Matthew 25:1-13
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’ “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’ “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
Understanding the Parable of the Ten Virgins
In Matthew 25:1, the words “at that time” are referring to the time when the Messiah has come. At that time, the kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
Five of the virgins were foolish and five of them were wise. However, they were not born foolish or wise. To be foolish means to not do something out of ignorance or to fail to do something despite knowing better. The foolish virgins prepared their lamps, but they failed to prepare the oil. They were foolish because they failed to do what they needed to do.
Not only did the foolish virgins fail to prepare the oil, but they also fell asleep. If you fall asleep while praying, you shouldn’t just give up but you must surely make the effort to pray again since prayer is so important. In the same way, the wise virgins encouraged the foolish virgins to not give up but to go and buy their own oil.
However, the foolish virgins failed yet a third time because they did not return with the oil quickly. Even if you make many mistakes, if you act quickly, you can often rectify the situation. But since the foolish virgins didn’t act quickly, they ultimately failed upon returning late. Doing things fast is so crucial because God also does things quickly.
The five foolish virgins may have succeeded if they had made only one or two mistakes. However, they had three strikes against them: they fell asleep when they shouldn’t have, they didn’t have enough oil prepared, and they didn’t buy the oil quickly enough.
Wisdom is preparing in advance
“Do it when you’re doing it” means that at the time you are doing something, you should do everything that pertains to that work. If you don’t complete the work at that time, you may not get another chance to do that work again. So don’t just do it partially, but do it to completion.
In terms of the parable of the ten virgins, the foolish virgins should have prepared the oil together with the lamp, since they already had the lamps with them. Foolish people do things without proper preparation. One way to avoid this is to write things down so that you won’t forget and can take action.
You must prepare the core
In every time period of God’s history, the people who failed to receive God failed because they didn’t prepare what was at the core. More than the lamp, the oil was the key. A lamp can be made easily from many different things. But you can’t just produce oil at will. The foolish virgins failed to prepare the key thing. If they had brought sufficient oil first, then they would have had less trouble preparing the lamp.
Prepare the oil of love
You have to prepare the core when it comes to faith. In the parable, the key thing was the oil. What does the oil represent? Love! Love is the core of God’s history with mankind. The Jewish people loved God but failed to love their brothers, so they were not able to accept Jesus nor love him. Since God loved Jesus, the Jews should have also been prepared with love for the one God loves. But since they didn’t have the oil of love, they became like the five foolish virgins who were unable to receive their bridegroom at the set time.
