All The Ten Virgins

 "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish."  Matthew 25:1-2

All the ten virgins had lamps and all the ten virgins slumbered and slept while the bridegroom was delayed. The separation of five from five is noted in the second verse, but it does not say why each is wise or foolish. Soon, we read that it is the actions of the five foolish ones that shed light on their failure. There is no cause in the parable to say that the five were foolish because they were women. The five wise would speak against that if even once in this parable Jesus had used her, she, female, girl, or woman. Virgin is known to be a young, unmarried woman in the time of our Lord, else we could easily read the parable as being that of ten men. It is almost like our Lord knew the sexist rhetoric of our time would come when it did. Of course He did! The parable is about all of us, woman or man, boy or girl, and so there is a resounding no or nay to the pig oinking for us on this day. The question we need is not about the sex of the virgins, but about that oil.

If it is not our accomplishments or education, what is it that the five wise virgins had in their lamps and vessels that the foolish ones had in their lamps but did not carry in their vessels? The parable of our Lord shows that this thing is obtainable, else why would the five foolish ones return to the closed door, and that all ten virgins started out with it in their lamps. The oil must be life, and the extra vessels are the choice we are allowed to make to fill or not fill them while the lamp of life we are given is still burning. The closed door to the wedding is that time when the choosing has passed and no more are allowed in. It would seem that purchasing this extra quantity of life is no good either, as the bridegroom in the tale does not know the five foolish ones even with their vessels filled from the purchasing place. We live in a time when we can easily understand this purchasing of extra life, the rich are trying in all manner of ways, but from the parable we can also see that this is a worthless action. The extra oil in the vessels of the wise virgins must be that life that only Christ our Lord can give through His grace that we receive by His salvation. 

Tomorrow, the unbelieving world will accuse the five wise virgins of selfishness for refusing to share that oil in their vessels. 

To the grace and joy of Christ Jesus, we say "Amen!"

Bucky