these themes blend together in a striking way as the church combines them for us today. The readings as we come to the end of Ordinary Time take on a note of ultimacy. We look in these readings forward to that great day when all things are made complete.

And against that horizon of all things being made complete, we also recognize and are reminded that there’s a personal ultimacy as well that awaits each and every one of us. But before we get to the ultimate point, there’s now. And so some of our readings speak of a waiting and a keeping vigil now, and others speak about what will happen when that last day finally arrives.

The Wedding Banquet Image

And the image that orders everything is the image of the wedding banquet in the parable that Jesus teaches. One of the most ancient images in sacred scripture. that refers to salvation is the wedding banquet. And it’s a remarkable vision that on that day, that day will come when the sorrow of this world will pass away and be replaced, not merely with joy, but with a mighty celebration.

And a celebration that does not end. With an abundance of food and drink on the tables, and some of the images in sacred scripture are dramatic, you, nobody is polite at this party. And there is greasy grease running down people’s beards, and wine being spilled, and songs being raised, and we’re not used to thinking of heaven as being so unruly as that.

But it’s an image of an unbridled, deep joy that casts out all sorrow. And so the image then of the Lord bringing his redeemed people to himself like a groom receiving his bride and then rejoicing and that joy does not pass. So this is the context in which Jesus is speaking. It is not simply an image of a single earthly wedding.

The Wedding of Salvation

It is the image of that great wedding, that great wedding of salvation. And so here it is that there are ten virgins whose job is to receive, meet the bridegroom, and with their lighted lamps shining out of the darkness, in joy, accompany him to the pride of place at the banquet table. That’s quite a dignity, that is given to these virgins.

They are the ones and nobody else set aside to receive him, to greet him, to escort him. And within the light of their lamps, he will move forward. And so it is that there are ten equally given dignity, equally invited, equally given a place of prominence. But know what the Lord says.

But they don’t receive that dignity in the same way. Five of them, he says, are foolish. Five of them are wise. And the difference between the wise and the foolish is not how well they did in school. It is not how well they understand the world. It is simply the wise ones recognize I need to make sure I have enough oil to keep my lamp going.

The Dignity Was Not Received . . .

And why? Because I have one job. I have to be ready when the bridegroom comes and my lamp must be lit. It’s a simple thing. It’s a simple thing. And yet note the care that says, I need to make sure that I have everything I need. And if I have extra, that’s okay. But I need to make sure that I have enough because I do not know exactly when he’s going to arrive.

But that doesn’t change the fact that I need to be ready. And the other five said, My lamp is full, I’m ready to go, it will be okay. This is good enough. And as the Lord lays this out, He puts on the table before us the danger of that spirit that can live inside of all of us, where we’re content with good enough, aren’t we?

. . . the Same Way By All

There’s something in the human heart that says, I really want the best, and yet, more often than not, I settle for good enough. I settle for, well, okay, I got this, this will be enough. And note how that attitude argues against me doing anything extra. It argues against me taking a further step. It argues against generosity, because good enough is good enough.

And so we have this spirit of good enough versus I need to be ready. And my respect for the bridegroom is good enough isn’t good enough. I need to make sure I have everything I need. Not just what I need for now, but what I need for later when he does arrive. And so we hear that the bridegroom is a long time coming and all of a sudden those lamps that were full aren’t as full as they used to be.

And then we hear that all ten of the virgins fall asleep. Note, sleep overtakes all of them. The wise virgins are no stronger than the foolish ones. The foolish ones are no weaker than the strong ones. Exhaustion and sleep come to all of them. And then there’s that moment. That moment where their slumber is broken and that voice sounds saying the bridegroom is here, rise and welcome him.

Be Ready

And note how in his own way it anticipates what St. Paul writes some 25 years later to the church in Thessalonica. Our brothers and sisters have all equally fallen asleep. Someday we will fall asleep too. But there will be that moment when the trumpet sounds and the voice is heard that the Lord is here and those who have fallen asleep, oh, they will wake up and they will rise.

So on the one hand, on the one hand, the Lord is pointing out for us that sooner or later all of us will fall asleep too. That end of life. comes for everybody. But out of that sleeping there is the moment of waking again. And the issue then becomes not whether I wake up, the issue is how do I wake up. So, it is that the wise virgins wake up and they still have oil for their lamps.

And so the flame will still burn on the other side of their slumber. But the others realize there’s no flame left. Note the difference. Note the difference. Equally they fall asleep. Equally they wake up. And yet those who fell asleep prepared wake up with the light still burning. Those who were content with good enough wake up with not enough.

And what happens then? All of a sudden, good enough becoming not enough requires these virgins to run out in the darkness of the night trying to find a store that’s open where they can get more oil. And we know that that’s not going to happen. And so they run into the darkness trying to find what they should have had all along.

Receive the Bridegroom

Only to find out that the others meet the bridegroom because they are ready. Their lamps are burning and with joy they receive him. And with joy he accompanies them and they enter the hall of rejoicing. Note the finality. And then the door is closed and it’s locked. And again for us just to linger with that image of the closed door.

The locked door. And we find that those other five who were invited, who had that great dignity given to them and one thing to do and only one thing to do, be ready. But they weren’t. Suddenly find out that good enough leaves them locked out of the banquet. What a remarkable moment. This moment where they come banging on the door saying, Please open, please open, please open.

And the answer, this strange answer, because one would think, How does he not know them? He invited them. And yet he says, I tell you, I do not know you. Go away. And the scene ends right there. Then the Lord turns to his disciples and basically says, Are you getting the message here? And it’s an important message.

It’s a challenging one, even a disturbing one, and yet a necessary one. The Lord reminds us that while we live is the time to be prepared. And so as He speaks to His disciples, He is saying, don’t presume that don’t presume that. When you come to the end of your days, you’re automatically ready because everything is good enough.

The Time of Preparation is While We Are on Earth

Because you’ll be missing something if that’s your attitude. Rather, set your heart on being ready for what is great. And prepare yourself for it. This is why we have the other readings. Especially that beautiful reading from the book of Proverbs. That command to seek after wisdom. Because what’s the difference between the virgins?

Five of them have wisdom and five of them don’t. What is wisdom? Wisdom is what allows us to get our priorities straight. Wisdom is what allows us to recognize the value of the things of heaven and the relative value of the things of earth. And, Wisdom is that gift that says I need to make sure not only that I have the basic.

I need to be ready for what comes next. Note the difference. And so it is we find, in a sense, that those five virgins were wise because this was not the only time they kept vigil. They were like those to whom the first reading is addressed that says, Spend some time, Looking for and waiting on the wisdom of God.

Be Ready For What Comes Next

Begin doing that now. And what you’ll find, it’s a marvelous image. The one who seeks after wisdom, who longs for wisdom and who even gets up early to look for her as he opens the door to his house to step out, finds that wisdom’s already there waiting for him. But he would never find her if he didn’t look.

Note how marvelous that is. That idea that when the heart truly waits for the Lord, when our lives truly do seek after God, there comes that moment where we discover He finds us. Even as we go looking, so does He. And so the one who seeks after wisdom finds as he steps outside, The one he’s been looking for has been going through the streets, looking for him all along.

And she finds him. But it’s only the one who seeks, who gets found. What a marvelous, what a marvelous image that is. We hear it repeated in the psalm, which says, My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord. Not my soul wants you. But imagine that, a thirst deep within me. Like the ache in our throats when we desperately need a drink of water, my soul is thirsting for you.

My Soul Thirsts For You, Lord

And that thirst makes me sit up at night, waiting on your word, seeking after your will, seeking that moment where I will meet you. And note how both of these readings talk about a fundamental alertness in the spiritual life. Our problem is we don’t keep that vigil, we allow ourselves to fall asleep. And we fall asleep in things that seem basically good.

Note, Jesus doesn’t say five of the virgins were wicked and five of them were holy. He says five were wise and five were foolish. And the foolish ones are those who numbed themselves with the affairs of every day. It’s not that the affairs of every day are bad, but we’re not made only for those. There are those who fall asleep in their seeking after earthly accomplishments, earthly distractions, earthly pleasures.

There are those who fall asleep in their regrets and never look beyond them.

And so they never find and they are never found. And so the foolish virgins were never awake. It’s no surprise they fell asleep at the long wait for the bridegroom, because they didn’t know how to live with a certain wakefulness before that. The others, even though they fell asleep, lived a life that was alert, attentive. And awake.

Sometimes We Get Frustrated Spiritually

We often ask ourselves sometimes when we’re frustrated spiritually, Lord, where are you? You know, and sometimes you can almost imagine the Lord wanting to smack us on the back of the head and say, turn around. I’m right here. If you would stop looking over there, you would see me. Lord, where are you?

I ask and I ask and I don’t know where you are. And the Lord is saying, I have blessing in my hand for you right now. But why are you over there? We do this all the time. We fall asleep in these other things. And so Jesus turns to his disciples and says, You don’t want to do that. You don’t want to live that way.

You need to have the sufficient amount of oil because it’s going to be a while. And you want to be ready. And note the key, what is the real oil? That’s necessary. What does the bridegroom say to the foolish ones? I don’t know you.

That’s the lamp oil we need to have. We have to make sure that the Lord knows us. On the one hand, he’s God, he knows everything. But he’s not talking here about factual intellectual knowledge. The Lord wants to know us, and the only way to be known in that way is to spend time together. Where have you been?

I don’t know you. What history have we shared? What time have we spent together? Note now again how powerful those other readings become. I rise in the morning, Lord, to seek after you, because I want to know you. And I want you to know me. Not intellectually, but personally, to know me as one who is turning to you and opening his life to you.

The Lord Desires For Us . . .

I want you to know me. I want to know you. Further, I want to meet you. I don’t want to know about you. We’re really good at that. We’re really good about knowing about things and knowing about people. But knowing someone is a different thing. It requires an investment of ourselves, a gift of our time, a gift of our attention.

So, the Lord says to his disciples, don’t fall asleep. Well on the one hand he just told a story where everybody falls asleep. But what he really means is don’t live like a person who is sleepwalking through reality. Don’t live like one who is asleep. And all those things that weigh us down. Lift up your eyes, learn to look up, and learn to look for the signs of my presence.

Because they’re there. And when you live with that kind of attention, oh you’ll have the lamp oil. Oh you’ll have the lamp oil, because I will know you, and you will know me. And how really good it is for us to reflect on this with Our Lady right in front of us. Because she’s not one of the five wise virgins, this is the wisest of all virgins.

She is that one who waited for the bridegroom, and when the angel spoke and said he’s coming, oh, she was there. With her life and her heart full of grace. Filled with oil. Filled with attention. Furthermore, filled with obedience. Filled with everything that is good and because she was awake, awake, and she stepped forward to meet the bridegroom, he came into the world to save us.

. . . to Know Him . . .

Note how wonderful that is. Before anyone else ever heard that command to be awake, she did. And we all benefit from the fact that her jar of oil was so full it affects everybody. The virgins in the parable can’t share the oil for their lamps. Oh, but this one does. This one does, and that’s why turning to Our Lady in prayer can be so very powerful for us.

Because even as the oil runs out of the lamps of our hearts, she can help us obtain more while there’s time. Note how beautiful that is. And when we turn to her in prayer, what do we say in that simple prayer we learn to lisp as children? Pray for us now and at the hour of our death. In other words, when that moment of falling asleep comes, and that moment of the voice calls out and says, the bridegroom is here, get up.

. . . Personally

Know what we do. We say. Don’t leave me alone with my lamp. You be with me. You be with me at that moment. And let my lamp be kindled again from yours. What a marvelous, what a marvelous prayer that is. That back part of the Hail Mary doesn’t say nothing, it says a lot. And we see here that fullness because that moment comes, that moment comes for everybody.

And how wonderful it is that If we really do turn to her, we’re not alone. Ever. Even then. And how even more wondrous it is to reflect on these things in front of the altar. Because if the great image of salvation is the wedding banquet, this is our weekly dress rehearsal for that. And the bridegroom comes and he’ll be on the altar.

And? Whatever the state of my lamp, at least I’m here with a chance to come forward and meet him. Note how wonderful that is. And I can come forward, stretch out my hand, and there he is. And no door is locked against me today. Because he comes and he gives me himself. He comes and he receives me into himself.

But then he gives me that instruction. And so stay awake with this, stay awake by means of this, so that when that great day comes when I want to call you completely to myself, your lamp is full and you rise and you rise to a joy that will never end. Because the important message in all of this is that we’re not made for the locked door.

We’re made to go into the banquet. And we don’t want to miss that. Amen.