topleft05.jpg (18208 bytes)HOMILY
Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
10 November 02


 

One of my all-time favorite comic strips, Calvin and Hobbes, ceased publication several years back.  It was a sad day because, over the years, I had very much enjoyed following the antics of an incredibly insightful young six-year-old boy, named Calvin, who took imaginary adventures with his stuffed tiger, Hobbes.

In one particular strip, Calvin was dressed in a black helmet and sporting a black cape across his shoulders.  This was Calvin’s “Spaceman Spiff” outfit.  Suddenly, Calvin appears in the living room and is standing in front of his mother who is seated on the couch reading the newspaper.  “What’s up for today?” Calvin’s mom inquires.  “Nothing so far,” Calvin replies.  “So far?” his mother asks quizzically.  “Well, you never know, something really big could happen today.”  As Calvin leaves the living room he says, “And if anything does happen, by golly, I’m going to be ready for it!”  Knowing her son and the situations he gets himself into, Calvin’s mom thinks to herself, “I think I’m going to need a suit like that today.”

In today’s gospel, Jesus tells his disciples the parable of the ten maidens.  On the surface, the story appears to be communicating the importance of being prepared for whatever will unfold and, in this particular instance, the maidens need to be prepared for the bridegroom’s arrival.  Oftentimes, preachers have used this parable to remind their congregations about the need to be prepared for death, “for you do not know the day, or the time, or the hour.”

But, the parable is actually communicating something much more important, a matter that speaks about our character as Jesus’ disciples, namely, how the element of surprise in our daily lives can thwart even our “best laid plans.”  And, when surprise intervenes and derails our best laid plans, the issue Jesus is addressing concerns what our behavior manifests about our true character as his disciples.

A bit of context is needed to get at this important matter.

In Jesus’ day, the bridegroom would leave his home and travel to his bride’s home, whether that was located across the city, province, or even in a foreign territory.  Once at the bride’s home, the groom would then negotiate the terms and conditions of the marriage with the bride’s father.  Oftentimes, the subtleties involved in these negotiations would delay the bridegroom’s return trip.  But, after the negotiations would finally conclude in the groom’s favor, he would take his bride back to his own home for the wedding ceremony and party.  Meanwhile, those belonging to the groom’s household would be waiting in eager anticipation of his return.  However, because of the delay caused by the negotiations, the members of the bridegroom’s household normally didn’t have a precise idea about the time when the bridegroom would be arriving home.  So, as the bridegroom’s retinue was approaching his home, one member of the retinue would venture ahead to alert the members of the bridegroom’s immanent arrival.  They would then begin all of the last minute arrangements for the ceremony and party and be prepared to greet the bridegroom with their lamps lit if he was returning in the dark of night.  After all, it’s very difficult to “party hearty” in a dark room!

Jesus adds a twist to this commonplace occurrence of his day by noting that five of the maidens from the groom’s household had not purchased extra oil for their lamps.  Because the groom might be arriving very late in the night, it would be prudent for the maidens to have some extra oil on hand.  Not having it, however, was merely an oversight, not the point that Jesus wanted to make concerning failure as a disciple and what it reveals about one’s character as a disciple.  Yes, all of the maidens knew they had to be ready for the groom’s arrival.  Yes, all of the maidens also knew that they would need oil for the lamps and had procured it.  And there always was the possibility that the groom might arrive in the middle of the night, in which case, it would be necessary to have extra oil.  This is where the issue of concern to Jesus begins to emerge.

And so, with the delay in the bridegroom’s arrival, the five foolish maiden’s actual failure was that they did not use the “extra time” afforded them by the bridegroom’s delay to procure additional oil so that they’d be ready for the groom’s arrival and participate fully in the festivities.  Instead, the five maidens decided to take a nap and wait until the bridegroom’s pending arrival was announced, perhaps thinking they could procure the oil they would need after the announcement of the groom’s immanent arrival.  The five foolish maidens had been given a “second chance,” but they did not use it wisely.  They could have first procured the oil and then taken a nap.  But, they foolishly chose otherwise.

This is a very typical failure that manifests itself in the choices many of us make, perhaps some of us more than others but many of us all the same.  And, it is a failure that manifests our true character as Jesus’ disciples and despite any protestations we might assert to the contrary.

How often have we been late for or missed a deadline or appointment?  We knew that we have to leave home so as to arrive on time but, because we didn’t want to miss the last few minutes of a television show, video, or to complete some chore, we arrived late for or didn’t go to the appointment, meeting, dinner engagement, or party we had previously scheduled.  Or, how may of us choose to do some last-minute chores and to cut our travel time so close that we arrived at the airport without enough time to get through the security checkpoint and onto the plane before departure time?  Or, maybe we decided that we wanted to purchase something that we really wanted but didn’t really need and, so, we allowed our debt to accumulate beyond our means, on a credit card perhaps?  Or, if we are students, how many of us have handed in homework assignments and course-related projects late?

According to the parable of the ten maidens, the issue isn't that we choose to be late because we accord greater priority to ourselves and doing what we want rather than our obligations to others.  Nor is the issue that we’re not being honest either with ourselves or those who were counting on us.  No, in light of this parable, the real issue is that we are not using the second chance we’re given when we recognize that we need to fulfill our obligations and to do what duty requires.  Further compounding matters is our reaction when we find ourselves caught in the trap of our own crafting.  These are the important matters that manifest our true character as Jesus’ disciples and challenge us to reflect upon whether we are a disciple in word only or in fact.

Just yesterday, for example, I was visiting with a freshman who had received a mid-term report noting that she was flunking one course and had a D in a second course.  After finding out that her grades had to do more with handing in assignments late, not studying for tests, and not attending class, I asked, “Do your parents know about this?”  “No,” she said.  “Are you going to tell your parents?” I inquired further.  “No,” she responded.  After a rather lengthy conversation, it was clear that this student’s strategy would be to try to improve her grades so that the whole problem would disappear.  I told her that her scenario sounded like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, that is, she believed that all she’d have to do is to click her heels three times and she’d end up back in Kansas with Toto.  “But, what if you don’t improve in one or both classes?” I asked.  “What’s your Christmas vacation going to be like?”   “I wouldn’t be pretty,” she told me, adding, “but I’m not going to worry about it.”

Undoubtedly, part of the issue is that this student has bad grades in 40% of her classes.  Another part of the issue is that she’s not being honest with either her parents or herself.  But, in light of the parable about the ten maidens, the issue Jesus is pointing to manifest itself in this student’s response.  The issue, giving us a glimpse into her understanding of discipleship, is that this student is not using the second chance she’s been given to build a positive and adult relationship with her parents and to let them know, at least in this instance, how she is learning from her poor decisions and working to turn things around.  Instead, she is trying to cover up her mistakes and is compounding them by her behavior, just as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden when they realized the consequences of their choices.

But that is not where Jesus’ parable ends.

When the bridegroom finally arrives home at midnight, he locks the doors so that no one can enter and the wedding ceremony and party can unfold unimpeded by uninvited and unwanted guests.  So, when the maidens finally do arrive with their lamps, fully expecting to participate in the festivities, the bridegroom ignores their pleading because the maidens were not where they should have been and when they should have been there.  The five maidens then complain that they have been locked out and beg the bridegroom to let them in when, in reality, the maidens made the choice not to do what they should have done, even when they had a second chance to do it!

That is the issue of character and discipleship that Jesus is trying to identify in this parable.

As this issue plays out in our lives, when we arrive late for or altogether miss a meeting, dinner engagement, or party, we invent all sorts of excuses about why they weren’t able to be on time or to attend.  This not only is bad manners, but we also compound things by lying rather than stating the truth.  Travelers who arrive late for their flight blame everyone and anyone for their tardiness, pointing accusatory fingers and issuing threats; I’ve even seen some of these people accost gate agents.  And, students blame teachers who will not accept late homework or give “extra credit” to help students pull up the failing grade they received.  And, if the whole thing blows up at Christmas for that student I visited with yesterday, it’s likely that she’ll point the finger of blame at her professors, her academic advisor, the school or anyone or anything else but at herself.

Lying, unbridled anger directed at undeserving people, and maligning other people in order to save face.  This is the stuff of character and discipleship that Jesus wants his followers to contemplate.

Like the wise maidens, it is important that we be prepared to live as disciples.  But, at the same time, life has its own quirky way of throwing us curves along the pathway of daily life.  These surprises test us and the depth to which we have integrated the character of a disciple into our soul and as this becomes evident in our behavior.  Thus, our responses to these surprises provide an accurate reading of our character as a disciple.

While Calvin’s suit prepared him to face the surprises that might come his way and Calvin’s mother intuited that she might need the same suit later in the day, Jesus’ disciples have the gospel as well as the Church’s moral teaching to prepare them for the many surprises that come their way.  The question that the parable of the ten maidens places before all of us, then, is: “Do we have enough oil to evidence the light of faith and the character of a disciple when surprises come our way in the dark of night?”

That’s the point of that other, more familiar sermon I mentioned earlier.  We certainly don’t know the day, the time, or the hour of our death.  But, what is more important than that moment, Jesus is telling his disciples through the parable of the ten maidens, is that surprises will come our way.  When they do—and they surely will—will our behavior manifest the character of one who is a disciple or one who merely pays lip service to the idea of being a disciple?

 

 

 

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