Parable of wise and foolish virgins Matthew 25:1-13

Matthew 25:1-13  Gospel reading for Sunday November 6th 2011

We have a fascinating sequence coming up, where we deal in succession with the three tough "judgement" parables from Matthew 25. This trilogy of hard-hitting stories is in effect the summing up of Jesus' whole ministry. At first glance one can probably be excused for asking "Where's the Gospel here?"
My plan over the next three weeks therefore is to give this an extended treatment.

I'd like to start with a quote from my favourite author Robert Capon, who in his book on "The Parables of Kingdom, Grace and Judgement", writes this as a preamble to the Matthew 25 parables:

"It is a commonplace of literary criticism that authors give themselves away in their last chapters. However much they may have allowed themselves a certain latitude of expression during the earlier parts of their work, they do at last tighten their focus and give their readers the crispest possible picture of what they have been trying to say all along. It is with this in mind that I come now to Matt 25 the final chapter of Jesus' entire corpus of parables. For the three parables that it comprises - the Ten Virgins, the Talents, and the Great Judgment - are indeed the capstone of his teaching. Not only are all of the notes he has previously struck present in them; in addition, those notes are at last harmonized and given their ultimate expression"

Two of the "notes he has previously struck" which are about to be given special emphasis are as follows:

1. The absence of the main character for the majority of the story.
2. The principle of inclusion before exclusion. That is, any characters who are made outsiders at the end of the story, were always included at the beginning and only excluded themselves through their own inappropriate response to the invitation.

Underpinning the final summary by Jesus is the idea that the sole criteria for any judgement is simply FAITH or UNFAITH. Those who receive congratulations at the end are those who believed in the mysterious main character. Those who are condemned are those who chose not to believe. "It is not the good works that saves them, any more than it is the evil deeds of the cursed that damns them. It is only faith or unfaith that matters." This is surely classic Luther SAVED BY GRACE!

Can I then put on the table the BIG QUESTIONS that people naturally ask when they start to get their head around GRACE. "Well if the real work of salvation has already been done, and the only thing we have to do is believe it, why should we bother trying to be good, kind or loving? If the world is saved in spite of its sins, what's to stop us from going right on doing rotten things?"

As an initial response, the suggestion is offered that a better form of those questions may be something like ... "If Jesus has done all that for me already, why shouldn't I live in a way that reflects that I really do trust him?"
(There is no doubt that all three of these Matthew 25 parables encourage us to see faith as faith-in-action NOT faith-with-folded-hands.)

But now for a few observations / comments / threads of thinking, on the first of these parables ...

1. Every single one of the girls received the same invitation!
2. Both groups seemed reasonably prepared for a normal course of events for a day time wedding.
3. In this world things do go wrong ... we should expect the unexpected. The unexpected does happen regularly.
4. There comes a time at which FAITH or UNFAITH will be measured. Time will run out. There will be a a cut-off point - even though that cut-off point will be delayed.
5. Since FAITH is a relationship with God, there will inevitably be a point at which He will say that the relationship does or does not exist.
6. God does not say "I never called you, I never loved you or I never drew you to myself." He only says "I never knew you - because you never bothered to know me."

Jesus says at the end of the parable "Therefore keep watch because you do not know the day or the hour." The reality is that we Christian people do not need to get into a frenzy over this. We are already at the party. Since we stand right now in the 21st century on the other side of the cross, we know that we have been forgiven. We can celebrate. We live confident in our future and with the knowledge that God through His spirit will help mould and shape us into the people that he wants to be. The thought of cheating the system by thinking that one can now sin freely and boldly does not seriously register on the radar of people who have already accepted the invitation to the party.

( Round two next week: the Parable of the talents!)

Nev