For the early Christians, the Image of the Risen Christ must have been a great bulwark and source of comfort as they lived in constant threat of persecution for their faith, their right to gather to worship, and to proselytise. The symbols needed by the early Christians were ones of hope and salvation. The challenges to the faith were external and brutal. If the Image of Christ at Easter, for those closest to His time on earth 2 millennia ago was one of hope and salvation against external challenges, what are the challenges today, that we may gain spiritual comfort in the Risen Christ? For many of us, it must still be a challenge of complacency – of physical well-being, material possessions, and the constant distractions of earthly power, personal glory and self-fulfilment. Certainly, lest we forget, there are multitudes of people who still live in fear, hunger, and the lack of shelter from the forces of nature around the world – but here, we are challenged by the hypnotic security of plenty. Better to take a parable from the Gospel according to St Matthew, about the five wise and five foolish virgins to remind us of the peril of living the here-and-now exclusively.
The Parable of the Ten Virgins. (Matt 25; 1-13)
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise ones replied, ‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’ While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’ But he said in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
The late psychiatrist, non-denominational Christian, and best-seller motivation writer Dr M Scott Peck was once invited to preach the homily to this Gospel reading at a Catholic retreat in Chicago during Mass. Unprepared for the formality of preaching on the assigned Gospel reading that Sunday, he wrote that he was initially ‘horrified’ because he was not prepared for this parable. He had never understood it. He said the ‘parable struck him as totally un-Christian. What on earth is Christianity about if it isn’t about sharing (the oil for the lamps)’? But after some frantic thoughts and reflections, he understood and realized that the parable “was a symbol for preparation, and that what Jesus was saying to him – realist that He was – was that we cannot share our preparation. (We) cannot do others’ homework for them. Or if you do their homework, you cannot earn their degree for them, which is the symbol of their preparation. So we cannot give away our preparation. The only thing we can do – and that is often very difficult – is to try as best we can to impart to others a motive for them to prepare themselves. “He concluded that he “ know of no way of doing that other than attempting to teach (others) how important they are, how beautiful and desirable they are in the eyes of God.“
As we go about our daily lives, in this – oh, awfully exciting and challenging world! – with its broad-band access, KPIs, bonuses, pleasures, and celebrations, let’s spare a thought for the image of the Risen Christ, not just as an icon of comfort in the after-life, alongside the earthly symbols of comforts – but as a Challenge to be Prepared.
References: Excerpts from Further Along the Road Less Travelled: The Unending Journey Towards Spiritual Growth. M Scott Peck. 1993 Simon & Schuster p96-7
From A Season of Hope & Preparedness, a reflection first published in The Apostle, a Newsletter of the Catholic Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Singapore. Easter Sunday, 24 April 2011.