32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time: Anticipating the Bridegroom

In the parable we just heard, Jesus offers details of a wedding that’s unlike any wedding any of us have ever attended: virgins (or maidens) staying awake all night, the carrying of lamps and flasks of oil, a procession from one place to another. But that was a common Jewish marital custom of that time.

Marriage began with a period of betrothal (similar, but different to engagement) that culminated on the night of the wedding, when the bridegroom, accompanied by his friends, would be led in a procession to greet his new wife at her family home. He would then bring her to their new home and a week-long celebration with family and friends would ensue. As Jesus describes, the groom arrived to receive his wife, and of the virgins or maidens that were to escort them, some were ill-prepared, and suffered the consequences for their carelessness.

As we near the end of the liturgical year two weekends from now on Christ the King Sunday, our readings focus heavily on the end-times. And it’s these coming end-times that Jesus tells us will come without warning. Like the crack of a bat, resulting in a foul-ball, laser-hit into the stands! Jesus the Bridegroom will come to receive us, his bride. “Stay awake!”, he warns. But even more, he warns of consequences for not being ready.  

It’s easy to understand this parable in the context of the end of days, but some of the early teachers of the Church—Origen and St. Hilary—saw it also as a metaphor for the end of one’s life, when death gives way to the procession that leads us to the wedding feast—heaven. The lamp, they suggested, is the Christian faith we received at Baptism, and the oil that fills those lamps is our living response to Jesus.

If it’s fair to say that we haven’t given ourselves entirely to Jesus, I believe it’s in part, due to the presumption that we have more time. Given that we have access to so much, and in such abundance, one resource that we may presume there’s more of, is time.

St. Athanasius (D. 373) once said, “A person who lives as if he were to die every day—given that our life is uncertain by definition—will not sin, for good fear extinguishes most of the disorder of our appetites” : a stark difference from the mentality that justifies one’s impulsive behavior, “because you only live once!”. Athanasius suggested that the realization that it might be our last chance, is often a motivation to live according the model of Jesus.

I think of people I’ve known who died without warning, from one cause or another. How many of them assumed they had more time? More time to be loving to the people God has put into my life, and to not take their love for granted; more time to be present to others, to help others in their need. More time to ponder our causes for gratitude and what really gives meaning to life.

More time?....Unfortunately, not always. And while we can presume there’s more time, we can also foolishly presume God’s mercy. We need only consider Jesus’ warning, telling us of the foolish maidens who found themselves locked-out.

But in this parable, Jesus isn’t so much trying to burden us with fear. He’s primarily calling us to “Stay awake!” So ask yourself: If I really only had a days or even weeks before he came back, what would I stop doing? What would I start doing?

More time for us? I hope…but who knows? In a few minutes, we will declare our belief in Jesus, and that “he come again in glory to judge the living and the dead”. It’s meant to be a declaration of belief that’s rooted in hope. May we live today and tomorrow like we truly mean it.