Today, we’re making an argument for being ‘all in’ with regards to Jesus, as opposed to being ‘on the fence.’ It starts with a premise: Do we admire people who go all in to something or stay on the fence? Do we want to marry someone who’s on the fence in terms of love? This can lead to a painful reality: We usually marry someone with great hopes, so it can be a big disappointment to realize they’re not fully engaged, let’s say, with regard to life and the children. At work, we appreciate those who work hard and are frustrated with those who go through the motions.
Let’s apply this to our relationship with Jesus. Most of us are interested in following Him, or we even love Him, but it could be that we’re staying on the fence with regard to making a commitment, even though He’s inviting us into a deeper relationship.
Today, we hear Him teach, “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise” (Mt 25:1-2). The bridegroom is Jesus; the bridesmaids represent our souls. God wants to be in a marriage with humanity—that’s the best way of describing His love for us; He wants us to have the fullness of life. But, marriage must be freely accepted; He won’t force us. The foolish are those who go half-way with regards to following Jesus; the wise are those who go all the way, are fully prepared for when they die and for His second coming.
As we’ve pointed out, if a man proposes to a woman and she doesn’t say ‘Yes,’ he’ll wait. But he can’t wait forever. ‘Will you marry me?’ She says, ‘You know I love you. I love spending time with you. Thanks for all you do for me.’ Eventually, he needs a clear answer.
When it comes to the Christ the King Challenge, we’re not being forced to make a decision by two weeks if we haven’t already. Jesus is simply telling us to ponder the decision seriously, because it impacts our life. And thankfully He’s patient, giving us time to think about it.
Here now is a testimony of someone whom Jesus has been searching for her whole life and has responded:
“When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps [oil represents good works, that is, following Jesus’ commandments and teachings; only the wise love Jesus in this way]. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him’” (25:3-6).
In ancient Israel, there were two stages of Jewish marriages: 1) The betrothal: the man arranges to marry the woman, after which they’re legally married but don’t live together (she stays with her parents up to one year). 2) The wedding feast: On a certain day, at sunset, the husband goes to his wife’s house and leads her to his home in a procession, while people, including bridesmaids, join with singing and torches (Curtis Mitch & Edward Sri, Matthew in Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, 319). In the parable, because the bridegroom is delayed, everyone loses focus. This represents how we sometimes put off decisions: ‘I’ll pray/sign up for _______ /go to Confession later.’
“While they [the foolish] went to buy it [some oil], the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you’” (25:10-12). One of the most pivotal moments in my life was when I was 17. I loved Jesus, wanted to give my life to Him, and thought about going to the seminary for Grade 12. But I was afraid of missing out on the best year of high school and on graduation. The rector of the seminary asked: ‘Are you coming for September?’ I couldn’t answer; I didn’t know for sure if God was calling me. He wrote back saying I wasn’t ready to come, but something he said impacted me: ‘God loves you and has been working in your heart, and you can feel it. But you’re afraid of missing out and letting the world pass you by. However, if you don’t follow Jesus while He’s offering the gift, His offer might pass you by. The world can’t hold a candle to the light of Christ. The world offers you so much fun (friends, graduation, university), but Jesus offers you eternal life!’ As soon as I read that, I knew I had to enter the next year. At that moment, I didn’t make my decision to become a priest, but took the next step.
Not everyone who places Jesus at the center of their lives is going to be a priest or sister, but all of us have something that holds us back from giving a full ‘Yes’ to Jesus.
There are three common reasons that prevent us from placing Jesus at the center of our lives:
1) We feel we’re not holy enough, we make too many mistakes. That’s understandable. We should try to love Jesus more, but He doesn’t want us to be perfect first and then place Him at the center—that’s impossible. By definition, the only way to become perfect is to start with Jesus in the center. So, we might be expecting something of ourselves that God’s not expecting.
2) I might fail. Only someone who already loves Jesus thinks this. But, it means more to Jesus that we commit, sincerely try, and fall as opposed to never trying at all; besides, committing, sincerely trying, and failing leads to more growth than never committing at all.
3) FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). When we follow Jesus, He asks us to give up things, but only things that hurt us. He asks us to give up purposely getting drunk so that we take care of our bodies; He calls us to give up sexual sin so that we can have real, meaningful human relationships that satisfy; He asks us to give up focusing on making ourselves happy so that we can make other people happy—and you know what? That makes us more happy! And when He asks us to give up good things, it’s so that He can give us something better.
Jesus ends: “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (25:13). He’s talking about the time of His return, and the last moment to give Him an answer is our death. So, is there anything we could do to take one concrete step forward in our relationship with Him?
Think about this: We’ve got a year before our 2027 Christ the King Challenge. We’ve got a year to test: Is life better if I’m all in for Jesus or if I stay on the fence?