Let’s go to the very end of Matthew’s Gospel. The resurrected Jesus meets his disciples on a mountaintop in Galilee. Jesus has the last words of the Gospel: “I am with you to the end of the age” (28:20). Jesus does not leave this earth; He remains present. Matthew does not record an ascension. Certainly, Jesus is present in different ways. To hear Him, we need to read the gospels. To touch him, we need to hold out our hands at Communion. Even so, Jesus remains present.
Today’s parable of the ten bridesmaids seems to contradict Matthew’s ending. The parable is part of the Sermon on the Mount of Olives (chapters 24 and 25). This sermon is about the end time, when Jesus arrives, like the bridegroom in today’s parable. The ending of the Sermon on the Mount of Olives culminates with Jesus returning in glory escorted by the angels sitting on a throne, ready to judge the nations (25: 31). We might ask: Matthew what are you thinking; why confuse us? Did Jesus leave and return, or is He with us always?
If we raised this question with Matthew, he would tell us we don’t know how to tell time. We, modern people, use linear time. The past becomes present anticipating the future: time always moves forward in a straight line. Jesus did not own a watch; his time is called eternity. All time is always present. In eternal time, past and future become now. Jesus can be arriving in glory and yet present to us now.
The best example of eternal time is in John’s Gospel. In chapter six, Jesus teaches us about the Eucharist. He says: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood HAS eternal life. (Jn 6:54). Notice the tense. When we receive Eucharist, we have eternal life in the here and now. In linear time, eternity happens after we die. But in the Lord’s time, we have eternity now.
In John’s chapter seventeen, Jesus defines eternal life; speaking to God the Father, He says: “this is eternal life, that [my disciples] know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ (Jn 17: 3). Our knowledge of God offers us eternal life now. I know this is mind- boggling.
We need eternal time to understand the parable of bridesmaids. In today’s parable, keeping one’s light lit separates the wise and the foolish. We need to know what the light is. The Sermon on the Mount of Olives is the last sermon Jesus gave before his arrest. At the other end of Matthew’s Gospel, at beginning of his ministry, Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. In that earlier sermon, Jesus calls us the light of the world. He said, “Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father” (5:16). These words follow the Beatitudes. Light is the Beatitudes-in-action. Raising the poor out of poverty, comforting the bereaved, hungering for righteousness, showing mercy, making peace: The Beatitudes-in-action is the light.
And more: the Beatitudes-in-action is coming face-to-face with Jesus. The Beatitudes-in-action is knowing God and Jesus Christ. It lifts us into eternity now. In the Sermon on the Mount of Olives, Jesus comes in glory. He judges the nations—that’s us. Here is what the Judge says: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, in prison and you welcomed me” (25:35). These blessed people ask when they met Jesus. He says: “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (25:40). We leap into eternal time with every act of kindness, with compassion, empathy, charity.
The foolish do not know this truth. Let’s look at the foolish. They are not agnostics, atheists, nonbelievers, or people who practice another religion. They are participants in the party of bridesmaids; they are part of our church. But their light goes out. Troubled, they cry out “Lord, Lord.” They know to call Jesus Lord. But they hear the Lord’s terrifying words “I do not know you.” Back in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught: “Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who DOES the will of my Father in heaven” (7:21). Here’s where it gets scary. These foolish object: “Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?” (7:22). These believers did spectacular religious things. They told the future; cast out the devil; did miracles. They are model parishioners…except…, they did not come to know God and Jesus through acts of compassion and kindness.
Time is different in eternity. We can leap into eternal time now and meet the Lord here, in his Word and in this Sacrament, which we do at Mass. And we can know Him in charity and compassion for those in need. We can live now in eternity.