“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour (Matthew 25:1-13, ESV).
Jesus said once, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” He is saying something very similar to that in the above parable: “Many are invited and will join in wait for the bridegroom, but few will actually remain to follow him to the feast when he comes.”
What is the analogy in our lives today?
What does it mean for us to have oil in reserve, for us to be ready to follow the bridegroom?
God requires one and only one thing of us: He wants us to want the coming of His Kingdom more than we want anything else in this life. This is all He asks. At the end of this age, when nothing of this world remains, if He finds that we want, from the core of our being, the Kingdom He intends to establish, then citizenship in that Kingdom is ours. But if He finds our eyes, our desires, and our affections fixed on the stuff that is passing away, then we are unworthy of His Kingdom, and His words to us will be, “I do not know you.”
I would suggest that this parable sheds some light on what we understand ourselves to be about. I sincerely hope that we are like the oil dealers mentioned in Jesus’ parable: the ones that the foolish virgins went looking for (although it was too late for them). Our desire is to persuade anyone and everyone who will listen of the surpassing value of God’s coming Kingdom in order that we might fill the flask of their desire with a hunger and thirst for that Kingdom.
We talk about a lot of different things; our interests are wide and varied; but one thing that I hope underlies everything that we do: we want to persuade those who have been foolish to get a little oil for their flask. In other words, we want to persuade them to trade in a faith that is fragile and tentative for a faith that can endure anything; to trade in a weak and fading love for God’s kingdom for a love that runs deep and strong; to trade in a casual interest in the eternal Life which God has promised for a raging hunger; and to trade in a commitment that is divided and distracted for one that is single-minded and focused.
