The Ten Who?
In Matthew 25, Jesus talks about the ten virgins, five where foolish and five were wise. They were all apart of a wedding party waiting for the bride groom to come. Their definition of foolish or wise was determined upon the amount of oil they had prepared in their lamps that were used to light the way at night. The idea behind this story was about prepareness, are you prepared, are you alert and aware of the hour in which you live? Jesus told his disciples that no man knows the hour or the day that He (Jesus) would return, only the Father knew. In ancient Israel, the tradition was that a groom would go and prepare a place for his bride by building on to his father's house. It was when this building was complete, that the father would then instruct the son to go get his bride. This was what the ten virgins were waiting for, this arrival of the groom. This story mirrors the reality of His return, the Church like the 10 virgins are a waiting his coming. Not knowing the hour or the day, we are told to watch and pray, be alert, and prepared for that day. We are not to give ourselves to the culture or prevailing ideas of our day, but to stand firm in keeping ourselves faithful to Him, waiting for that blessed day. So, how prepared are we? Are we alert, and ready for this event? I always to try to superimpose the stories in the Bible to everyday scenerios today. So who would be the foolish virgins in our understanding today? Well, let me take a stab at it. Would it be fair to say that foolish virgins today are moral people, without a connection to the righteous one? This could be any branch of religion, Muslim, Jews, Christians etc etc. moral, but not saved. Several times in scripture Jesus said to those who thought they were followers of His, these words, "I never knew you." The other reference for these words is Matthew 7:22 where Jesus was responding to people who gave a long list of spiritual activity as a foundation of knowing Him. His response by the way, was the same as to the 5 foolish virgins, "I never knew you." So being moral, or being spiritually active in social justice, or being prophetically insightful, or being a prolific teacher will not be enough for you to get into His kingdom. The saddest group of people that Jesus would say that to would be Jews, because they had all the covenants from the beginning. However, in God's kingdom there is a requirement of knowing Him, and living for Him, and not just living for the things that represent Him or having a historical heritage about Him. It's easy to associate with Him by going to church every week, or being culturally a Jew, but does that qualify you as a follower of Jesus! There are many people who are committed to their denomination and have been ever since they were children, but they do not know Jesus as Savior and Lord. The lamps of oil can be interpreted as our heart commitment to loving Him through our obedience to His Word, and to Him. It's simply making a heart contract with Jesus that we belong to Him, without reservation and without hesitation. Is He first in every decision, in every action, and in every desire? Does God occupy the best of our time, the best of our thoughts, and the best of our activity? You see, without Christ being the center of our living, I don't know how we can say He is Lord and Savior. Watch a newly engaged girl who is in love with her fiance. Everything she does, says and thinks about is directly centered on him and the upcoming wedding. She is obsessed with him, and the idea of being married to him. This is a great picture of wise virgins whose lamps are filled with love for the Savior, and the anticipation of being with Jesus. Being wise in our day spiritually is being alert as to the quality of my relationship with Jesus, and that is known by how important He is by placing him first in every aspect of our lives. We don't want to run off at the last minute of His return and try to get a right relationship with him, because as we have seen, that is exacty what the five foolish virgins had to do.
Keeping it honest and truthful...K
Here is another aspect of this parable where the Jew and Gentile are defined by the 10 virgins.
Larry Kutzler
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