“LAST SUNDAY 2024”
Saint Matthew 25: 1-13
Last Sunday: November 24 Anno Domini 2024
Fr Jay Watson, SSP
Or, in The Name of The Omega.
Christ is not saying in His parable that it is “curve.” But even if it was, a 50% pass rate is frighteningly low. But, no, it is not that half of creation is saved and half of creation is damned. Many are called; few are chosen. There will be myriads saved—huge crowds—but it will still be in Biblical terms, a “remnant.” Just like Noah. Just like returning Israel from Babylon. This is a warning to all while there still is time. Today is the day of Salvation. Repent and Believe says John the Baptist; says Christ Jesus.
Why Ten? Why not twelve? Would not twelve make sense in light of its perfect numerology—twelve sons of Jacob/Israel representing the Old Testament believers, matched with the reconstituted New Testament Church by way of the twelve Apostles? Sure.
But there are ten virgins. Ten is the number of The Commandments, the Torah, the Decalogue, the Law. And as you have been catechized, the Law shows you your sin, the Law kills.
Yes, sin damns. But sin can be, and must be, repented of, turned from. This is done not by your will-power but by God’s Word—The Holy Spirit working contrition in your hearts by Jesus The Word.
Unbelief and rejection of The Lord damns.
Why the use of virgins as actors, or better yet, recipients, in this parable?
Virgins are not only the picture of the Church, all of you as well, but the reality of The Church. The word appears some fifty time in Hebrew writ and more than a dozen times in the New Testament.
Christ is born of a Virgin, as prophesized in Isaiah and as confirmed in The Gospels of Sts. Matthew and Luke. Christ Himself is the Virgin Bridegroom.
In the ultimate description of The Church the Apostle Paul likens The Church to a spotless Bride being taken by the spotless Groom Jesus.
Paul says to a select few, the ones with God’s gift of continence, “eunuchs” who have made themselves such “for The Kingdom of Heaven’s sake” [Mt. 19.12]. Whether Paul was a physical virgin his whole life Scripture does not speak. There are actual virgins and Spiritual virgins. In these dark and dangerous last times, focused and emphasized these last three weeks of the Church year, The Apostle urges those who are physical virgins to remain so: “for I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that” [1 Cor. 7.7]. But Christ’s parable is about the wedding feast—salvation now unto life everlasting at the Nuptial Feast that is eternal. And, God delights in marriage and fruitful physical increase of His children. 1st Corinthians 7 should be re-read and meditated upon by all.
All Christians are, and must be “spiritual” virgins, both baptized + i.e., washed cleans, and fed with the bread of Heaven. Hence, returning to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, all married Christians, and all single Christians who have broken the 6th Commandment, are nonetheless made spiritual virgins by His active obedience in keeping the Law and in His passive obedience in shedding the Blood of God which alone cleanses and restores, to-wit: “husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” [Eph. 5. 25-27]. And again, to the Corinthians: “for I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” [2 Cor. 11.2].
So yes, while physical virgins have always been highly lauded and most respected by The Church (Sts. Lucia [Lucy; Dec 13], Perpetua and Felicity [Mar. 7], the four virgin daughters of Philip the Evangelist in the book of Acts, all of YOU, all the believers are spiritual virgins, in Christ Jesus.
The parable? Dispensing with the intricacies of 1st century lighting implements, it is this. In the eyes of the faithful, all who are + Baptized are virgins, are saved by virtue of Christ’s gracious gifts. But we know that not everyone who has ever been baptized is saved. Many, many apostatize and reject the faith and its founder—The Alpha! All will sleep before He arrives at the end of time—the truly LAST day. That is, all will die. Not all, there will be a world full of people at the Eschaton but in Christ’s parable, this group all die. When Jesus raises every one of the ten from the grave, only five have “oil” in their lamps. Their lamps are their bodies—soul/spirit/mind/heart/flesh. Five have no oil because sometime in their earthly lives they have left the faith; they have left the Church—the dispenser of oil—The Faith that is constantly replenished, deepened, and freshened, with The Word, The Holy Absolution, and The Sacrament of The Altar: both forensic oil and also mystical/sacramental oil.
On that last day it is too late to be re-catechized. One cannot receive another’s faith. One cannot have the entrance to paradise postponed in order to re-believe; re-fill and re-trim the lamp—the empty soul.
Pray for all those who are not believing virgins, or those who were at one time but have left their “lamps” empty. There is time left, but, not much.
He stands at the door. The hour is nigh.
The good news is that He always forgives, feeds, waters, and speaks Himself into you dear virgins. You have the oil of faith and belief by His grace and His actions; by His very presence this morning.
“Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein The Son of man cometh.”
Wake, awake for night if flying. This is the Easter of the End. This is your awakening today. You, you oily, oil-filled, burning lights, come. The Holy Ghost escorts you all to the rails—the married virgin, the widowed and widower virgin, the single unmarried virgin, and yes, the divorced and also the 6th commandment sinning virgin; all repentant and forgiven and believing virgins to the Altar to be filled again with the over-flowing Light of Lights.
Maranatha, i.e., come quickly Lord Jesus.
In The Name of The Father and of + The Son and of The Holy Ghost
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