This morning, I’m sure many of you would like me to comment on the election. … And I’m sure some of you are also thinking, “Lord, please, no! Nothing more on the election!” But, while I shouldn’t say much, nor should I say nothing, I think today’s parable—the Parable of the Ten Virgins—gives us plenty of wisdom to reflect upon in our present moment. So, I personally will say no more on the election, but as I speak I believe the Holy Spirit will speak His Wisdom...
In order to draw out that wisdom, I’m going to take a slightly different approach today in my homily than I usually do. First, I’m going to explain a few of the details of the parable and explain them a little (what academics call a little exegesis). Then, I’m going to provide two important notes about the geography of where Jesus says the parable and of when He says the parable. And from there, I think we will quickly find the real-world application today.
That said, I want to point out that what I’m about to give you is not my personal interpretation. This interpretation comes from the Patristic Fathers—that is, from those who were taught by the Apostles themselves or from those taught by them. A nice collection of these can be found in St. Thomas Aquinas’ Cantena Aurea.
So, as we begin the parable, we meet ten virgins. These ten virgins represent the entirety of humanity. We note that they are divided in half—five being wise and five being foolish—as humanity often is. Please note: Jesus does not say two are wise and eight are foolish. We often think that there are so few wise—or that the wise are a minority—but here Jesus numbers them as half.
These ten virgins, all of them, are waiting. And for whom are they waiting? The bridegroom—that is, Jesus.
Why are they waiting? They are waiting because, for some reason, the bridegroom is not there. And He is delayed. But the virgins all know that He is coming. This is a description of our current moment: Jesus ascended into heaven (and is thus, in a way, not here) and we are all waiting for the end of time when He shall “come again.” But, humanity has been waiting for a while. He is delayed.
While the ten virgins (that is, all of humanity) waits for Him, Jesus tell us they all become “drowsy and fall asleep.” Paul, in our second reading (from his letter to the Thessalonians—which is a letter whose theme is very much about the end of all times)—Paul says, “I do not want you to be unaware… about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest who have no hope.” In other words, when Jesus says that the virgins “fell asleep,” He was saying that they died. All of humanity will die waiting.
Then, at midnight—that is, in the darkest hour when no one expects the Messiah to return—the bridegroom, Jesus, is announced as coming. The messengers, whom we call angels, cry out in a “trumpet blast”: “Come out to meet Him!”
But, remember, the virgins are dead. And we bury the dead. So, when the angels say “come out,” they mean “come out of your tombs.” This is the resurrection of the dead. The dead “wake up” and are raised from their graves when Jesus comes at the end of time.
What happens next?
Jesus says that the foolish members of humanity, when taking their lamps, brought no… oil… with them.
Lamps… oil… what do they symbolize? The lamps represents the human soul. And the oil—the oil comes from the press, from the olive that is crushed. That is to say, the oil are the sufferings and sacrifices that we have offered to God in love when we felt pressed and crushed.
The wise have this oil. They have lived a life of sacrificial love. And, as a result, their souls, the lamps, have the bright light that comes from this oil of sacrificial love on fire with the Holy Spirit.
The foolish do not have this oil and thus do not have this light in this dark, midnight hour.
So, when Jesus comes, the foolish scurry about, looking for this oil but find none. (Earthly life is the time to be pressed into oil; but in death, there is nothing more to be pressed). So, the foolish ask the wise for some oil. And the wise, in their wisdom, speak something that seems to be harsh. The wise say: “go … and buy [it] for yourselves.”
What does this mean? The wise are pointing out that the foolish, during their early life, had always sought comforts in the world, buying those comforts by selling their lives. Judas bought thirty pieces of silver by selling Christ. Judas thought he could buy his own salvation—and that’s why he was foolish. Thus, the wise are simply pointing out that how the foolish lived on earth is how the foolish will live in eternity: as fools: trying to buy their way into heavenly comfort without carrying the pressing Cross. And the wise can do nothing about that now in death.
While the foolish are away, doing what they have always done, Jesus the bridegroom comes and brings the wise into the wedding feast with Him—that is heaven.
The foolish come back and everyone is gone and it is still dark. This is hell. They find the doors locked and, without any humility, they command Jesus to open the door. They call Him “Lord,” for all will know Him as Lord. But Jesus replies: “I do not know you.”
The doors remain locked—which means this is forever.
Jesus then ends the parable with the warning: “Stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
A Geographical Note
So, that is the explanation of the parable. I want to take a little detour and tell you about Mount Olives. Mount Olives is where Jesus ascended into heaven, forty days after His Crucifixion and Resurrection. Mount Olives, too, is where the prophets foretold that the Messiah would come at the end of time.
At the base of Mount Olives, there is an olive press. This is where olives would be crushed so as to create oil. Next to that olive press there at the base of Mount Olives is a Garden. You know this garden: it is the Garden of Gethsemane—the place where Jesus was in agony during the night before He died.
When I was on pilgrimage there, the tour guide told us that the word “Gethsemane” means, get this, olive press.
Thus, in the Garden of Gethsemane—the Garden of the Olive Press—Jesus Himself is being pressed, crushed, under the weight of our sins. He sweats blood—the oil from the olive.
And what were the foolish virgins lacking? … that very oil.
This is all very mind-blowing, I think. But why do I mention all of this about Mount Olives and the Olive Press and the Garden of Gethsemane. It’s not just to make the connection about the virgins’ lamps and their oil.
The reason is this: because Jesus taught His disciples this parable at the base of Mount Olives.
And as He says the parable, the Garden of Gethsemane would be right over His shoulder. And He could point “over there” to the Garden and say, “Stay awake, for you know not the day nor the hour.”
In fact, what does Jesus say in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Peter, will you not stay awake with me for one hour?” Peter, this is the hour that I was talking about!
A Timeline Note
Here, I must give you one final detail and that is about when Jesus told His disciples this parable. He doesn’t tell them weeks, months, or years before the Agony in the Garden.
Jesus tells them just two days prior. The Agony in the Garden happens on a Thursday night. The teaching of the Ten Virgins happens when Jesus visited Gethsemane on that Tuesday afternoon.
Can you imagine?
Stay awake, for you do not know the day nor the hour—indeed, you have no idea, you think it’s going to happen a long time from now—but it’s just two days away, Peter. Two days.
A Word for Our Times
We know the rest of the story, right? In the Garden, Peter and the Apostles become drowsy and fall asleep. And then they scatter when Jesus is arrested. They were foolish.
After the Crucifixion and, then, the glorious Resurrection, Jesus comes to them. They are afraid. Jesus doesn’t have to give them a second chance. He doesn’t have to forgive them. But He does.
The point here is that, after the Ascension—on Mount Olives—Peter and the Apostles would have walked down the mountain and would have passed by Gethsemane and, also, the entry where Jesus talked about the Ten Virgins.
And the Apostles would have begun to teach that parable to everyone, as though to say: Don’t be foolish like us. We didn’t realize we only had two days. And we received a second chance so that we could warn you now. Jesus will come again, in the night, like a thief. And you must be ready. You must let yourself be pressed by the Cross. Do not seek to buy your salvation, but be wise and seek it from him. We received the second chance to tell you this. This is your second chance.
Or, let me put it another way: what if Our Lord had come last Tuesday, during Election Night? Would you have been ready?
I mean, we spent all that energy and worry—and Our Lord could have come and interrupted the whole thing before votes were even begun to be counted. And some would maybe have become disappointed about that: You mean, the End of the World—now?!—but who won the election???!?
And I must admit: had Jesus come that night, I would not have been ready. I was foolish. Because, sometimes—oftentimes—we get wrapped up in the stuff here below (and sometimes that stuff is pretty important), but we forget the more important, indeed more ultimate, things of life.
A Resolution
So, with your two days left, how are you going to get right with God? What do you need to do to be less foolish and more wise? Let’s make a resolution right now….
Live the next two days that way. Live the rest of your
life that way. This is your second chance.
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