Parable of the Ten Virgins

The telling of Jesus of Nazareth so-called parable of the wise and foolish virgins (Matthew 25:1-13 ) has a parabolic shape with the preparation for the kingdom of God and the soteriological consequences.

The parable is often read in the Catholic Church in the Holy Mass on the anniversary of holy virgins, about St.. Cecilia. In the reading order of the ordinary form and the 32nd ( third to last ) Sunday in Ordinary part of the reading year A.

In the Lutheran lectionary is read on the last Sunday of the church year ( eternity Sunday) as the Sunday Gospel.

  • 3.1 sculptures
  • 3.2 Iconographic representations
  • 3.3 church windows ( stained glass )
  • 3.4 Church Music

Text

The parable is part of the special property of Matthew's Gospel.

Text after the translation unit:

" Then it will be the kingdom of heaven like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but no oil, the wise took their lamps with oil in their vessels. Now when the bridegroom was long, were they all slumbered and slept. Middle of the night but it was a cry, Behold, the bridegroom is coming! Come out to meet him! Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps all. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are going out. The they replied, then it is sufficient either for us or for you; but goes to the dealers and buy what you need. While they were still on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom came; The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding hall and the door was shut. Later the other virgins came and cried, 'Lord, Lord, open to us! But he answered them, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, For you know neither the day nor the hour. "

Interpretations

Jesus' listeners

For the understanding of that audience the tradition of rabbinic parables played a significant role. Such parables to exegesis is often found in the Talmud and Midrash and they were popular and typically already in Old Testament times for rabbinic Judaism. These parables contained stylized elements from everyday life, which regularly met the same spiritual motives, so that the audience could associate accordingly. That was with the king or host God meant Kluge and Foolish corresponded righteous and sinners, the festive dress was a righteous life before God, with water or bread, the Torah was meant with oil good deeds ( as expiation action), a feast meant a close relationship field or vineyard was Israel.

A rabbinic parable that uses partially similar motifs is, for example, the parable of the wise and foolish guests:

Another rabbinic parable konstrastiert wise and foolish guests who are invited to a feast. The wise guests go home, as long as their lamps were still burning, the foolish got drunk and started to argue and kill each other. The Mishnah says ( mTaan 4, 8 ), which Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel says: From the solidarity of the girls who were dancing in the vineyards before the eyes of potential grooms, but all in borrowed clothes, in order not to embarrass the no beautiful dresses possessed. This was one of the two joyous days of the year.

Fathers of the Church

From the Church Fathers, the parable was heavily allegorized, the interpretations were very different. Here are some that Thomas Aquinas has collected in the Catena aurea:

  • Maidens: The Church Father Jerome indicates that some literally interpret the virgins virgins, some are virgins physically and mentally, but others married only physically and mentally. He relates the parable of the whole humanity. Hilary of Poitiers interprets the lamps as the light of the bright souls that radiate in the sacrament of baptism. Augustine of Hippo refers to the ten virgins to the five senses, which can be used foolish and wise.
  • Oil: The oil means at Hilary good works, in Chrysostom charity, alms, and all the help the needy is given in Origen the word of doctrine, by which the vessels of the soul are filled.

Middle Ages

The parable was in the Middle Ages one of the most popular parables. After the interpretation of the glossa ordinaria symbolize the wise virgins who have supplied on time with oil for their oil lamps, the Christian soul, the virtuous turns to God in five ways; the foolish virgins who do have oil lamps, but no oil, symbolize five kinds of carnal lust and damnation.

In the visual arts of Europe, the parable of the ten virgins has been shown in many places, especially in the image of Gothic cathedrals. Often, the presentation was on the west portal, along with allegorical representations of Ekklesia (church) and Synagoga.

Modern interpretations

Joachim Jeremias writes that Jesus had not told the eschatological coming of a Messiah, but simply from a wedding. Not the virgins, but the wedding will compared with the kingdom of God. The suddenness was the core moment to go to it; he should startle and ask them to stay awake for upcoming changes. Luise Schottroff directed attention to the virgins, so about 12 -year-old girls would be called, of which it was expected that they presented themselves ready for marriage. The parable show the harsh reality of a patriarchal society: girls who do not meet the expectations of society, would they excluded that they meet. This could provoke a rethink.

Some boom which continues to advocate an allegorical interpretation, lead to the parable as an example, as Matthew and women (not just men) with the future kingdom of God is in relationship. Some boom, record the impulses of the revival movements, emphasize the midnight in the parable do not go to the court, but the wedding ahead, which could be interpreted as the rapture of the believers and their eschatological union with Jesus Christ. The dispensationalist John F. Walvoord (1910-2002) sees this as a concrete anti-Semitism: the judgment of the Jews ( with positive and negative output ) after the time of the great tribulation will be described before Jesus and his bride, the Church, come back to to enter the millennial kingdom. Eckhart Tolle criticized the interpretation of the parable, which he considered to be fundamentally wrong. This parable does not speak of the end of the world, but by the end of psychological time. They interpret on going over the ego mind back and to the opportunity to live in an entirely new state of consciousness. The unconscious ( foolish ) virgins do not have enough awareness (oil ) to remain present ( their lamps to keep on burning). Thus you miss the Now ( the groom) and can not find enlightenment (wedding feast).

Representations in art

Sculptures

At Gothic churches can be found next to the front page often see a beautifully decorated north portal with relief sculptures and jewelry, mostly just these wise and foolish virgins, usually covered or with a porch .... Representations as sculptures are found especially at the portals, but also in medieval cathedrals such as in:

  • Amiens, Notre- Dame d' Amiens
  • Auxerre, Saint Etienne Cathedral
  • Basel, Basler Munster, about 1280
  • Berne, Berne Cathedral, main portal at the Last Judgment
  • Bourges, Bourges Cathedral
  • Erfurt, Erfurt Cathedral, around 1330, see Figure
  • Freiburg im Breisgau, Freiburger Muenster
  • Laon Cathedral
  • Lübeck, St. Anne's Convent (late presentation in 1400 under the influence of the Italian Trecento ) and as a relief on the bronze baptismal font of Lübeck's Marienkirche ( 1337)
  • The wise and foolish virgins ( Magdeburg Cathedral ), in 1250, see Figure
  • Minden, Minden Cathedral, around 1270/80
  • Mühlhausen / Thuringia, St. Mary's Church
  • Osnabrück, St. Mary's Church
  • Paderborn, Paderborn Cathedral, relief on the south side of the eastern transept
  • Paris, Notre -Dame de Paris
  • Pont- l'Abbé - d'Arnoult, former Priory of St. Pierre
  • Reims, Notre- Dame de Reims
  • Sens, Cathedral Saint- Etienne
  • Strasbourg, Strasbourg Cathedral, south portal, see Figure
  • Strasbourg, church Jung- St.Peter
  • Worms, Church of Our Lady
  • Zurich, Church Close
  • Zurich, Cross Church

Iconographic representations

In the parable of old churches can be seen in frescoes. The presentation can be found there too often in the chancel arch. The motif was used by Tyrol, over southern Germany to Scandinavia. In Scandinavia, the motif of the wise virgins took place mainly input in pews and choir stalls, such as on the Swedish island of Gotland in the medieval churches of Gothem and Stenkyrka.

The art of the Nazarenes around Friedrich Overbeck intervened in the 19th century Christian themes again, so that the parable of the virgins was propagated back to the subject of the representation in art.

The large altar mosaic of Otto Abel (1961 ) in the Cathedral of St. Eberhard in Stuttgart shows the virgins on the right and left side of a monument ancient depiction of Christ.

The chancel arch in St. Martin Memmingen with the foolish virgins

Choir stalls in Gothem (14th century)

Choir Bank in the Church of Stenkyrka (18th century)

Church window ( stained glass )

  • By Charles Crodel (1953 ) in the course of rebuilding the St. Catherine's Church in Frankfurt am Main.

Church Music

The parable forms the basis for the chorale of Philipp Nicolai Awake, voice is calling (EC 147) and based thereon Bach cantata of the same name ( BWV 140). It is also incorporated in the second, revised by Otto Riethmueller stanza of the hymn The morning star is forced upon (EC 69).

Virgin (title) Gospel (liturgy) Peter von Cornelius Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow Eliezer ben Hurcanus Johanan ben Zakai Simeon ben Gamliel Chrysostomos Ecclesia and Synagoga Dispensationalism Amiens Cathedral Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune Protestant Church Gothem Church Stenkyrka Church Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140 Consecrated virgin Craig Blomberg Parable of the Friend at Night Parable of the budding fig tree Parable of Drawing in the Net Parable of the Wise and the Foolish Builders Parable of the Master and Servant Parable of the Hidden Treasure Parable of the Tares Parable of the unforgiving servant
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