When Solomon became king of Israel, God asked him what he would want from Him. Then, Solomon asked Him to grant him a listening heart so that he would serve Him as king of Israel with wisdom on His behalf (1 Kings 3:5-9).
The listening heart means humility, which makes a
person to listen to God and His people. And humility is required for wisdom
(Proverbs 11:2). This is why Jesus said:
I give praise to you, Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and
the learned you have revealed them to the childlike
(Matthew 11:25).
What the Father in heaven keeps from those who think
of themselves wise, in other words, those who are arrogant and lacks humility,
can be wisdom. And the wisdom is revealed to those who are child-like, who are
humble. And she is revealed to the humble, with listening hearts, through
Christ the Son (Matthew 11:27). And they seek him and listen to him, while the
arrogant do not.
In order to receive and benefit from wisdom, we must
have a listening heart in seeking her. The First Reading (Wisdom 6:12-16) describes
how we shall seek wisdom and how she herself will make herself available to us.
According to the First Reading, those who are wise and prudent in the eyes of
God stay vigilant.
Why?
Because they sure do not want to miss wisdom. And to
those who desire her more than anything, wisdom hastens to make herself known
to them (Wisdom 6:13-14), as they remain vigilant for her appearance without
doubt and worries (Wisdom 6: 15).
We stay vigilant for the coming of whom we love and
what we love, don’t we?
That is why we do not mind staying up all night,
making to catch the moment of the arrival of our loved ones at unexpected hours.
And we do not let our minds wonder and worry if our loved ones would actually
come or how many more hours to wait. And this is how we prepare ourselves to
meet wisdom, because it is not just us who seeks her but wisdom herself also
seeks those who are worthy to her, making her rounds for that, graciously
appearing and meeting with them with full attention (Wisdom 6:16).
The wisdom is Christ, as she is personified in him
(Proverbs 8:1-36; 1 Corinthians 1:24), pre-existing God’s creation (Proverbs 8:21-22; cf. John
1:1). Therefore, seeking the wisdom also means seeking Christ. And as wisdom
comes and meet those who are worthy to her (Wisdom 6:16), so does Christ.
In fact, Christ has already come to us, sent by the
Father (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9) incarnated in the human flesh of Jesus (Luke
1:35; John 1:1,14; Galatians 4:4), dwelled among us (John 1:14), and opened the
gate of heaven by his death on the Cross (Matthew 27:51; John 10:9), and he
rose from the dead (Luke 24:6-7) and ascended into heaven (Luke 24:51; Acts
1:22). When he came for the first time, the shepherds who kept the vigil for
their sheep were able to meet him (Luke 2:8-17), Simeon and Anna, who kept
their vigilant hope for the coming of the Messiah, met him when he was
presented in the Temple (Luke 2:25-38), and the Magi, who sought to pay homage
to him, met him (Matthew 2:1-11). The incarnated Christ made his appearance in
public when he came to John the Baptist for baptism (Matthew 3:13-17). And his
chiristological identity was made known to Peter through divine intercession (Matthew
16:15-17).
During the period of his first coming, the incarnated
Christ was making his round from Galilee to Jerusalem, gradually making himself
known, so that people would believe (Matthew 4:12-25:46). Though none of us
existed at that time, the same Christ comes to us in the Holy Spirit (i.e. John
14:18, 28) and in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist (Catechism of the
Catholic Church, 1353). This way, he remains with us until the eschaton (Matthew 28:20), even though he
has ascended into heaven. And he is coming, indeed (Revelation 22:12) to judge
the living and the dead (2 Timothy 4:1). Therefore, whether we will be still
alive or dead, we all shall meet Christ as he returns, as Paul teaches in the
Second Reading (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Then, the dead will be raised (1
Thessalonians 4:16; cf. 1 Corinthians 15:52) and the living will be caught up (ἁρπαγησόμεθα/ harpagesometha) with those
who are raised from the dead by Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:17a). And this
phenomena is known as “rapture”. To make sure that we are caught up by the
returning Christ, Paul calls us to stay with (περιλειπόμενοι/perileipomenoi) Christ (1Thessalonians 4:17b). It is
important to note that περιλειπόμενοι/perileipomenoi
‘s root word (μένω/meno), which means
to stay and remain as to wait for, is also used in Christ’s call to remain in
him (μείνατε/mentee)(John 15:4) in
order to stay alive for eternal life as faithful and fruitful disciples so that
the complete joy may be established (John 15:4-14). And the Gospel Reading
(Matthew 25:1-13), which is known as the parable of the ten virgins, describes
how we shall μένω/meno – remain in
Christ as we wait for his return.
Jesus begins the parable with these words:
The
kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to
meet the bridegroom (Matthew 25:1).
Out of the ten virgins, five of them are foolish and
the other five are wise (Matthew 15:2). While the wise ones had flasks of oil
in case their lamp oil would runs out while waiting for the arrival of the
bridegroom, the foolish ones did not (Matthew 15:3-4). And this made a
difference.
Because the bridegroom’s arrival was delayed, these
waiting virgins fell drowsy and asleep (Matthew 25:5). Then at midnight, the
bridegroom’s arrival was announced: Behold,
the bridegroom! Come out to meet him! (Matthew 25:6). And all ten virgins
woke up and start trimming their lamps to meet him (Matthew 25:7). The wise
ones were readily able to set up their lamp oil burning but the foolish ones
had to go out to purchase lamp oil (Matthew 25:8-9). While the foolish ones
were out to get their lamp oil, the bridegroom arrived, and the wise virgins,
who had their lamps burning at that moment went with him for the wedding
banquet, and the door of the banquet hall was locked (Matthew 25:10). Then, the
foolish ones returned and asked the bridegroom to open the door (Matthew 25:
11). But it was not opened for them (Matthew 25:12). And Jesus concluded this
parable with these words:
Therefore,
stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour
(Matthew 25:13).
The point of Christ’s teaching through this parable is to “stay awake”. The word used for this in the original Greek text of the Gospel is γρηγορέω (gregorio), which means to watchfully or vigilantly remain alert or awake. The same Greek word is also used in Peter’s teaching to remain watchful against devil’s attach (1 Peter 5:8). This teaches us that those who fail to keep themselves watchfully vigilant all the time will miss to enter the Kingdom of God, which is symbolically represented with the wedding banquet in the parable (Matthew 25:11-12), with the returned Christ, and may be devoured by devil (1 Peter 5:8).
For us to be like the wise virgins, we must seek
wisdom from God vigilantly, as reminded by the First Reading (Wisdom 6:12-16).
Because Christ himself is the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24; cf. Proverbs
8:1-36), we shall seek the wisdom as we seek God, reflected in the Responsorial
Psalm (63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8). Then, the wisdom makes us wise in the eyes of God
and enables us to stay awake watchfully to readily meet Christ when he arrives
upon his return and to be ushered into the Kingdom for the heavenly wedding
banquet with him (i.e. Revelation 21:6-9).
In this Sunday’s scripture readings (Wisdom 6:12-16; 1
Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13), we see a juxtaposition between Christ
and wisdom. And what is essential in seeking Christ-wisdom for our soteriological
and eschatological benefit is to remain vigilant. The Gospel Reading (Matthew
25:1-13) reminds us that those who are with wisdom did not miss the coming of
the bridegroom, who is Christ the Lamb (Revelation 19:7), as they were able to
readily become vigilant, though they fell drowsy once. To borrow St. Augustine’s
words, the wisdom makes us feel, Timeo Iesum transeuntem (I fear that Jesus
will pass by me unnoticed) (Sermons, 88, 14, 13).
Because the Gospel Reading (Matthew 25:1-13), the
parable of the ten virgins, is about how we are to be prepared for Christ’s
return at the eschaton, Pope Francis cited the above words of St. Augustine in
preaching on Mark 13:33-37, in which Jesus teaches us how we should prepare
ourselves for his second coming (Parousia):
If we ask Jesus to come close to us, we
will train ourselves to be watchful. Today Mark’s Gospel presented us with the
end of Jesus’ final address to his disciples, which can be summed up in two
words: “Be watchful!” The Lord repeats these words four times in five verses
(cf. Mk 13:33-35.37). It is important to remain watchful, because one great
mistake in life is to get absorbed in a thousand things and not to notice God.
Saint Augustine said: “Timeo Iesum transeuntem” (Sermons, 88, 14, 13), “I fear
that Jesus will pass by me unnoticed”. Caught up in our own daily concerns (how
well we know this!), and distracted by so many vain things, we risk losing
sight of what is essential
(Homily, First Sunday of Advent, Cycle B, November 29, 2020).
Let us make sure that we remain vigilant until Christ
returns, keeping all worldly concerns from compromising our watchfulness. Let
us seek wisdom vigilantly so that we are prepared for any circumstance without
worries even though we may not know the hour of his coming, with our listening
hearts. This way, we know what the Holy Spirit, another Parakletos,
teaches us (i.e. John 14:16, 26), and wisdom comes through the Holy Spirit (1
Corinthians 12:8). This way, we shall not be caught off-guard but caught up
with Christ upon his return.
No comments:
Post a Comment