#DailyDevotion Are You A Wise Or Foolish Virgin?

Matt. 25:1-13 Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten girls who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ²Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³The foolish girls brought their lamps, but they took no extra oil. ⁴The wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. ⁵But the bridegroom delayed, and so they all dozed off to sleep. ⁶“At midnight there was a shout: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out and meet him! ⁷Then all those girls woke up and got their lamps ready. ⁸“But the foolish asked the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil. Our lamps are going out.’ ⁹“The wise girls answered, “There will never be enough for us and for you. Better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ ¹⁰“While they were away buying it, the bridegroom came, and the girls who were ready went with him to the wedding, and the door was shut. ¹¹“Later the other girls also came and said, ‘Lord, lord, open the door for us!’ ¹²“ ‘I tell you the truth,’ he answered them, “I don’t know you.’ ¹³“Keep awake, then, because you don’t know the day or the hour.”

There are a number of different interpretations of this parable. They mostly fall into what are the different meanings of they oil. Most of these are wrong because their interpretations just don’t hold up throughout the parable or reason (of course many things of faith are contrary to reason).

Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to ten girls who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom. Well, what are we to make of this? Everyone seems to be invited to the wedding banquet. Well, that sound pretty good. However five were wise and five were foolish. The wise brought extra oil knowing the groom was known for being late (ok, that’s me taking license) and the foolish just brought enough for what they thought the job would be. Well they all fell asleep. Now should we interpret this as dying? Falling asleep is a well known term for death starting with Jesus. Then when unexpectedly the groom arrives at midnight. The girls wake up. Should this not be seen as the resurrection when Christ the groom of the Church appears. I think so.

Now comes the sticking point with the oil. The wise have enough, the foolish do not. Their oil is running out. Is the oil faith? Both have oil and it runs out. Does our faith run out? Can you go to the marketplace and buy more? I don’t think so. Is it works? Do our works run out? Can we go buy some more when Christ returns? Again, I don’t think so. Perhaps the whole oil thing or going and buying some is one of those things Christ puts in his parables to keep us humble. I am certain, the oil is not the main thing of this parable.

Well the 5 wise meet the groom and go into the banquet with him. By the time the 5 foolish get to the banquet the doors are closed. They bang on the door and call out to the groom to let them in. He tells them this chilling thing, “I don’t know you.” Jesus said the same thing in Matt. 7 and Luke 13. In those passages they claim to have done great things in Jesus’ name and they hung out with him. But Jesus doesn’t know them. Jesus’ sheep know him and he knows them. They follow him wherever he goes. “Watch!” Jesus says, “Keep awake!” This is the point of the parable. How do we do this? Examining the Scriptures, our Lutheran fathers concluded we should, “adhere to God’s Word, pray diligently, abide in God’s goodness [grace], and faithfully use the gifts [sacraments] received.” Such is the life of a good Christian to remain faithful to the end and not rely on past efforts but always to be faithful to Jesus today.

Heavenly Father, give us your Holy Spirit that we may watch faithfully for your Son Jesus Christ’s second coming so we may be prepared for that day. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.