Matthew 25: The Resolve of Jesus to Die - The Lament of the Editor of Matthew

Matthew 25: The Resolve of Jesus to Die - The Lament of the Editor of Matthew

v. 3 The foolish virgins had lamps, but no oil.

v. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 

v. 45 The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' 

Reading Matthew 25 in connection with the preceding chapters, the parables of the ten virgins, the talents, and the sheep and goats should be heard by the scribes and Pharisees. These three parables highlight their hypocrisy, and starting with the parable of the talents makes their meaning clearer.

Focusing on whether the talent is five, two, or one obscures the parable of the talents. It survives when attention is paid to the servant's actions rather than the numbers. Just as the kingdom of heaven is invisible to our eyes, the talents representing it are also unseen. The numbers five, two, and one are merely earthly standards. Nevertheless, Jesus deemed the scribes and Pharisees as the servant who received one talent. Yet, their religious actions went beyond this limit. They were always the servant who received five talents. Why, then, did Jesus consider them as having received only one talent, contrary to our calculations?

The parable of the sheep and goats is the reason Jesus evaluated them this way. Those who received five talents are on the side of the sheep. They are surprised by the master's accounting, asking when they had left any talents. They lived their lives doing their work, neither overtly doing good nor evil. They simply lived considering empathy and mutual support as natural. Those who received one talent were divided among the goats. Their talent ledger is filled with achievements, hence their confusion about when they ever neglected the Lord. The reactions of the sheep and goats are identical, but Jesus' evaluation differs. In another chapter of the Gospel, the master defined loving God as loving one's neighbor. Jesus bases his judgment not on the amounts in the submitted ledgers but on the servants' actions. Unlike those on the side of the goats, those on the side of the sheep would find nothing to write in their ledger even if they wanted to. Can serving a cup of tea to a neighbor be listed in a ledger? Those are trivial and everyday tasks.

Those evaluated as having received one talent, on the side of the goats, are the foolish brides. If one must carry a lamp, it naturally needs to be filled with oil. Everyone is given talents and lamps. Whether the lamp is ornate or simple, it must be filled with oil to shine its light. If our calculation is about the preparation of an ornate lamp, then heaven's calculation is about whether the lamp shone. A bride who carries a lamp capable of shining is wise.

The editor of Matthew might have lamented placing this material ahead of the announcements of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. Since Jesus called the privileged class (the Pharisees and scribes) foolish virgins, servants who received one talent, and goats, they would not leave him be. Jesus appears as one resolved to die.