AS we approach the closing of the liturgical year, the unpredictable coming of the Lord at the end of time is something we must be ready for in active watchfulness like the wise bridal maids did (Matthew 25:1-13).
The wedding maids
The somewhat perplexing wedding parable, when returned to its original simple line, tells us of the coming of the groom which is symbolically the advent of God’s kingdom, while pointing out the failure of some people to get included in its joy even as others prove themselves waiting and ready to share in it. This forthright message of the original parable of Jesus became embellished and allegorized in the retelling from community to community and from its oral to its written form. Lastly, within the evangelist Matthew’s framework of the great discourse in Chapter 25 about the end of the world, Christians are exhorted also by means of this wedding parable to prepare for that event whenever it may take place.
In the Palestinian world, a wedding is a grand happening that attracts everyone and to which everyone is invited. In Scripture, a wedding celebration naturally illustrates the gathering and the rejoicing fulfilled in the kingdom of God; it is a figure for the messianic banquet. The bridal maids, who customarily join the bride in waiting for the groom in order to process together with them to the wedding feast, aptly represent the invited people waiting for the celebration. Those who are prepared participate in the procession and enter the feast. But not everyone is like those ready bridesmaids, for there are foolish individuals who somehow are not ready when the groom comes to fetch his bride.
The wise and the foolish
The parable as we have it includes the unexplained long delay by the groom, while the bride and her maids wait at home. Finally, the groom is sighted coming. And the wisdom of some bridesmaids becomes manifest as they ready their individual lamps; the delay is not disastrous for them because they have enough oil in reserve for their lamps. But there are those bridesmaids who vainly try to ready their lamps for the procession, for they have no more oil. They are foolish in being improvident for the wedding without calculating for possible emergencies. The wise bridal maids are ready for any eventuality and do not take chances.
For us, this wedding parable logically metamorphosed to a “second coming” exhortation. The Parousia or the final coming of Christ, the eschatological groom, is unpredictable and open to delays. We are kept waiting, and it is idle to speculate about its day and hour. But such waiting can cause discouragement and anxiety, also carelessness and doubt. That is why the final coming calls for positive thinking and meaningful, purposeful behavior. These existential needs of the early Christians necessitated the realignment by the evangelist of the wedding parable to emphasize preparedness and watchfulness, attentiveness and convinced hopefulness in the return of Christ.
Alálaong bagá, they “have no more oil” or they “have enough oil” is a verdict of eternal consequence. For the oil needed to join in the wedding cortege stands for doing the will of the Father, as Jesus clearly pointed out: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). The foolish bridesmaids without oil for their lamps have merely their words “Lord, lord,” hollow without Christian deeds and incapable of opening the closed doors to the wedding feast. No wonder the wise bridesmaids could not share their oil with the foolish ones, for it is deep personal relationship with God as one lives in faithfulness to Him. It is not something that can be borrowed by someone else at the last minute. Indeed, preparedness is not just empty “waiting for” something to happen, but actively participating in the process leading to its fulfillment, wisely involved in the “becoming” and work in progress as God’s children doing His will (Matthew 21:28-32).
Join me in meditating on the Word of God every Sunday, from 5 to 6 a.m. on DWIZ 882, or by audio streaming on www.dwiz882.com.