Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.
What if all the virgins or maids of honor had brought enough oil with them? What if the five who had brought oil had shared with the other five? What if your sister were one of those excluded? Why would Jesus, who had come to gather people together tell a parable about how God would exclude some people?
There re two ways of looking at reality. From God’s point of view, all is good and all creation manifests God’s love for all. From our point of view, which is only part of what God sees, things are bad or good. From God’s point of view, everything is included and meant to be with God. From our point of view, everything seems to operate according to what we see, do, and hear. From God’s point of view, everything is grace and gift. From our point of view everything is based on merit, on what we have earned, or what we deserve. God is optimist, but we are pessimists.
God has invited us to the wedding. God is wedded to the created world through Jesus Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection. God welcomes us to the wedding banquet. We tend to make excuses, such as having to buy more oil, not having a dress suit, being sick for all these years, not being hired, or any other the many reasons we think could make us unwelcome or not good enough for the wedding.
What would it take to break our wills to match God’s? Why do we think that we can overrun God who is all-powerful? Why do we not share our oil, our food, our strengths, our love with everyone else as God has shared with us?
Let us look at the parable as an expression of God’s desire to save everybody. God invites and, from our point of view, warns us not to cut ourselves off from God. The parable then describes God’s point of view and the practical results of our point of view.