“BE OILED, LIGHTENED, FAITHED, CHRISTED, IN THE WORD”
Saint Matthew 25: 1-13
Last Sunday: 22 November Anno Domini 2020
Fr Jay Watson, SSP
There are great arrivals; marvelous and historic events. Some might be in awe at being present at a Presidential inauguration, the crowning of a new British Monarch, a Papal investiture, or the Return of the King—if one is man of Middle Earth.
King David writes by The Holy Spirit: “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” [Ps. 119.105]. Jesus wrote those words in the Psalter for He also had Saint John record His words to the Pharisees: “Search the scriptures…they are they which testify of me” [Jn. 5. 39-40].
“And Pilate asked Him, ‘art Thou king of the Jews?’ And He answering said unto him, ‘thou sayest it” [Mk. 15.2]. Lord of Lords, God of Gods, King of Kings is the pierced and bloody Crucified God/Man! Even hanging on the cross, the thief could see that with his own eyes of faith: “Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom” [Lk. 23.42].
The New Testament is filled with our Lord’s “likening” Himself to many things, and His kingdom as well: “Good Shepherd and flock; Father and Children; Vine and Branches; Field and harvest. The Apostle (Paul) uses the metaphor of “Head and body” [Ep. 14.14-16].
In our appointed Gospel for the Last Sunday, The Lord says His Church, His people, His “called” world, His “kingdom of heaven” is like ten virgins. These virgins are to be the bride with Jesus the royal Groom. His communion makes royalty. He had used this beautiful, felicitous, and heart-warming analogy before: “and Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast” [Mt. 19.4]. “Fasting:” waiting with eager expectation, holding on to hope of the redemption at hand, being watchful, investing the “talent” or “mina” given you, praying “maranatha” [come quickly Lord Jesus]…all this is part of the parable’s key.
Yes, the kingdom of heaven is likened unto ten virgins. Ten is a perfect number (like most numbers are—they’re God’s numbers, He created numbers). It is the number of The Law—The Word of The Lord…which endureth forever. But now The Law has a doer, finisher, fulfiller, and completer. Now the death sentence of stone, rock, grave-marker, earth, worms, dust, death, and damnation, has an end: Jesus Christ your bridegroom who has swallowed up death and ripped the burial shroud off of you.
God loved the world. God wants no one to be lost. God died for all. God’s blood is the propitiation for all sin(s). All is 10. And yes, even in the Church, the kingdom of Grace in this present visible and decaying world, the 10, sadly, contains tares (weeds) among the wheat: “false sons within her pale” [TLH 473.3]. Those are the five foolish virgins…who at the end are not virgins at all. They did not “fast.” That is, they did not refrain from sinful mammon, false gods. They did not despise the “world” but rather went after other forms of illumination rather than preserving, guarding, and replenishing the light given them in + Baptism, by abiding in The Word. They refused the rain of the word on the soil that God had given them. They apostatized.
The oil in the lamps is faith—the result, harvest, God induced works. The oil in the lamps is The preached Word (Law and Gospel…GOSPEL) and the Sacraments. The oil is that gift which Jesus freely gives by His Holy Ghost. Those who kept and guarded, who believed, who stayed in The Word, had faith when they died, when they fell “asleep” and thus had faith—JESUS—when they awakened at midnight: “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh.” By waiting in The Word, they “fasted,” that is, they did not scurry about doing “themselves” but rather they attended to Christ and His Kingdom, like Mary of Bethany. You too hold to the one thing needful!
It isn’t that the five wise virgins were uncaring and selfish…not “sharing” their “oil” with the five foolish. They could not. At the end, at the great resurrection of all flesh, when the dead are raised, the believers and faithful Saints simply can’t parcel out their faith (in any proportion), at that time, to the unbelieving and hard-hearted rejecting pagans/heathens.
When David wrote: “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” he was preaching what Saint John would preach in the prologue to his Gospel, “Jesus is a lamp unto my feet, and Jesus is a light unto my path.” Jesus is the oil, the lamp, the wick, the vessel, the content, The Faith, the EVERYTHING for you and in you. By Grace, through faith—and that is a gift, lest any should boast. You only have light and life; you only have Jesus, by The Word. There are those who say they have the Word, that they “believe,” but where are they? No preachment, No Sacramental Supper, No Absolution by The Word, No Church…no faith; oil, salvation. Pray for all the five foolish virgins. Rejoice in the wisdom that Christ has given you!
“In the beginning was The Word…The Word was God…In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men…The Light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended in not…but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name…born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God…and The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” [Jn.1]
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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