This coming Sunday is the 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time. Our gospel is the parable of the Ten Virgins. At the center of the parable are the “ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise”  Matthew has already used this doublet in the Sermon on the Mount. At the opening of the Sermon, Matthew 5:13, “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” The expression loses its taste, literally “becomes foolish.” Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time. Our gospel is the parable of the Ten Virgins. It was not that five slept and five stayed awake: v. 5 says explicitly that they all slept and all had to be awakened by the midnight shout. The problem goes back to the preparations they had made before going to sleep. At the core of the problem is that they lacked oil for their lamps. While the parable itself offers no allegorical identification for the oil, we do know that oil is a rich and multifaceted symbol in both the Old and New Testaments. Its symbolic use carries various meanings and significance in different contexts. Here are some of the key ways in which oil is symbolically used in both the Old and New Testaments: Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time. Our gospel is the parable of the Ten Virgins. “…the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.” (Mt 25:1) As best we can know the scene is part of the procession returning to the bridegroom’s home. This story mentions only two parties, the bridegroom and the ten girls. The precise role of the young women in the ceremonies is not clear but most scholars assume that  Hellenistic-Roman marriage customs also apply in Jewish circles at the time, and thus the young women are servants from the bridegroom’s house, awaiting the return of the bridegroom with his bride. Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time. Our gospel is the parable of the Ten Virgins. The gospel reading begins: “Jesus told his disciples this parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven will be like…’” and then goes on to place the parable in the midst of a first century wedding celebration. Both of Matther’s use of a wedding celebration setting are a part of the overarching message about the Kingdom of Heaven. Continue reading →

This coming Sunday is the 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Lectionary Cycle A. Our gospel is the parable of the Ten Virgins.

The gospel readings for the 29th through 31st Sundays in Lectionary Cycle A all describe a series of confrontations between Jesus and religious authorities of Jerusalem, namely the scribes and Pharisees. The reading for the 31st Sunday ends with Jesus warning the disciples to not become hypocrites like the scribes and Pharisees (Mt 23:12). It would seem like one more verse would have been a capstone to the warning: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites” (v.13) Continue reading →