Then in Matthew 25 Jesus brings in two parables to illustrate this message. The first is of the Ten Virgins and the second is of the Master and the Talents. Regardless if you see Matthew 24 and 25 as end-times literature or (as I do) a call to participate in the incarnation of Christ, we have a difficult situation in Matthew 25 to deal with. For the most part, this chapter fits fairly easily into either interpretation of scripture. But in the first parable something really frustrating appears. In the parable of the Ten Virgins we read the following,
1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ 7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ 9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. 11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’ 12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’ 13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
Coffman Commentary gives a fairly fundamental yet broadly accepted interpretation of the passage:
The parable is practical, the tragic story of the ready and the unready. It applies to all present-day Christians. The kingdom of heaven is the church, aptly set forth in the analogy as a company of precious bridesmaids. The great shock, therefore, is to realize that some, even of these, shall be summarily excluded from association with the bridegroom. The parable is designed to shock men into realization that a host of good, clean, moral, respectable members of the church will be lost. Through sheer negligence, many of the redeemed shall fail to enter in. The foolish virgins are the Lord's own example of saved persons who at last failed to make the port of everlasting life. This warns against idleness and neglect, but it should not discourage. Those foolish virgins did not provide oil, but they could have done so. What was required of them was nothing extraordinary or especially difficult, but it did require concern and attention which they failed to give.
I believe that many commentaries, like this one, neglect the details of the story which would suggest that even the foolish went with oil, just not enough. Meaning that they were not prepared for what could be a long wait. Since we don’t know when Christ will return we need to be prepared for the long haul. But in verses 8 and 9 something very interesting happens, “8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ 9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’” The only translations I have seen of these two short verses are very similar: we are judged by our own works and can’t live off the faithfulness of others. I can agree to an extent with this interpretation, but I do have a few problems with this blanket interpretation such as the fact that we aren’t judged by our works, that this parable suggests that all ten were “virgins”, and that I don’t believe this is end-times teachings. So maybe I disagree with this interpretation quite a bit. But my real frustration here is why the five wise virgins who took oil won’t share. From here we move to the parable of the talents where the message is more understandable about the importance of investing what we have been “blessed” with rather than protecting it hoping that the original blessing will be enough. The best that I can come up with here is that 25: 1-13 are part of a larger narrative that is far too often broken down into pieces that can preach more succinctly. Chapter 25, a parable shared with disciples, not the broader Christian community, is a teaching of responsibility that disciples have and to identify the ignorance that we disciples often have for the lack of intimacy that exists around us.
Far too often we live in a world of false intimacy. We believe that since Christians worship together, “waiting for the bridegroom” together that we have formed community. But what is often happening is that we exist in a world of false community. In an industrialized society this message is even greater as we value security above almost everything else. We enter into community sharing what is acceptable and palatable, but rarely engaging in relationships that usher in the turmoil of intimacy. We share in a community of shared “virginness”, but not in one of preparedness. When the incarnation presents itself, many faithful followers will miss out because of the unwillingness of “mature” followers to take the risk of developing true relationships. While we are fairly comfortable considering the role of mature Christians as bringing in new converts, discipling other Christians, encouraging and participating in missional work, and forming social support systems, the burden of shared pilgrimage is often far too great of a call. Acknowledging our own struggles and allowing others to share in our blessings is simply too much to ask. That often requires that we are no longer the expert, the blessed, or the mature, but a fellow seeker. In Matthew 25 we are guided to a second parable of investing our blessings. While the first parable warned the disciples of the need to move beyond their reluctance, the second parable warns us of what we can miss out of by not participating in the greater narrative. So while the “wise” virgins may get to experience the incarnation, they may very well miss out on the future incarnation of true community.
This has been a long post and I assume if you are anything like me that if you even got this far that you have scanned most of it, but I want to know your thoughts. What do you think verse 8 and 9 mean? On one additional note, of the small number of people who read my blog, a few of them are from Japan. Know that the prayers and thoughts of the entire world are with you.
1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ 7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ 9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. 11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’ 12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’ 13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
Coffman Commentary gives a fairly fundamental yet broadly accepted interpretation of the passage:
The parable is practical, the tragic story of the ready and the unready. It applies to all present-day Christians. The kingdom of heaven is the church, aptly set forth in the analogy as a company of precious bridesmaids. The great shock, therefore, is to realize that some, even of these, shall be summarily excluded from association with the bridegroom. The parable is designed to shock men into realization that a host of good, clean, moral, respectable members of the church will be lost. Through sheer negligence, many of the redeemed shall fail to enter in. The foolish virgins are the Lord's own example of saved persons who at last failed to make the port of everlasting life. This warns against idleness and neglect, but it should not discourage. Those foolish virgins did not provide oil, but they could have done so. What was required of them was nothing extraordinary or especially difficult, but it did require concern and attention which they failed to give.
I believe that many commentaries, like this one, neglect the details of the story which would suggest that even the foolish went with oil, just not enough. Meaning that they were not prepared for what could be a long wait. Since we don’t know when Christ will return we need to be prepared for the long haul. But in verses 8 and 9 something very interesting happens, “8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ 9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’” The only translations I have seen of these two short verses are very similar: we are judged by our own works and can’t live off the faithfulness of others. I can agree to an extent with this interpretation, but I do have a few problems with this blanket interpretation such as the fact that we aren’t judged by our works, that this parable suggests that all ten were “virgins”, and that I don’t believe this is end-times teachings. So maybe I disagree with this interpretation quite a bit. But my real frustration here is why the five wise virgins who took oil won’t share. From here we move to the parable of the talents where the message is more understandable about the importance of investing what we have been “blessed” with rather than protecting it hoping that the original blessing will be enough. The best that I can come up with here is that 25: 1-13 are part of a larger narrative that is far too often broken down into pieces that can preach more succinctly. Chapter 25, a parable shared with disciples, not the broader Christian community, is a teaching of responsibility that disciples have and to identify the ignorance that we disciples often have for the lack of intimacy that exists around us.
Far too often we live in a world of false intimacy. We believe that since Christians worship together, “waiting for the bridegroom” together that we have formed community. But what is often happening is that we exist in a world of false community. In an industrialized society this message is even greater as we value security above almost everything else. We enter into community sharing what is acceptable and palatable, but rarely engaging in relationships that usher in the turmoil of intimacy. We share in a community of shared “virginness”, but not in one of preparedness. When the incarnation presents itself, many faithful followers will miss out because of the unwillingness of “mature” followers to take the risk of developing true relationships. While we are fairly comfortable considering the role of mature Christians as bringing in new converts, discipling other Christians, encouraging and participating in missional work, and forming social support systems, the burden of shared pilgrimage is often far too great of a call. Acknowledging our own struggles and allowing others to share in our blessings is simply too much to ask. That often requires that we are no longer the expert, the blessed, or the mature, but a fellow seeker. In Matthew 25 we are guided to a second parable of investing our blessings. While the first parable warned the disciples of the need to move beyond their reluctance, the second parable warns us of what we can miss out of by not participating in the greater narrative. So while the “wise” virgins may get to experience the incarnation, they may very well miss out on the future incarnation of true community.
This has been a long post and I assume if you are anything like me that if you even got this far that you have scanned most of it, but I want to know your thoughts. What do you think verse 8 and 9 mean? On one additional note, of the small number of people who read my blog, a few of them are from Japan. Know that the prayers and thoughts of the entire world are with you.
No comments:
Post a Comment