William Blake, The Parable of the Ten Virgins
“The Delayed Host”
November 8, 2020
Proper 27 A
Homily preached at Trinity Parish Church
Ashland, Oregon
The Very Rev. Fr. Tony Hutchinson, SCP, Ph.D.
8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. spoken Mass
Wisdom of Solomon 6:17-20 Psalm 70 1 Thess 4:13-18 Matt 25:1-13
God, take away our hearts of stone, and give us hearts of flesh. Amen
What a week! Waiting, watching for newly counted poll results, waiting. And even now as things seem to be closer to being settled, enough un-certitude remains that some question the reliability of the electoral results.
We don’t wait well. I think all of us have memories of long car trips either as children or with children. “Are we there yet?” “How much longer?” “When are we stopping for a potty break?” “Are we there yet?” “When do we cross over into the next state?” “Where will we be eating dinner? What will we eat?” “ARE WE THERE YET?”
Waiting is something our modern American culture does not value or particularly equip us for. We want what we want, when we want it. Long lines in most states’ Department of Motor Vehicles offices symbolize for many of us what is wrong with government.
But not all cultures share this loathing of waiting. In many cultures, especially Asian and African ones, the ability to gracefully manage oneself during wait times, patience, is highly valued, and time when you have to wait is seen as an opportunity to develop this virtue.
St. Paul lists patience as foremost among the fruits of the Holy Spirit. St. James says that patience is the hallmark of true faith. The Psalmist says, “Wait upon the Lord.”
“Waiting upon the Lord” has been a major value for Christians since the beginning. You cannot read any of the medieval monastic writings, or any puritan dairies or sermons without coming upon the idea repeatedly. The idea is that we should not get impatient with God when our prayers are not answered, when our hopes are not fulfilled, or our fears not averted. Trust and humble confidence that in the end all it be well is the way through such disappointment.
Today’s parable is about waiting graciously. A host at a wedding banquet is delayed. Half of the guests get impatient and wander off, looking to refill their lamps. The modern equivalent would be they go off to find an outlet to recharge their i-phones. Those who stay behind are admitted, but they are unable or unwilling to help their fellow guests get into the party.
This parable is strange, even for Matthew. The young women excluded are called “foolish,” morai, the word from which we get our word “moron.” The other women are called “wise,” phronimoi, which means something more like “prudent,” evidenced by their planning ahead. They are clearly not kind, generous, or empathetic—they refuse to help the fools by sharing their oil with them, and then remain silent as they are excluded from the party, though the delay, the running out of oil, and the falling asleep are all really the fault of the delayed host, who refuses the fools entry with the brutal words, “I have no idea who you are!”
Strange. The bridegroom might be unacquainted with the friends and family of the other side of a new marriage, but getting to know them is the point of the wedding feast, isn’t it? Why doesn’t he just ask the bride or her clan to identify them rather than simply assuming they are wedding crashers?
Matthew places what he sees as the moral of the story on the lips of Jesus: “Stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
This is not the only case where Matthew takes a simple parable of Jesus and turns it into an allegory by adding details of exclusion expressing his need for boundaries, for basic standards to be imposed on gentiles coming into the Church.
Clearly, for Matthew, this parable is telling us to get ready for Jesus to come again. We must stay awake and watch, metaphorically trim our lamps and fill them with oil, to recharge our i-phones, so that we may not be asleep or off somewhere when Jesus comes again.
But what would this tale have meant on the lips of Jesus?
Jesus proclaimed the coming of the reign of God. Look around—see that God is already at work, is already in charge, right here, right now. A fool refuses to see, and is distracted by the wait for seeing the kingdom come in full power.
Jesus here is not saying God is brutal or bigoted. The contrast in this sad tale between the rude turn-downs at the door and the welcome and joy of God’s table is the very point Jesus wanted us to see in telling this parable. A parable has one point—and the point here is that once the door closes, it is closed. You can be late and miss the party simply because you delayed.
It is like that other parable of Jesus—the narrow gate and the tight path. The point is not that only the very few will get the blessing while all the rest will remain in outer darkness. The point is that you have to give up what encumbers you to get in, and it isn’t always an easy or soft path.
On Jesus’ lips, this story is about how we react to Jesus’ announcing of the Kingdom of God. It is about decision, not preparation. That closed door at the end of the story on Jesus’ lips says “Don’t wait until it’s too late.”
I personally think that those wise virgins ought to have shared their oil and their light. The host ought to have let the moron girls in, and probably apologized for being so late. But that is another story. The story here tells us: wake up and look at God at work in the world around us. Don’t put off seeing things clearly until it is too late.
The foolish ones need to stay put even with lamps sputtering out, rather than leave in search of oil. Dry times will come in our spiritual lives, be sure of that. But be equally sure that leaving and wandering in the night on the off chance of finding a merchant that might, just might, sell you new batteries, is not a good strategy for dealing with dryness and depleted spiritual life. Hanging in there is the smarter choice.
I pray that all of us can come to know in our hearts that God knows us and loves us. Know that you are beloved. God has always loved you and has already done everything needful for you. Whether you found joy or fear in the results of this week’s wait, know that God is in charge and will care for us. We must shake off the fear of sputtering lamps and darkness, of that flashing “low battery” light. We need not fear being abandoned by what appears to be a perpetually late host. All we need to be concerned with is hanging in there and keeping our eyes on the prize.
In the name of Christ, Amen.
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