ACC ~ Matthew 25 v1 - 13

OVERVIEW:

In the final judgment, no one can look to another’s praise to help him or her shine. The five virgins are the whole church. The lamps are good works of love done from a pure heart. The wise are those souls who have the catholic faith and seem to demonstrate good works. The lamps of the wise burn with a good conscience, with an inner glory and with inmost charity, yet even they tremble on the last day (AUGUSTINE). The wise virgins are those who, embracing the time available to them, were prepared at the first onset of the Lord’s coming (HILARY OF POITIERS). Watchfulness is required, lest Christ come to take the church for his bride at the least expected moment, when some of those waiting are seeking the praise of others (AUGUSTINE).

On the day of the resurrection and judgment, however much people might be rich in good works, they will fear for themselves, lest they not be prepared with faith that has been active in works. The foolish virgins were those who were lazy and unmindful. They were foolish because they were not prepared for the future but only for the present. Thus they were foolish because they did not have works of compassion, for the oil symbolizes compassion (EPIPHANIUS THE LATIN). They troubled themselves only over present matters and, forgetting what God said, did not direct their efforts toward the hope of the resurrection. Because the foolish were not able to go out and meet the bridegroom, for their lamps had gone out, they asked the wise to share their oil. They were not part of the group entering the wedding feast but were late and unworthy of entering. They had lost their opportunity (HILARY OF POITIERS). If our hearts, symbolized by lamps, have in them no sense of the deep reserve of God’s graciousness, we are forever running short of oil and forgetting to carry enough ourselves (AUGUSTINE).

25:1 | The Kingdom Compared with Ten Maidens

DIVISION BETWEEN GOOD AND BAD

HILARY OF POITIERS: The whole story is about the great day of the Lord, when those things concealed from the human mind will be revealed through our understanding of divine judgment. Then the faith true to the Lord’s coming will win the just reward for unwavering hope. For in the five wise and five foolish virgins, [1] a complete separation between the faithful and unfaithful is established. Similarly, Moses had received the Ten Commandments written on two tablets. [2] For it was necessary that all these things be written on each. The double column represented, under a single testament, the division between the good and the bad, between the designation of right and left. ON MATTHEW 27.3. [3]

[1] Mt 25:2.

[2] Ex 32:15.

[3] SC 258:204.

TO MEET THE BRIDEGROOM

AUGUSTINE: Let us now, beloved, discuss the five wise and the five foolish virgins. They wished to go to meet the bridegroom. What is the meaning of “to go and meet the bridegroom”? To go with all the heart, to eagerly await his coming. SERMON 93.5. [1]

[1] PL 38:575; NPNF 1 6:402 (Sermon 43).

THE TEN MAIDENS

AUGUSTINE: So then let us understand, dearly beloved, that this parable relates to us all, that is, to the whole church together, not to the clergy only, of whom we spoke yesterday, nor to the laity only but generally to all. Why then are the virgins five and five? These five and five virgins are all Christian souls together. But that I may tell you what by the Lord’s inspiration I think, it is not souls of every sort but such souls as have the catholic faith and seem to have good works in the church of God. Yet even of them it is said, “Five are wise, and five are foolish.” SERMON 93.5. [1]

[1] PL 38:574; NPNF 1 6:401-2 (Sermon 43).

25:2 | Five Foolish, Five Wise

FOOLISH AND WISE

HILARY OF POITIERS: The wise virgins are those who, embracing the time available to them, were prepared at the first onset of the coming of the Lord. But the foolish were those who were lax and unmindful. They troubled themselves only over present matters and, forgetting what God said, did not direct their efforts toward hope for resurrection. ON MATTHEW 27.5. [1]

[1] SC 258:208.

FIVE SENSES

AUGUSTINE: Every soul that enlivens a body is denoted by the number five, because it makes use of five senses. For there is nothing of which we have perception by the body except through this fivefold gate, either by sight, or hearing, or smelling, or tasting or touching. Whoever abstains from unlawful seeing, unlawful hearing, unlawful smelling, unlawful tasting and unlawful touching, by reason of blamelessness, is here called by the name of virgin. SERMON 93.2. [1]

[1] PL 38:574; NPNF 1 6:402 (Sermon 43).

THE ONLY DISTINCTION

AUGUSTINE: It says that even of these, who were virgins and carrying lamps, some are wise and some foolish. How is this distinction made? By what clue do we tell the difference? Only by whether the oil is present or missing. SERMON 93.4. [1]

[1] PL 38:575; NPNF 1 6:402 (Sermon 43).

25:3-4 | Flasks of Oil

WHAT THE OIL SIGNIFIES

AUGUSTINE: It is some great thing, some exceedingly great thing, that this oil signifies. Do you think it might be charity? If we try out this hypothesis, we hazard no precipitate judgment. I will tell you why charity seems to be signified by the oil. The apostle says, “I will show you a still more excellent way.” [1] “If I speak with the tongue of mortals and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” [2] This is charity. It is “that way above the rest,” [3] which is with good reason signified by the oil. For oil swims above all liquids. Pour in water, and pour in oil upon it; the oil will swim above. Pour in oil, pour in water upon it; the oil will swim above. If you keep the usual order, it will be uppermost; if you change the order, it will be uppermost. “Charity never fails.” [4] SERMON 93.4. [5]

[1] 1 Cor 12:31.

[2] 1 Cor 13:1.

[3] That more excellent way.

[4] 1 Cor 13:8.

[5] PL 38:575; NPNF 1 6:402 (Sermon 43).

TOOK NO OIL WITH THEM

AUGUSTINE: What is the meaning of “took no oil with them”? What is “in their lamps”? In their hearts. For this reason the apostle wrote, “Indeed, this is our glory, the testimony of our conscience.” [1] There is the oil, the precious oil. This oil is of the gift of God. We can put oil into our lamps, but we ourselves cannot create the olive. See, I have oil. But did I create the oil? It is of the gift of God. So you have oil. Carry it with you. What does it mean to “carry it with you”? To have it within, where it is pleasing to God. Note: those “foolish virgins, who brought no oil with them,” wish to please a human audience by that abstinence of theirs by which they are called virgins, and by their good works, when they seem to carry lamps. But wishing to please human spectators, doing praiseworthy works, they forgot to carry with them the necessary oil. SERMON 93.7-8. [2]

[1] 2 Cor 1:12.

[2] PL 38:577; NPNF 1 6:403-4 (Sermon 43).

THE FOOLISH DID NOT TAKE OIL

EPIPHANIUS THE LATIN: Those ten virgins, whom the Lord compared with the kingdom of heaven, were set up as an example for all virgins. They went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. This means that they had received the grace of the Holy Spirit. They had come forth as virgins never stained by sin and had left behind earthly matters to meet Christ and the church. “But five were foolish and five wise. For the wise took oil with them along with their lamps. But the foolish did not take oil.” Thus they were foolish, because they were not prepared for the future but only for the present. Thus they were foolish, because they did not have works of compassion. For the oil is compassion. But the wise took oil with their lamps. Thus they were wise, because they took these things not on account of people but on account of God. Thus they were wise, because they were virgins not for the sake of the present but the future. Thus they were wise, because they had works of compassion. Thus they were wise, because they were virgins in spirit and body. INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 36. [1]

[1] PL Supp 3:892.

THE VIRGINS AND THEIR LAMPS

AUGUSTINE: But if it is good to abstain from the unlawful excitements of the senses, and on that account every Christian soul has received the name of virgin, why then are five admitted and five rejected? They are both virgins, and yet half are rejected. It is not enough that they are virgins but that they also have lamps. They are virgins by reason of abstinence from unlawful indulgence of the senses. But they have lamps by reason of good works. Of these good works the Lord says, “Let your works shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” [1] Again he said to his disciples, “Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning.” [2] In the “girded loins” is virginity. In the “burning lamps” is good works. SERMON 93.2. [3]

[1] Mt 5:16.

[2] Lk 12:35.

[3] PL 38:574; NPNF 1 6:402 (Sermon 43).

25:5 | The Bridegroom Delayed

BOTH BRIDE AND BRIDEGROOM

HILARY OF POITIERS: The bridegroom and bride represent our Lord, God in the flesh. For as the spirit is wedded to the flesh, so the flesh is wedded to the spirit. When the trumpet finally summons us and the bridegroom is at hand, all this will be revealed. Indeed, the two aspects are the corruptible body and the incorruptible soul. ON MATTHEW 27.4. [1]

[1] SC 258:204.

THEY ALL SLEPT

AUGUSTINE: But he tarried. And “while he tarried, they all slept.” What is “all”? Both the foolish and the wise. “All slumbered and slept.” But is this sleeping good? What does this sleep mean at this time? Might it mean that during the delay of the bridegroom there is an inattentiveness, so that “because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold”? [1] Are we to understand this sleep in this way? I don’t like that reading, and I will tell you why. Because among the ten are the five wise virgins. Certainly when the Lord said, “And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold,” he then went on directly to say, “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” [2] So on this premise, where would you place the wise virgins? Are they not among those that will “endure to the end”? They would not be admitted within unless they had “endured to the end.” No coldness of love then crept over them. In them love did not grow cold. Love preserves its glow even to the very end. And because it glows even to the end, therefore are the gates of the bridegroom opened to them. So they are told to enter in, just as did that excellent servant [3] to whom it was said, “Enter into the joy of thy Lord.” [4]

What then is the meaning of “they all slept”? There is another sleep which no one escapes. Don’t you remember the apostle saying, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who are asleep,” [5] that is, concerning those who are dead? For why are they called “those who are asleep,” except that they all have died in their own time? Therefore it is said “they all slept.” Do you imagine that just because one is wise, she does not have to die? Whether the virgin is foolish or wise, all suffer equally the sleep of death. SERMON 93.5. [6]

[1] Mt 24:12.

[2] Mt 24:13.

[3] In the parable of the talents.

[4] Mt 25:21, 23.

[5] 1 Thess 4:13.

[6] PL 38:575-76; NPNF 1 6:402-3 (Sermon 43).

THE MOMENT OF LEAST AWARENESS

AUGUSTINE: Why “at midnight”? That is the moment of least expectation. There is no thought of it. It is a moment of complete unawareness. It is as though one might calculate complacently, … “So many years have passed since Adam, and the six thousand years are being completed, [1] and then immediately, according to the computation of certain expositors, the day of judgment will come.” Yet these calculations come and pass away, and still the coming of the bridegroom is delayed. So the virgins who had gone to meet him now are sleeping. But just when he is least looked for, when the best calculators are saying, “The six thousand years were waited for, and, look, they are already gone by. So how then shall we know when he will come?”—he comes at midnight. So what is “midnight”? It means when you are least aware. SERMON 93.7. [2]

[1] The belief that the human race would become extinct in six thousand years was widespread among the early Christians, since a millennium was made to correspond with each of the six days of creation, to which was added a seventh millennium as the eschatological day of rest. Augustine rejects these chronological computations and warns his listeners not to base their hopes and expectations on them.

[2] PL 38:576; NPNF 1 6:403 (Sermon 43).

AT MIDNIGHT, A CRY

HILARY OF POITIERS: The delay of the bridegroom is the time for repentance. The sleep of those waiting is the peaceful rest of believers. The delay has given time for repentance. The cry comes at midnight, when no one yet knows what is happening. The sound of the trumpet of God heralds his coming, [1] rousing all to go out and meet the bridegroom. The taking up of the lamps is the return of souls into their bodies. And the light shining from them is the consciousness of good work, which is contained in our bodies, which are like flasks. ON MATTHEW 27.4. [2]

[1] 1 Thess 4:16.

[2] SC 258:206.

25:7-8 | Preparing to Meet the Bridegroom

THE MAIDENS AROSE

AUGUSTINE: Of what cry are we speaking? That of which the apostle says, “In the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump? For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed”? [1] And so when the cry was made at midnight, “Behold, the bridegroom comes!” what follows? “Then all those maidens arose.” But who are “all those” who arose? “The hour will come,” said the Lord himself, “when all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth.” [2] Therefore at the last trumpet they all arose. “When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.” [3] SERMON 93.7. [4]

[1] 1 Cor 15:52.

[2] Jn 5:28-29.

[3] Mt 25:3-4.

[4] PL 38:577; NPNF 1 6:403 (Sermon 43).

THEY TRIMMED THEIR LAMPS

AUGUSTINE: Note then, beloved, that before those virgins slept, it is not said that their lamps were extinguished. The lamps of the wise virgins burned with an inward oil, with the assurance of a good conscience, with an inner glory, with an inmost charity. Yet the lamps of the foolish virgins were also still burning. In what way were they burning? They burned because there was no lack of praise among human onlookers. But after that they arose, that is, in the resurrection from the dead. They began to trim their lamps, that is, began to prepare to render to God an account of their works. And because there is then no human beholder to praise them, all persons are wholly employed in their own cause. There is no one then who is not thinking of self. Therefore there were none to sell them oil. SERMON 93.8. [1]

[1] PL 38:577; NPNF 1 6:404 (Sermon 43).

SEEKING THE PRAISE OF OTHERS

AUGUSTINE: So their lamps began to fail, and the foolish plead with the five wise, “Give us of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” They sought for what they had been most prone to seek for, to shine, that is, with others’ oil, to walk after others’ praises. SERMON 93.8. [1]

[1] PL 38:577-78; NPNF 1 6:404 (Sermon 43).

25:9 | Not Enough for Us and for You

PERHAPS THERE WILL NOT BE ENOUGH FOR US

EPIPHANIUS THE LATIN: “As the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ ” [1] Likewise, the blessed apostle, Paul, declared, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.” [2] So those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. But the foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” [3] Their spiritual virginity was running out and failing, because they did not have works of religious devotion and compassion. But the wise replied, “Perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you; go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.” For on the day of the resurrection and judgment, however much anyone might be rich in holy works, he will fear for himself, lest he not have enough. INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 36. [4]

[1] Mt 25:5-6.

[2] 1 Thess 4:16-17.

[3] Mt 25:8.

[4] PL Supp 3:892-93.

GO TO THE DEALERS AND BUY FOR YOURSELVES

AUGUSTINE: “But the wise replied, ‘Perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you; go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ ” This is hardly the voice of those who give counsel but rather those who rebuke. Why are they scornful? Because they were wise, because wisdom was in them. For they were not wise by anything that belonged to them. Rather that wisdom was in them of which it is written in a certain Scripture that wisdom shall say to those that despised her, when they have fallen upon the evils which she threatened them, “I will laugh over your destruction.” [1] No wonder the wise mock the foolish virgins. And what is this mocking?

“Go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves,” you who never desired to live well but because people praised you, who sold you oil. Who are these who “sold you oil”? They are the ones who sell praises. Who sells praises, but flatterers? How much better would it have been for you not to have acquiesced to flatterers, and to have carried oil within, and for the sake of a good conscience to have done all good works… .

Go then to those who deal in human praise, as you have been accustomed to doing, but do not expect the wise to give you oil at this crucial moment. Why? “Lest there not be enough for us and you.” What is “lest there not be enough”? This was not spoken in any lack of hope but in a sober and godly humility. For though the good person have a good conscience, how does he know how the final judge, who is deceived by no one, will judge? He has a good conscience; no sins conceived in the heart argue with him. Yet, though his conscience is good, because of the daily sins of human life, he says to God daily, “Forgive us our debts,” on the assumption that he has already done what comes next, “as we also forgive our debtors.” [2] He has broken his bread to the hungry from the heart; from the heart has he clothed the naked. Out of that inward oil he has done good works, and yet in that judgment even his good conscience trembles. SERMON 93.8-9. [3]

[1] Prov 1:26.

[2] Mt 6:12.

[3] PL 38:578; NPNF 1 6:404 (Sermon 43).

25:10-11 | The Bridegroom’s Arrival

WHILE THEY WENT TO BUY

AUGUSTINE: Now it is no wonder that precisely “while they were going out to buy,” while they were seeking for praise from others and found none, while they were seeking for persons by whom to be comforted and found none—just then the shut door opened. Just then “the bridegroom came,” and the bride, the church, was glorified then with Christ and all its members gathered together into one. SERMON 93.9. [1]

[1] PL 38:579; NPNF 1 6:405 (Sermon 43).

THE DOOR WAS SHUT

HILARY OF POITIERS: Because the foolish were not able to go out and meet the bridegroom, since their lamps had gone out, they asked the wise to share their oil. They replied that they could not give them oil for there would perhaps not be enough. They told them to go to the dealers and buy for themselves. [1] These foolish were not part of the group entering the wedding feast but late and unworthy of entering. They had lost their opportunity. ON MATTHEW 27.5. [2]

[1] Mt 25:8-9.

[2] HE DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST | MATTHEW 14:1-12

THE FOOLISH CAME AFTERWARD

AUGUSTINE: “And those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast; and the door was shut.” Then the foolish virgins came afterward. But had they bought any oil? Had they found any from whom they might buy it? No. Therefore they found the doors shut. They began to knock, but too late. SERMON 93.9. [1]

[1] PL 38:579; NPNF 1 6:405 (Sermon 43).

25:12-13 | Not Knowing the Time

I DO NOT KNOW YOU

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Jesus compares the rulers of the people with virgins. The person who discharges a sacred function must be undefiled in soul and body, just as Paul says, “that she might be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit.” [1] For it is customary for the Scripture to divide the present age into five seasons or times. [2] It assigns to each time both God-fearing and foolish souls, just as each time has wise persons and simpletons, righteous persons and wicked ones. In the parable all the virgins go out with their lamps. Jesus indicates by this that all souls have been illuminated by God through innate and natural laws but also indeed by the laws written by Moses. Now all the virgins went out to meet the bridegroom. All were determined to seek favor with God and to join themselves spiritually to the bridegroom. He sows in the hearts of the faithful the seed of every kind of virtue. Indeed, this is why he is called a bridegroom! Nevertheless some prove to be undistinguished, though they possess an illumination from God. … He mockingly calls their drowsiness the death of the flesh, which by necessity will go before both wise and foolish, whom the trumpet of the angels awakes at the time of Christ’s second coming. For all who have been rendered powerless by death are awakened, the good and the bad, and all are made ready to present their defense before the judge. This is represented in the parable when each virgin trims her lamp, summing up all that has occurred in her life. The thoughtless virgins have brought no oil with them. Their soul begins to grow gloomy and as if snuffed out departs into a delirious state, so as to think they will be shown mercy through the virtue of the others. They are rejected as the other virgins say there is not enough for us and for you. The virtue of each scarcely suffices for the salvation of the soul, because even those who are very wise transgress in many ways. FRAGMENT 280. [3]

[1] 1 Cor 7:34.

[2] The five virgins symbolize all of humanity divided into five ages: infancy, childhood, youth, maturity and old age.

[3] MKGK 250-51.