Jesus often taught in parables, and sometimes he told multiple parables in a row with the same basic message. As was discussed in a previous Bible study article, the Parable of the Prodigal Son is the third parable of three on the topic of God loving when sinners repent (Luke 15). Although each parable has the same overarching message, the details or emphasis of each parable are sometimes different. We run the risk of erroneous interpretations if we pull the trilogy of parables apart; Jesus told these parables together for a reason.
Luke 15 is not the only time when Jesus tells a trilogy of parables with the exact same point. But the trilogy we will look at in this article might be harder to spot, because a chapter division has been placed between Jesus’ second and third parables in this trilogy.
Matthew 24:42-25:13 contains three parables on the unexpectedness of Christ’s second coming. These three parables find themselves in the middle of a larger discussion Jesus was having with his disciples about the last days. His disciples had asked him to give more details concerning his prophecy about the destruction of the temple, but they also wanted to know about his coming and the end of the age (Matt 24:3). Jesus answered these questions in a variety of ways, from citing Old Testament texts, to, of course, using parables (Matthew 24-25). The three parables this article will look at are placed in the middle of a set of five parables all about the time leading up to the second coming of the Lord. Jesus tells a parable about a fig tree, the point being that as the time approaches, it will become increasingly evident (Matt 24:32-33). The final parable is about a number of slaves who were entrusted with various amounts of money, the point being that when the Master returns, he expects to see that his slaves made good use of what he entrusted them with (Matt 25:14-30). In between, we find a trilogy of parables about when Christ may return.
The first of this trilogy is all about a thief who comes at night (Matt 24:42-44). A thief does not reveal when he is going to rob you, because if he did, then you would have time to prepare to stop him. In the parable, the thief came at night when the man of the house was asleep. But, if the man had known when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake; he would have been ready for the thief’s coming. In this parable, the thief is comparable to the Lord (also 1 Thess 5:2; 2 Pet 3:10; Rev 16:15). God has not told us and is not going to tell us exactly when his Son will return (Matt 24:36, 44). This parable, and the explanation Jesus gives, summarizes the basic message of this trilogy of parables: “For this reason you must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think he will” (Matt 24:44).
From here, Jesus goes on to tell a parable about a slave who has been placed in charge while the master is away on a trip (Matt 24:45-51). Back in the first century, there was not the kind of fast and convenient travel that we have today, nor the communication methods of today. This all meant that the duration of long trips away from home was malleable, and on top of this, there was no easy way of informing those at home if you were on your way back or not. Because of this, the slave assumes that he has more time in charge than he actually has, so he abuses his power (Matt 24:48-49). After beating the other slaves for sport, he keeps the food he should be dividing among them and throws a big party with a bunch of drunkards. But the master returns in the middle of the slave’s power trip and he brings justice to this tyrannical slave (Matt 24:50-51). All along, the slave figured he had time to put the house back in order, to send his deadbeat friends away, and to make sure everyone looked well-fed and unabused. But he did not have more time; the master came back when he was unprepared. This parable has the same basic meaning as the first: Christ will return when you do not expect, so always be ready. But it is a little bit more specific than the first parable’s message, because the message here is that Christ could return sooner than you expect.
The last parable of the trilogy is one about ten virgins waiting for the groom to arrive (Matt 25:1-13). First-century Jewish weddings were a bit different than our weddings today. They were often days-long celebrations that began with the groom retrieving the bride from her house and the whole party returning to his house in a torchlight processional. The ten virgins were waiting for this event to occur, but some were more prepared than others (Matt 25:2-4). Eventually, it was announced that the groom had arrived, but half of the young girls were foolish and did not come prepared with enough oil for their lamps to burn so late into the night (Matt 25:3, 7-8). They tried to amend the issue by purchasing oil in the middle of the night, but their efforts were in vain and they got locked out of the party (Matt 25:9-12). They were not prepared because the groom came later than they expected. Again, the basic message of this parable is the same as the rest in the trilogy: “Stay awake, for you do not know the day nor the hour” (Matt 25:13). (Staying awake is a metaphorical way of talking about being ready. Obviously, it is not wrong to sleep; even the prepared girls were doing that when the announcement of the groom’s arrival was heard (Matt 25:5-6).) Even though the overarching message is the same as the previous two parables, The Parable of the Ten Virgins warns us that Christ’s second coming might come later than we expect.
When we place the three parables next to one another, we have a parable that generally warns us that we will not know when the Day of the Lord will occur, a second that tells us that this day may come sooner than we expect, and a third that tells us that it might come later than we expect. Jesus covers all of the bases here. We need to be living like Jesus could have come back two minutes ago (would you have been ready?), but we also need to be living like Jesus could be coming back 2,000 years from now (are you preparing/building like that could be true?). You can easily see why Jesus tells all three parables. If he just told the most famous of the three, The Parable of the Ten Virgins, then we miss out on the urgency of the other two. If Jesus just told the middle parable, then we miss out on the reminder to plan and prepare like Christ’s return is happening later than we think.
The three parables in Matt 24:42-25:13 challenge us to be ready at any moment for Christ’s return. We need to be like a man awake and vigilant for the thief to strike in the middle of the night. This means we must expect that we won’t have time later on in our lives to “make things right.” If you are waiting until later to repent of some sin, then you’re doing it wrong – your master might return before you have a chance to turn. Similarly, it also means that we must expect that we have more time here in this fallen world than we think. This means that you must be preparing for Christ’s coming to be delayed even longer. Rather than sitting back without a flask of oil, dreaming of the day the Bridegroom will return, you should be actively obeying God by being prepared for a long wait. Equipping future generations for further service.