OIL FOR MY LAMP, KEEP IT BURNING - 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A)

Homily for the 32^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A)

Based on Mt 25:1-13 (Gospel), Wis 6:12-16 (First Reading) and 1 Th 4:13-18 (Second Reading)

From the Series: “Reflections and Teachings of the Desert”

OIL FOR MY LAMP, KEEP IT BURNING

“Give us some of your oil: our lamps are going out” (Mt 25:8)

The Gospel for this  32^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A) is taken from Mt 25:1-13, with the title: “Parable of the ten bridesmaids^a”. Footnote ^a says “The bridesmaids (lit. ‘virgins’) represent Christians waiting for Christ. Even if he is slow to come, they must be watchful, i.e. keep their lamps ready.” Parallel text is Lk 12:35-38 that says:  ‘See that you are dressed for action and have your lamps lit (v. 35). Be like men waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks (v. 36). Happy those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. I tell you solemnly, he will put on an apron, sit them down at table and wait on them (v. 37). It may be in the second watch he comes, or in the third, but happy those servants if he finds them ready (v. 38).

Verses 1 to 9 say: Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this: Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.  Five of them were foolish and five were sensible, the foolish ones did take their lamps, but brought no oil,  whereas the sensible ones took flasks of oil as well as their lamps.

The bridegroom was late, and they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. But at midnight there was a cry, “The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him.” At this, all those bridesmaids woke up and trimmed their lamps, And the foolish ones said to the sensible ones, “Give us some of your oil: our lamps are going out”. But they replied, ‘There may not be enough for us ad for you; you had better go to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves”.

Parallel text of verse 1 is Ezk 16:1 that says: The words of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows…

Verses 10 and 11 say: They had gone off to buy it when the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding hall and the door was closed.  The other bridesmaids arrived later.  “Lord, Lord,” they said “open the door for us”.

Parallel texts of verse 10 are:

1.       Mt 7:22 - When the day comes^e many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, work many miracles in your name?  Footnote ^e says: “The day of the final Judgment.”

2.       Lk 13:25  - ‘Once the master of the house has got up and locked the door, you may find yourself knocking on the door, saying, “Lord, open to us” but he will answer, “ I do not know where you come from”.

Verses 12 and 13 are: But he replied, ‘Amen, I tell you solemnly, I do not know you. So stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour.

Parallel text of verse is that says:

1.       Mt 24:42  - ‘So stay awake, because you do not know the day^v when your master is coming. Footnote ^v says “Vulg. ‘hour’.”

2.       Mk 13:33  - ‘Be on your guard, stay awake, because you never know when the time will come.

The First Reading is taken from  Wis 6:12-16.

Verses 12 and 13 say: Wisdom is bright, and does not grow dim. By those who love her she is readily seen and found by those who look for her. Quick to anticipate those who desire her, she makes herself know to them.^d Footnote  ^d  says “These initiatives on the part of Wisdom foreshadow ‘prevenient grace’, cf. Jn 6:44-46; 10:3,26-27; Ph 2:13; 1 Jn 4:19.”

Parallel texts of verse 12 are:

1.       Ws 8:2 - She it was I loved and searched for from my youth; I resolved to have her as my bride, I fell in love with her beauty.

2.       Jr 29:13-14  When you seek me you shall find me, when you seek me with all you hearts (v. 13); I will let you find me (-it is Yahweh who speaks. I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have dispersed you-it is Yahweh who speaks. I will bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.)

3.       Pr 8:17 - I love those who love me; those who seek me eagerly shall find me…

4.       Si 6:27…go after her and seek her; she will reveal herself to you; once you hold her, do not let her go.

5.       Mt 7:7-11 - Ask, and it will be given to you; search and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you(v.7). For the one who asks, always receives; and the one who searches, always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door  opened to him (v. 8).Is there a man among you who would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread (v9) or would hand him a snake when he asked for a fish?

6.       Jn 14:21 - Anybody who receives my commandments and keep them will be one who loves me; and anybody who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him.ⁿ Footnote  ⁿ says “By coming, with the Father, to dwell in him.”

Verses 14 and 15 say: Watch for her early and you will have no trouble; you will find her sitting at your gates. Even to think about her is understanding fully grown; be on the alert for her and anxiety will quickly leave you.

Parallel texts of verse 14 are:

1.       Pr 8:34 - Happy the man who listens to me, who day after day watches at my gates to guard the portals.

2.       Si 6:36 - If you see a man of understanding, visit him early, let your feet wear out his doorstep.

3.       Si 39:5 - At dawn and with all his heart he resorts to the Lord who made him; he pleads in the presence of the Most High.

Verse 16 says: She herself walks about looking for those who are worthy of her and graciously shows herself to them as they go, in every thought of theirs coming to meet them.

Parallel texts are:

1.       Pr 1:20-21 - Wisdom calls about in the streets,^d she raises her voice^e in the public squares;  Footnote ^d says “‘in the streets’ Greek; ‘Such is the way’ Hebr.” and Footnote ^e says “Wisdom personified, cf. 8:22+, acts like a prophets, cf. Jr. 5:1, walking through the streets and urging her doctrine on the people.”

2.       Pr 8:2-3 - On the hilltop, on the road, at the crossways, she takes her stand; beside the gates of the city (v. 2),^b at the approaches to the gates she cries aloud, ‘O men, I am calling to you…Footnote ^b says “Text overloaded. Add ‘at the wide opening’.”

3.       Si 15:2 - She will come to meet her like a mother, and receive him like a virgin bride.

4.       Is 65:1-2,24 - I was ready to be approached by those who did not consult me, ready to be found by those who did not seek me.^b I said, ‘I am here, I am here’. To a nation that did not invoke me name (v. 1). Each day I stretched out my hand to a rebellious people who went by evil ways, following their own whims (v. 2)….Footnote ^b says “The Jews.”

5.       1 Jn 4:10 - This is the love I mean: not our love for God, but God’s love for us when he sent his Son to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away.

The Second Reading is taken from 1 Th 4:13-18.

Verses 13 and 14 says: We want you to be quite certain, brothers, about those who have died,^g so make sure that you do not grieve about them, like the other people who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and that it will be the same for those who have died in Jesus: God will bring them with him.  Footnote  ^g says “Lit ‘ we do not wish you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning the sleeping’. The euphemism was command in the OT., in the NT, and in Greek literature: the natural concomitant was to call the resurrection (to new life or from death) an ‘awakening’.”

Parallel texts of verse 13 are:

1.       Ep 2:12…do not forget, I say, that you had no Christ^g and were excluded from membership of Israel, aliens with no part in the covenants with their Promise,^hyou were immersed in the world, without hopeⁱ and without God ^j. Footnote ^g says “I.e. ‘you had no Messiah.’ Footnote ^h says “The successive covenants madeby God with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David etc.; cf. Ex 19:1+; Lv 26:42,45; Si 44-45; Ws 18:22; 2 M 8:15; Rm 9:4.”;  Footnote ⁱ says “The pagans had many gods but not the one true God, 1 Co 8:5f.”; and Footnote ^j says “The wall separating the court of the Jews from the court of the pagans in the Temple, cf. Ac 21:28f.”

2.       Col 1:27 - It was God’s purpose to reveal it to them and to show all the rich glory of this mystery to pagans. The mystery is Christ among you, your hope of glory:ⁿ Footnote ⁿ  says “Previously, when it had seemed (to the Jews) that pagans could never be saved, as salvation was restricted to ‘Israel’, pagans had seemed to be without a Messiah and consequently to be deprived of all hope, Ep. 2:12. The ‘mystery’ or secret of God that had now been revealed was that the pagans too were, and had been, all called to be saved through union with Christ, and so to reach eternal glory , cf. Ep. 2:13-22; 3:3-6.”

Verses 15 to 18 say: We can tell you this, from the Lord’s own teaching^h, that any of us who are left alive, until the Lord’s coming, will not have any advantage over those who have died (v. 15). At the trumpet of Godⁱ the voice of an archangel will call out the command and the Lord himself will come down from heaven,^j and those who have died with Christ will be the first to rise. And those of us who are still^k alive, will be taken up in the clouds with them to meet the Lord in the air. So we shall stay be with the Lord forever.^l With such thoughts as these you should comfort one another. Footnote  ⁱ says “‘us’; Paul includes himself among those who will be present at the parousia; more by aspiration, however, than by conviction, cf. 5:1+.”; Footnote ^j  says “the trumpet, voice and clouds were traditional signs that accompanied manifestations of God, cf. Ex 13:32+; 19:16+ and they were adopted as conventional elements of apocalyptic literature, cf. Mt 24:30f+; 2 Th 1:8+.”; Footnote   ^k says “Om. ‘(we) who are still alive’”; and Footnote ^lsays “Of all the details given here: that the dead will answer the summons by returning to life that they and the living will be taken to meet the Lord, and that they will accompany him to the judgment with which the eternal kingdom begins, the essential one is the last: eternal life with Christ, cf. 5:10; 2 Th 2:1. That is to be the ‘salvation, the glory, the kingdom’ that Jesus shares among his chosen followers.”