If you have been reading along through Matthew’s gospel, you should have picked up by now that—to paraphrase Bob Dylan—“the times they are a-changing.” We—people who follow Jesus and know his story—know what is coming. The betrayal, death, and resurrection are in his future, and the rhetoric Jesus uses begins to prepare his disciples for this fact. It feels here in chapter 25 that the pace is picking up, the temperature is rising, and the pressure is building.
Jesus is talking to his disciples here. Look back to Matthew 24:3 and skim forward to realize that the audience he is addressing has not changed. These are the men he chose, the people in whom he has spent three years investing. He knows the end is coming, and he is preparing them for that reality—and not only for HIS end, but one day, THE end.
He tells two parables. Verses 1-13 present what we call the parable of the ten virgins, which helps Jesus followers realize that we all need to be well prepared for the day that he will return. Verses 14-30 tell the parable of the talents, which calls us to question how we are living our lives—what we are doing with what God has given us. Then the final pericope (there’s a biblical scholarship word for you—it refers to a self-contained unit or selection of the Bible) is about the final judgement, helping us to recognize that it is not only what we do that matters to God, but what we don’t do, as well.