Breath of the Spirit Reflection: Waiting Well
There is a strand of Christian piety that sees life on earth as a short prelude to our “real” life after we leave this world. But Jesus’ words do not bear out such a quietist perspective. Instead, as today’s reflection reminds us, waiting for the disciple is an active, engaged state of being in which we are not only preparing for the life to come, we are cooperating in bringing it about.
November 12, 2023: Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Wisdom 6:12-16
Psalm 63:2-8
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Matthew 25:1-13
Waiting Well
A reflection by David Jackson
The coming weeks present us with three parables that conclude the public teaching of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel. They have a menacing tone, in jarring contrast to the voice of the one who was “meek and humble of heart.”
Today’s gospel has words of consolation and warning. First consolation: Jesus has told us that happiness is the Reign of God, and Jesus points out that this reign is like a wedding feast. Weddings have been and still are times of fullness, a time to celebrate life. To celebrate marriage is to believe in hope, to believe in the future. The Reign of God is about joy and hope.
Then warning: we are told to be wise and prepare for a long waiting period. The narrative is a warning against both moral procrastination and presumption.
In this gospel, we have a grace-filled moment and a pathetic moment. First the moment of grace: John Donahue, S.J. reminds us, “Wisdom is transcendent knowledge revealed by God and also evokes thoughts of practical know-how, along with prudent judgment gained from experience. Wisdom is personified as God’s partner in creation (Proverbs 8). Five of the bridesmaids are called wise (or prudent) because they carefully assess the needs of the situation and prepare for the future. The lamps are symbols that through their teaching and good deeds they will be lights shining in darkness, which cannot be hidden under a basket. They are guides for the community as it awaits the return of Jesus.”
Second, the moment of pathos: John Donahue, S.J. again, “Some readers think that the ones who should have been condemned were the “wise,” the somewhat selfish and nasty bridesmaids, who would not share their oil. More convincing is the view that the lamps lit and supplied with oil are symbols of the works of love and mercy that one must have at the final judgment. These cannot really be shared with others, so the narrative is a warning against both moral procrastination and presumption.”
Barbara Reid approaches the parable from a different angle. “Neither the preacher nor the Congregation are completely foolish, nor completely wise; the two extremes. Each one has some aspect of the foolish virgins within. ... Every disciple also has some aspect of the wise ones within. The parable invites celebration of our wisdom, even as our foolishness is still being transformed.” If we read this passage in juxtaposition with the first reading, it is reassuring that the effort to be wise does not depend on human striving alone. In the first reading, Wisdom is waiting to be found; she is readily perceived and found and known by those who love and seek her. Those who keep vigil for her are actually being sought out as she makes her rounds.
Jesus’ final command to stay awake cannot be taken literally. All the girls slept. But rather “be prepared by the good works for the coming whose time you do not know.” Vigilance is not simply biding one’s time until the important one’s arrive, but active engagement in the present¾which shapes the future. To be wise, then, is not to calculate the time of departure. It is to spend the present moment, the waiting, well.
