Don't Believe the Crafty Virgins

 Matthew 25:1-13

November 12, 2023

The Wise and Foolish Virgins
Ain Vares

 

We’re nearing the end of the Gospel of Matthew,

and I can’t say I’m too sorry.

It’s often hard to find the good news in some of

these parables Jesus tells in this gospel.

Mark and Luke often have the same parables

written a little gentler.

 

But this parable is only in Matthew.

We only get this every three years and often

we don’t get it because of Reformation and All Saints,

So when we get it, we should take it seriously.

 

I think when we read parables, we want to come right to

the definitive conclusion and find out

what Jesus wants and get on with the whole thing.

But the parables that Jesus tells aren’t like that.

They’re not like Aesop’s fables.

Jesus doesn’t always seal things up neat and tidy for us.

I think they’re here to make us wonder.

 

They’re there to make us think differently and

To make us guess, and even to debate.

Debate was something that Jewish people did

and do about theology and the scriptures.

It’s a way to discover.

Christians seem to want to have all the answers, but as a Jew,

Jesus was probably more into debate or hashing things 

out together, having several different possible answers to the same question.

They liken it to Jacob wrestling the angel in Genesis,

they don’t stop wrestling with scripture until they get a blessing.

 

And this is a parable that I think deserves

more wrestling than we usually give it.

 

I think the classic way to wrap this parable up in a neat package

is to say, “be like those wise young women”

Have your lamp filled with oil and your wicks trimmed.

And to tell everyone what that metaphor means for us:

like the oil is prayer, the wick is faith. Something like that.

“Keep your lamps trimmed and burning” is an old gospel song.

And that’s a perfectly fine interpretation, I bet you can write

your own sermon with that one. I’m sure I have.

 

But I have found this conclusion to be little anxiety inducing.

Like one of those dreams I keep having where I

show up at a test at the end of a semester, but I have forgotten

to go to any of the classes or read any of the books.

 

Or the feeling that I always get when I’m having

people over for a party, that nagging feeling

I’ve forgotten something very important.

It stresses me out. Have I done enough?

I’ve surely missed something.

 

And the moral to that story is “be prepared”,

like the boy scout motto. “be prepared”

Don’t forget to get the right cranberry sauce,

people will want the right cranberry sauce,

The party is ruined if you don’t have the right cranberry sauce.

You know what will happen if you’re not prepared,

scorn and embarrassment,

And if that’s not enough, Jesus won’t even recognize you.

Yikes, lots of anxiety.

Not a lot of grace at all.

No blessing there.

  

But if you notice, “be prepared” is not even what Jesus

tells us at the end of the parable.

Jesus doesn’t say, “be like the wise young women”

and he doesn’t say be prepared with that oil.

He tells us “Keep Awake”.

And in the story, “ALL of the young women got drowsy and slept.”

So all of them were not doing what they needed to do.

 

It’s important when reading a parable to understand

the context that it’s being told in.

Here, Jesus is talking to his disciples,

not to the religious leaders in the temple.

He and the 12 have left the temple and Jesus says that

there would be a time when the temple wouldn’t be there.

And then they’ve asked him to tell them about that time,

and how would they know?

 

He starts out this lesson for the disciples in chapter 24

and he starts it out by saying “don’t let anyone lead you astray”

He talks about false prophets that try and make them

go here and there. That is important for this parable, I think.

 

And it’s also important, in a parable, to know about

the social context of the story that Jesus is telling.

Which is a wedding. Weddings didn’t roll then like they do now.

In Jesus time, weddings were kind of surprises.

The exact time was not known in advance.

The community kind of knew something was brewing

that a couple is engaged and about to be married

and they needed to be ready

and the weddings happened after sundown.

 

The young women, or the bridesmaid’s job was to 

light the way for the bride and the groom to go to the wedding party.

There’s lots of other fascinating things about weddings, 

but that’s all we really need to know for this parable.

So the young women are doing their job,

waiting for the bride and groom,

But in this story the bridegroom is late.

None of this would have mattered if they bridegroom wasn’t late.

But he was, and instead of staying up, the young women fell asleep.

All of them. Not just the ones called foolish, the wise ones too.

 

And another thing we can do with a parable is look

up some of those words and how they were translated.

I can always rely that someone who knows more than me

to have done this already, and sure enough someone has.

The word that they translate as “young women” 

is actually “virgins”, which is interesting for a variety of reasons,

and I don’t know why the translators made the 

choice to call them “young women” but I’m not sure what to make of that.

So moving on.

 

But what I kind of do know what to make something out of is that

the words that are translated a little more gently in the story

as “wise” and “foolish” are a little harsher in the Greek.

“Wise” is better translated as “crafty”.

It’s the same word that’s used when Jesus 

says in Luke “be as crafty as serpents”. So more than wise, they’re cunning.

Or maybe even “devious”.

And the word that’s translated as “foolish” is probably

better as stupid. It’s actually pronounced morai which is the

where we get the word moron from. So more than foolish,

it’s actually dull or slow-witted.

 

Now obviously, the disciples wouldn’t need that subtlety

of language translated for them.

They would have just known from the words

that Jesus was calling the virgins with the oil crafty,

and that maybe they were up to no good actually.

 

So back to the parable, everyone has fallen asleep

and when the tardy bridegroom comes,

the stupid virgins realize they don’t have enough oil

and their lamps have gone out.

And they ask the crafty virgins if they could have some oil.

 

One thing that always bothered me about this 

parable in the traditional understanding of it, is about those Wise virgins –

the ones that we were supposed to be like and emulate –

Why don’t they something as simple as share?

Jesus talks about sharing in lots of other places.

In the wide scope of the story of Jesus, he is all about sharing.

So if these wise virgins were actually the heroes of our story,

why wouldn’t they share a little of what they had?

Some people posit that maybe Jesus is talking about 

stuff that couldn’t be shared, like personal faith. And again, it’s vague

and anxiety inducing. And I think that’s a stretch anyway.

 

I think the answer to this conundrum is actually that the

crafty virgins are not the heroes of the story.

The crafty virgins take advantage of this opportunity

of the sleep-dazed, dopey virgins.

When the stupid virgins ask for some oil, the crafty virgins 

tell the foolish ones, “no, there won’t be enough,

Why don’t you go to the gas station up the road

and get you some more?”

And here’s where, I think, the real problem comes in,

the stupid virgins believe the crafty virgins and they leave.

They are led astray by these false prophets.

They go off on a hunt for the right kind of cranberry sauce,

and they miss the whole party.

 

Where the foolish virgins went wrong in this story is that

they believed the crafty virgins.

They trusted the myth of scarcity of the kingdom of God.

They believed that there wouldn’t be enough oil.

They believed there wouldn’t be enough light and that 

the bridegroom was  not going to be happy 

if they weren’t prepared because – what? there wouldn’t be enough light?

Here’s the thing about light, just because I’m holding the light

it doesn’t mean that other people can’t use the light I’m holding.

If five of those virgins had lamps that were lit,

that would have been enough for that whole bridal party.

The reality is that those crafty virgins wanted the bridegroom

and the party all to themselves, so they sent the

stupid virgins on a wild goose chase down

to the Kwiki mart for some more oil.

 

I think the point of this parable,

is that five virgins without enough oil

didn’t actually need to be worried about it.

They’re worry actually led them astray and they missed

the main goal which was to see the bridegroom into the party.

 

So what I think Jesus was saying to his disciples is actually 

what he says, “keep awake” and don’t believe in those 

crafty religious people who tell you that the kingdom of God is only for the select few

that the blessings of God are only for those who have

Don’t believe the false prophets when they try to re-direct you.

Basically don’t believe in the traditional interpretation

of this parable! Don’t go off spending all your time trying 

to be perfectly prepared, you might actually miss the whole party.

 

And for us, don’t believe those religious leaders

who tell you in the nicest way possible that God only wants

a certain narrow definition of good and holy in God’s kingdom.

Don’t believe them when they say that God only wants

those people who have pulled themselves up by their

own bootstraps and are self- sufficient enough 

and resourceful enough and have all their spiritual ducks in a row.

Don’t let them distract you.

And don’t believe all the voices that try to lead you astray

and tell you to go and get your fill elsewhere.

Don’t believe the voices that tell you to go shopping,

or to gather other earthly goods, like oil or

pricey things that feed you

for a short time and then let you down.

You might be otherwise involved and miss God.

 

When the disciples ask Jesus “how do read the signs?

how do we tell when you’re returning to us”

Jesus answer is, “don’t sweat it.”

Just keep awake. Don’t get distracted.

You are invited to the party no matter if you’re prepared or not.”

Just stay awake and wait for God.

And don’t worry about the lamps if you run out of oil,

there’s enough light to go around.

 

So that’s it, I think.

I think that we’ve wrestled enough to

get a blessing from God here.

Maybe next time we’ll approach it from

another angle and get different blessing, I don’t know.

Parables can grow and change depending on what’s going on.

 

So in conclusion for this time.

The Parable of the 10 virgins:

Don’t believe the voices that

try to convince you of your inadequacy,

don’t believe the voices that say

that you don’t have enough, or you aren’t enough,

or you don’t do enough.

 

The Kingdom of God is like a party.

Everyone’s invited.

and you don’t want to miss it.