Are you foolish or wise?
32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Wisd 6:12-16; Psalm 62; 1 Tess 4:13-18; Mt 25:1-13
An Italian idiom says: “I paragoni sono odiosi”, driving home the message that making comparisons between people is not healthy. But the 4 Gospels shows us that Jesus made frequent use of comparisons as one of his pedagogical strategies for spreading the Good News. In his parables and discourses he delights in creating contrasts between two categories of people to help us see clearly to which category we belong. In the Gospel extract which the Church proclaims on the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, we are challenged with the pressing question: are we foolish or wise?
Among the 4 Evangelists, it is Matthew alone who narrates the parable of the 10 bridesmaids (Mt 25:1-13), whereby he continues to stress the importance of being ready for the coming of the Son of Man. This emphasis reaches a climax in the final comment of Jesus: “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (v.13).
The parable creates a sharp contrast between 5 foolish bridesmaids and 5 wise bridesmaids. As the story takes its course, we realize that the criterion which makes one foolish and the other one wise is the “oil” – “when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps (vv. 3-4). The lack of oil reveals that the fooilsh bridesmaids did not take precautions, and hence, they did not prepare themselves for a possible delay of the bridegroom. And the unexpected thing happened … the bridegroom came at an unpredicted hour when the foolish bridesmaids were off to buy the oil for their lamps … “and the door was shut” (v.10).
It was in vain that, on their return, the foolish bridesmaids pleaded, “Lord, lord, open to us” for they were only met with the blunt response of: “Truly I tell you, I do not know you” (v.12). This is a very hard reply which echoes another statement phrased by Jesus in his sermon on the mount: “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” (Mt 7:21).
This is the core message of the whole of Matthew’s Gospel. It is the works or deeds of the Christian (it is these which constitute the oil!) which make one foolish or wise. As Saint James declares in his Letter, “faith (i.e. the lamps) without works (i.e. the oil) is dead” (Jas 2:26) … “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say that you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?” (Jas 2:14). As we approach the end of the liturgical year, may this Sunday’s Gospel make us recall that the disciple is called to conform his thoughts, words and deeds to the faith which he/she professes (lex credendi, lex vivendi).
Wisd 6:12-16; Psalm 62; 1 Tess 4:13-18; Mt 25:1-13
An Italian idiom says: “I paragoni sono odiosi”, driving home the message that making comparisons between people is not healthy. But the 4 Gospels shows us that Jesus made frequent use of comparisons as one of his pedagogical strategies for spreading the Good News. In his parables and discourses he delights in creating contrasts between two categories of people to help us see clearly to which category we belong. In the Gospel extract which the Church proclaims on the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, we are challenged with the pressing question: are we foolish or wise?
Among the 4 Evangelists, it is Matthew alone who narrates the parable of the 10 bridesmaids (Mt 25:1-13), whereby he continues to stress the importance of being ready for the coming of the Son of Man. This emphasis reaches a climax in the final comment of Jesus: “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (v.13).
The parable creates a sharp contrast between 5 foolish bridesmaids and 5 wise bridesmaids. As the story takes its course, we realize that the criterion which makes one foolish and the other one wise is the “oil” – “when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps (vv. 3-4). The lack of oil reveals that the fooilsh bridesmaids did not take precautions, and hence, they did not prepare themselves for a possible delay of the bridegroom. And the unexpected thing happened … the bridegroom came at an unpredicted hour when the foolish bridesmaids were off to buy the oil for their lamps … “and the door was shut” (v.10).
It was in vain that, on their return, the foolish bridesmaids pleaded, “Lord, lord, open to us” for they were only met with the blunt response of: “Truly I tell you, I do not know you” (v.12). This is a very hard reply which echoes another statement phrased by Jesus in his sermon on the mount: “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” (Mt 7:21).
This is the core message of the whole of Matthew’s Gospel. It is the works or deeds of the Christian (it is these which constitute the oil!) which make one foolish or wise. As Saint James declares in his Letter, “faith (i.e. the lamps) without works (i.e. the oil) is dead” (Jas 2:26) … “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say that you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?” (Jas 2:14). As we approach the end of the liturgical year, may this Sunday’s Gospel make us recall that the disciple is called to conform his thoughts, words and deeds to the faith which he/she professes (lex credendi, lex vivendi).
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