Homily for 32nd Sun OT, Year A
Fr. Albert
St Peters, New Iberia
$35,000. That’s the average amount of money that Americans spent on weddings last year. Some people spend 100s of thousands or even millions. Evidently, we really care about making that one day special. And why not? It’s a celebration of love and a new life together! Now just imagine if you spent $35,000 or more on a wedding. Imagine that you had 10 bridesmaids whose only job was to show up in the right dress and walk in the procession. Imagine if five of those bridesmaids didn’t plan ahead, if they left the dress at home and showed up in a random assortment of ordinary clothing. Would you be angry?
I would. Evidently so would Jesus. These five foolish virgins – bridesmaids – had one job: hold a lamp for the night-time procession. Not only is the bridegroom angry, he won’t even let them into the party! “I do not know you.” Maybe you think he’s over-reacting, but it’s not so simple. The groom isn’t mad because they messed up a photo op. The clothing, the lamps – these things say something about the person who forgot them. The mistake shows carelessness. These virgins are foolish because they do not see that something deeper is at work.
Jesus uses the image of a wedding for a reason. A wedding calls to mind love, commitment, new life, and great joy! It’s tempting to think that Jesus looked at weddings and said “Ah, there’s a good analogy I can use,” but it’s quite the opposite. God is a Trinity. The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit all looked at each other and the love they have for one another and said “Aha! Let’s have human beings get married as a symbol for our love!” Weddings exist because of who God is. Our idea of marriage and love comes from what heaven is, not our idea of heaven from what a wedding is. Being able to understand that difference is difference between being foolish and being wise. Wisdom means seeing how the temporary world and the things in it are actually shadows and images of what is eternal – that deeper perspective is just one reason we require weddings to be in the same place where we have mass.
And that deeper perspective explains the extreme punishment for forgetting your oil. The bridesmaids were foolish because they were too shortsighted to see the bigger picture. So, what is the bigger picture? What does the oil represent? More importantly, how do we avoid making the same mistake? The answer to these questions is not an idea, but a gift and a grace. It is Wisdom. Wisdom is the greatest of the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit. Wisdom let’s us see how the smallest things can have eternal consequences. Wisdom allows us to have joy and perseverance even when the world hates us. Common sense tells us that all human beings want to be happy, but only wisdom tells us how to actually find that happiness.
This gift of wisdom is so attractive that ancient Jews and Israelites personified it. Wisdom is seen as a beautiful woman, the perfect helper of God Himself. Eve was called the helpmate of Adam, so the bible sees Wisdom as the helpmate of God. This beautiful and powerful woman appears throughout scripture and we even have an entire book dedicated to her – the book of Wisdom – which we heard as our first reading. Obviously, there is no one person named “wisdom” living in heaven, but the metaphor is powerful because gaining wisdom is a lot like winning over the woman you love.
Finding wisdom starts like finding a woman to marry. It begins with simple desire. At some point, a young man starts to want to find a woman to love; He begins to look for her. We cannot find wisdom unless we first desire it. Scripture says that wisdom “is readily perceived by those who love her.” It takes time to find the woman to marry and it takes time to receive the wisdom of God, but we’ll never find her if we don’t first want her, desire her, love her.
And if we truly desire wisdom, then that longing will be shown in our prayer. Scripture speaks of keeping “vigil,” staying up late in prayer watching, waiting, and asking for this sublime gift.
But it’s not all a waiting game. There is something we can do. And that something is the reason the oil in the parable is so significant. Jesus talks about oil lamps in other parables too. In fact, he talks about them in his most famous sermon, the sermon on the mount. “You are the light of the world… [no one lights] a lamp and then puts it under a basket; Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”
Good deeds – that’s what it takes to make your lamp shine. You were given the lamp at baptism, but now you need oil. The oil represents good deeds: acts of love for God and our neighbor. That’s what makes the 5 wise virgins so wise. They have done good works and wisdom is vindicated by her works.
That’s the secret that most people seem to overlook in their search for happiness, which is really a search for wisdom. There’s a reason most cultures stories with the archetype of the wise man on a mountain who never gives straightforward answers. Instead they give riddles, parables, and strange demands for obedience. We see it in the Jedi Masters of Star Wars, in a variety of superhero movies and, most importantly, in Jesus himself. It’s because Wisdom isn’t just a set of ideas, but a gift and a way of life. The wise virgins can’t give their oil to the foolish because no one can substitute for another person’s free will. Wisdom transforms a person; They have to make their own choice to cooperate. You cannot earn wisdom, but you do have to work for it.
So, get to work. We may spend 10s of thousands on a wedding, but Jesus Christ has paid for this eternal wedding with his very blood. Like the bridesmaids and groomsmen, all we have to do is show up with our lamps and dressed for the occasion. It is wisdom that teaches us what to wear and where to find the oil we need. Start with the desire for wisdom, but let desire lead you to action; Search for wisdom wherever she might be found. Humble yourself in that search, asking God to grant you what you cannot possibly obtain on your own. Keep vigil; Lose sleep in your prayer for wisdom just as readily as you’d lose sleep for the sake of the woman you love.
And never stop collecting the oil that is good works. Show love to God and neighbor at every turn. Jesus Christ will come again. Either we’ll join his procession with lamps lit and familiar faces, or we’ll hear the worst thing we could ever hear, “I do not know you.” By the gift and grace of God, you can decide which. Therefore, be wise and stay awake. For you know neither the day, nor the hour.
