It is the penultimate Sunday of the Church year, known in the Church calendar as the Sunday of Watchfulness. Today our Saviour Jesus Christ calls us to keep watch: to live consciously, with discipline and courage. He says in his word: “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit.”
In today’s Gospel (Matthew 25:1–13), the Saviour tells the parable of the wise and foolish virgins waiting for the wedding feast to begin with the bridegroom’s arrival. But the bridegroom was delayed. This was long before smartphones—or even the telephone and telegraph—so he had no way to send those waiting in his home village a message saying, “I have set out.” They knew the approximate time and had to be ready to respond the moment he appeared on the horizon.
The bridegroom was so late that the batteries in the lamps brought by half the waiting party ran completely flat. They had not prepared for the possibility that everything expected might not happen at once. Perhaps they relied on others, assuming that the better-prepared would share their supplies if necessary, so there was no reason to worry. People often hope in just this way: things will work out somehow, so why make an effort? But when events suddenly began to move very quickly, it became clear that everyone needed their own flame and their own battery; what others had was not enough. These virgins resemble people who do not attend church or practise faith and charity but justify themselves by saying that their grandmother does all this on their behalf. They are foolish. They were not prepared for the crisis.
The Lord’s parable shows that when the moment of God’s judgement comes, a lack of preparation can no longer be remedied. The wise virgins’ refusal to lend oil—“No! there will not be enough for you and for us”—shows that salvation cannot be divided or transferred. A person’s deeds, faith and love are their own, and no one can defend us there if our own deeds betray us. As the Revd Evald Saag said: our life is God’s gift, but how we fill it is our responsibility.
Readiness means keeping our life—the lamp—shining through faith and good works—the oil—especially through mercy and love. When the Bridegroom comes, the door is closed to those who are careless and unprepared. Let us be among the wise virgins who enter the feast of God’s love.
See you at church at 10:00, followed by coffee; at 12:30 for Mass in Finnish; and at 18:00!
