This is one of Jesus\u2019 parables of Judgment (it will be followed by the much more famous and easy-to-understand Parable of the Talents and the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats). And it is placed in Matthew\u2019s gospel during Holy Week as the preface to his anointing by Mary of Bethany (involving oil, by the way) and followed hard by the events of the Passion just two days later.<\/p>\n
\u201dSo what?\u201d you ask.<\/p>\n
So this: a Gospel is a Passion narrative with a long introduction.\u00a0 The only reason a Gospel exists is to tell us the Big News that God, having become Man, has been crucified, buried, raised from the dead, and ascended into heaven, from whence he shall return in judgment on the Last Day.\u00a0 That\u2019s the news the evangelists have to tell and that\u2019s why every Gospel, after breezing over the first thirty years of Jesus\u2019 life, devotes the last quarter of their ink to a 72-hour period in the life of their Hero. The Passion, Death, and Resurrection are the main event.\u00a0 Everything else\u2014including the Parable of the Ten Virgins\u2014is prefatory remarks: commentary on the meaning of that main event.<\/p>\n
But sometimes the commentary is, well, hard to follow.\u00a0 We get that the Bridegroom is Jesus returning.\u00a0 But what\u2019s the deal with the virgins?\u00a0 Who are they and what do they represent?\u00a0 The Oil is a symbol of the Spirit, okay.\u00a0 But why don\u2019t the wise virgins share it?\u00a0 And above all, why does the Bridegroom lock the other five out of the feast?\u00a0 Seems pretty harsh.<\/p>\n
I sometimes think that if Jesus were telling parables today, he would have told a Parable of the Marathon Runner to make the point he is making here.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the deal about running: you don\u2019t just get up off the couch and run 26 miles.\u00a0 You start small and you build up the ability to do it.\u00a0 You get ready for the Big Day by living each small day before it with the clear awareness that the Big Day is coming when the habits, skills, and abilities you have cultivated before then will be required of you to meet the challenge of That Day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Much more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"My latest over at The Catholic Weekly: This is one of Jesus\u2019 parables of Judgment (it will be followed by the much more famous and easy-to-understand Parable of the Talents and the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats). And it is placed in Matthew\u2019s gospel during Holy Week as the preface to his anointing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[836],"class_list":["post-104543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-catholic-weekly-stuff"],"yoast_head":"\n
The Parable of the Ten Virgins<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My latest over at The Catholic Weekly: This is one of Jesus\u2019 parables of Judgment (it will be followed by the much more famous and easy-to-understand\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/06\/the-parable-of-the-ten-virgins.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Parable of the Ten Virgins\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My latest over at The Catholic Weekly: This is one of Jesus\u2019 parables of Judgment (it will be followed by the much more famous and easy-to-understand\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/06\/the-parable-of-the-ten-virgins.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-26T07:22:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-06-25T20:26:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/06\/the-parable-of-the-ten-virgins.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/06\/the-parable-of-the-ten-virgins.html\",\"name\":\"The Parable of the Ten Virgins\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-26T07:22:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-25T20:26:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\"},\"description\":\"My latest over at The Catholic Weekly: This is one of Jesus\u2019 parables of Judgment (it will be followed by the much more famous and easy-to-understand\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/06\/the-parable-of-the-ten-virgins.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/06\/the-parable-of-the-ten-virgins.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/06\/the-parable-of-the-ten-virgins.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Parable of the Ten Virgins\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\",\"description\":\"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\",\"name\":\"Mark Shea\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Shea\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Parable of the Ten Virgins","description":"My latest over at The Catholic Weekly: This is one of Jesus\u2019 parables of Judgment (it will be followed by the much more famous and easy-to-understand","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/06\/the-parable-of-the-ten-virgins.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Parable of the Ten Virgins","og_description":"My latest over at The Catholic Weekly: This is one of Jesus\u2019 parables of Judgment (it will be followed by the much more famous and easy-to-understand","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/06\/the-parable-of-the-ten-virgins.html","og_site_name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","article_published_time":"2018-06-26T07:22:56+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-06-25T20:26:04+00:00","author":"Mark Shea","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Shea","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/06\/the-parable-of-the-ten-virgins.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/06\/the-parable-of-the-ten-virgins.html","name":"The Parable of the Ten Virgins","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-06-26T07:22:56+00:00","dateModified":"2018-06-25T20:26:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5"},"description":"My latest over at The Catholic Weekly: This is one of Jesus\u2019 parables of Judgment (it will be followed by the much more famous and easy-to-understand","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/06\/the-parable-of-the-ten-virgins.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/06\/the-parable-of-the-ten-virgins.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/06\/the-parable-of-the-ten-virgins.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Parable of the Ten Virgins"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/","name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","description":"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5","name":"Mark Shea","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark Shea"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104543\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}