The Kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins
who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
We want to go out to meet the bridegroom with lamps that are lit. But we sometimes make the mistake of the foolish five and assume that because our lamps are lit when we leave that they will still be shining brightly when we arrive. What if the interval between when we light our lamps and when the bridegroom finally comes is longer than we first suspected? Is our light only good for an initial burst of enthusiasm at the idea of the wedding but then too little for endurance over the long haul?
Since the bridegroom was long delayed,
they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
Everyone in the parable was overcome by sleep, lulled by the world, when the bridegroom did not come at once. But there were five who managed to make themselves ready in spite of this. All ten succumbed in some sense to weakness. But for those who were wise it was not catastrophic. By contrast, those who were foolish found that sleep stole from them the time they would need to fix the flame in their lamps and ready a good response to the bridegroom. The oil that the wise brought with them let them recover so quickly it was as though they had not been asleep. The lack of oil of the foolish so cast them back upon their own resources, or lack thereof, that sleeping itself was only part of a delay that proved too long.
Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’
While they went off to buy it,
the bridegroom came
and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him.
Had they not fallen asleep in the first place the foolish ones might have noticed the dimming of their lamps and taken corrective action in time. But if they had at least made the effort to prepare as the wise did, to have oil on hand for if things didn't go perfectly as planned, their story might have ended differently.
Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps.
What is this oil, that makes our lights shine and makes us ready and recognizable to the bridegroom, but which cannot be shared with others no matter how much we might wish to do so?
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (see Matthew 5:16).
At a basic level, the oil is our good works. For these not only shine to glorify our heavenly Father in the moment, but they establish in us habits that help us to wake up from sleep with hearts that are ready to love, and therefore to receive and celebrate the bridegroom. Those practiced in good works can quickly begin to shine again even if there is a momentary lapse during a long delay.
It would be wrong, however, if we simply regarded ourselves as the source of our good works. Preparing extra oil is not simply a matter of working harder. Even more than our works, then, the oil must be the Spirit who underlies our works, who makes us able to love and to live as lights in the world.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do (see Galatians 5:16-17).
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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law (see Galatians 5:22-23).
Prudence and wisdom therefore call us to remember our own lack of sufficiency in ourselves, our own weakness, and to remain constantly open to the work of the Spirit within us, seeking more and more to receive the love he himself pours into our hearts, to let he himself be the flame that shines in our works which are then his own fruits in us.
The wisdom to which we are called seems foolish to the world who is unaware of the spiritual realities that underlie those which are merely physical. We are called to depend on a God who himself suffered death out of love for us as the source of our own light and strength. But when we really begin to live by faith in this truth, faith in "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" the results speak for themselves.
The LORD brings to nought the plans of nations;
he foils the designs of peoples.
But the plan of the LORD stands forever;
the design of his heart, through all generations.
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