The Parable of the Wise Virgins
Matthew 25:1-13
Introduction
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If this is your first time here, welcome! Here’s some background on this newsletter. Ernesto Cardenal was a Nicaraguan priest, poet, politician, and liberation theologian. One of his projects was to collaboratively read the gospels with the campesinos of Nicaragua. If the Jesus ministered, taught, healed, and living among the poor people of first century Judea, then perhaps the least of these today can help us better understand Jesus’s message. We participate in this by reading The Gospel in Solentiname, Cardenal’s collection of their discussions. If you would like to learn more about the context of these conversations, there’s nothing better than reading Cardenal’s introduction to the book here.
Last week, we read about Jesus cursing the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees. You can read that here. This week, following the Revised Common Lectionary, lets read about the Parable of the Wise Virgins.
Lectionary Reading
Matthew 25:1-13
[Jesus said], “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten young women took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those young women got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet, and the door was shut. Later the other young women came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
Solentiname Reading
We commented on the Gospel in the hut, after a lunch of fried fish, tortillas, and an onion salad that Natalia brought.
The kingdom of heaven is like ten girls that came to bring light to a wedding with their lamps, some with enough oil, others without enough.
As the bridegroom delayed in coming, they all got sleepy, and they finally went to sleep.
“This parable refers to the marriage of God with the people. The bridegroom that humanity will have is true love, which is God. But when we say that God is love, we don't mean it's any old love, like the love of a couple, that can be selfish. That love means there won't be any more injustice on earth. That love is the revolution.”
I said that a Latin American theologian (Padre Juan Luis Segundo) says that the word “kingdom” that Jesus used was at that time as explosive as the word “revolution” is today.
“It seems that those girls got tired of waiting and fell asleep. Maybe you can get tired of waiting for the kingdom of love and you say: ‘well, it's late in coming,’ and you stop waiting for that kingdom.”
I said it seemed to me that this parable is addressed especially to Christians. For two thousand years they'd been announcing the coming of the kingdom, and it seemed it was coming at any moment. And it hasn't come yet. It seems as though it's never going to come. The parable says that they all got sleepy and fell asleep. And so it has happened in history: Christianity didn't even go on waiting for that kingdom. But in the parable the girls weren't reproached for having fallen asleep. It seems that, since the bridegroom didn't come, there was nothing to do but go to sleep. What it says is that some had a good supply of oil, and others didn't.
“Take us here in Solentiname: Some are selfish, individualists; others are real comrades, who have love. Some are not going to be prepared when socialism comes, a society of equals, where we'll all be alike. The others are going to be prepared, they're ready right now because they have a community spirit.”
“At first I couldn't make any sense out of this parable, but now I see it has a lot to do with our community. Some are negative, you'll never be able to do anything with them. Others are passive too, maybe they went to sleep for a while, but they're prepared. It seems that the revolution isn't coming, but it'll soon be here, and the ones that aren't ready'll be screwed.”
Then at about midnight, a shout was heard: “Here comes the bridegroom! Go out to receive him!”
ESPERANZA: “It seems like the change is going to be sudden, and very quick, right?”
FELIPE: “At midnight, when it was dark, and quiet, and they were sleepy.”
JULIO: “They all began by having oil. That oil is love. The ones that ran out of oil are the Christians that don't have enough love, right? They had some at first, but they didn't have enough for such a long wait.”
OSCAR: “Those ten girls are all of us, and just as in that example there were five and five, so also among Christians there are some on the side of justice and others not. And when the bridegroom comes, the ones on the side of injustice are going to look for love right then, but it'll be too late.”
OLIVIA: “It'll be too late to look for it, because love can't be learned in a day, you learn love all your life, and you teach it to your children, or else you teach your children selfishness. And people that have grown up with a selfish mentality and that belong to a society that's all selfish, how are they going to change suddenly?”
And the thoughtless ones said to the thoughtful ones: “Give us a little of your oil, because our lamps are going out.” But the thoughtful ones said. “No, because then there won't be enough for us or for you. You'd better go and buy some.”
“There are many that always take advantage of other people's work, and those guys, when the kingdom comes, they won't have anything prepared for that kingdom, and when they see that now everything is happening, they're going to want to take advantage of what the others have achieved. And they'll say: ‘Well, can we come in now?’ And they won't let them come in. Jesus is telling us we mustn't wait for others to do things, for other people to establish justice and love on earth.”
“And I see here, too, that you can't share solidarity with the selfish because then there won't be enough solidarity for everybody. In a revolutionary society the selfish have to be excluded.”
While they were going to buy it, the bridegroom came, and the girls who were prepared went in to the wedding with him and the door was closed.
“Oil gives light and joy, and that's the way love is. Each person is a lamp, but a person without love is a lamp that's gone out.”
“He means that that error, not being ready for the kingdom, is not going to be forgiven. Those girls had the doors closed on them, they weren't forgiven.”
“It's clear that the kingdom won't be for everyone. Five were left and five weren't.”
TOMAS PEÑA: “Those young ladies that didn't have much fuel didn't go to buy the oil sooner, earlier in the night. If they had time to go, why didn't they go sooner and not wait until the bridegroom came! It's a good thing they closed the door on them.”
I: “I suppose that when all of humanity loves one another, then we'll have the wedding of humanity with God, which is love: the marriage of God with the people, as it has been said here. But this parable also makes us see that inhumanity there are those who love and those who do not love, those who unite humankind and those who divide humankind. Some enter and the others stay outside, and the door closes.”
FELIPE: “The ones who don't get in are the exploiters, who want to keep us apart.”
LAUREANO: “There are guys who've been revolutionaries before, and have even been in a war, and they've lost their spirit. And now again there's warfare in Nicaragua, and all they're interested in is making dough. It seems to me that those guys also ran out of lamp oil.”
“The Gospel gives the example of some girls, and maybe that's because this applies mainly to young people: the young people of humanity that keep the oil coming, and the young people that don't have any more.”
OLIVIA: “The Gospel's for everybody, old and young. We've all got to keep our hope alive, like young people.”
ALEJANDRO: “That's why an irresponsible young person is unforgivable.”
OSCAR: “The young people whose oil runs out are like they're old. Their flame is gone, their love is gone. They didn't have enough love for other people. Their oil runs out, and without oil there's no light. There's no light for the feast.”
Be wakeful, for you don't know the day or the hour when the Son of Man will come.
ESPERANZA: “He means that the change can come at any moment.”
I: “It's going to be a surprise, according to this, and when least expected. These words are encouraging, so that we won't lose hope thinking that the kingdom never came.”
OLIVIA: “When they talk about these things, especially among us simple people, about how we don't know the day or the hour when Christ is going to come, all they think of is more praying, more obeying of religious rules. They don't think of the revolution, and that's like being asleep, because this religion puts people asleep. And Christ tells us, on the contrary, to be awake, with our consciences wide awake.”
“And a lot of people are afraid of that day. When that Managua earthquake came, lots of people thought it was the Last Judgment. And Jesus says it's going to be like a feast.”
OSCAR: “It's a great joy, man! In a feast we all get together and we share everything that's there, and we all take part in all the talking and we're all happy; you're full of joy. And when we're all together here, you feel happy, you feel a joy, it's a kingdom that we're all sharing in, it's a little like, like the coming of the bridegroom, I'd say.”
I: “The gathering has to be of everyone, and that's why the resurrection is needed. All those that have died will also share in that joy, provided they lived with their lamp oil ready.”
LAUREANO: “Now only a few people can afford to have big feasts, with whiskey and fancy things.”
I: “Christ said specifically that the rich would be excluded from that kingdom.”
LAUREANO: “That's because we're going to close the doors on them.”
OLIVIA: “It won't be a feast like those feasts; it'll be more like the feast there is when in a country every single one eats and every single one has medicine and every single one has clothes. If it was like that here, all Solentiname would be a feast, and all Nicaragua would be a feast because there's going to be love, and because there's going to be everything for everybody. And it's pretty much like that kind of a feast that the kingdom of heaven will be.”
OSCAR: “Look: when a rich bastard has a feast, the poor people can't share. But when the people have a feast it's a joy for everybody and even the rich can share in it. It seems to me it'll be like that, like the people's feasts, the one that God offers in the kingdom.”
I: “But the humanity that has already died has to share also in that feast; otherwise it would be a very exclusive and very unfair feast, like those of the rich. We'll all have to be alive, resurrected, in that new humanity, and it'll be a humanity that's going to die, because this is the wedding of humanity with God, who is love, the very fountain of life. I've wondered about one thing: why does the bridegroom of this parable get to the feast so late? The appointed time must have been earlier, since the girls who were waiting for him fell asleep. I think it must have been because the feast, for some reason, was delayed. This seems to be trying to tell us that the marriage of God and the people has also had a delay in history. We don't know why, and it will take place later than it was programmed. And that's why we're still in the darkness of the night, sleepy, hungry, cold, waiting for the bride and groom to arrive and for the feast to begin.”
Next Week
Next week we’re continuing our journey in Matthew 25 to cover the Parable of the Talents. I know this parable is always used in defense of capitalism, so I’m very excited to see what the campesinos have to say about it.
What was the most interesting part of this week’s discussion? Let me know your opinions in the comments. Thanks for subscribing and sharing. I’ll see you next week.