ACC ~ Matthew 25 v5

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.