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The Return of the King(3)
Today we are continuing on from last weeks passage to look at a very famous but not always easy to interpret parable of Jesus regarding how we should live as we wait for his return. Remember, we are still in the context of answering the disciples questions regarding the destruction of the temple and the coming of the Son of Man.
“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)
Get full access to On walking the Way at tompossin.substack.com/subscribe
Watch Therefore
A story like this can be made to say many things depending on the meaning you assign to the various elements in the story. So, to keep our interpretations from running completely amok,(which is always a good idea) first let’s look at the moral of the story according to Jesus.
“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour”.
Last week we discussed what “staying awake” looked like for the disciples and for us. But this week the characters in this parable actually all fall asleep, but they do not all have the same outcomes, because some are wise and some are foolish. This is a very interesting expansion of the teaching on being prepared for the coming of Jesus. Beyond being told to simply stay awake it seems that wisdom prepares for a longer than expected wait. It shows us something of a difference between legitimate rest and the dangers of the drunken and careless deeds of the night that Paul was referring to in the passage last week. This story also takes a slightly different tack on the contrast between the good servant and the debauchery of the evil servant described in the passage just before this one.(I have included that story below)
The Bridegroom was Delayed
In this parable Jesus is adding to his previous warnings to, “stay awake” and remain “faithful servants”, the idea that his return may well take much longer than we expect and therefore, we should be watchful for we do not know how long it will be. In this story Jesus talks about the importance of preparing for a possible extended wait. The question today is then, “how should we live in light of an unexpectedly long delay in the coming of the Son of Man(Jesus)?” who is here depicted as the “Bridegroom”.
In this story wisdom was preparing for a long wait and foolishness was not preparing at all. The difficulty in this story is trying to understand the nature of the oil and the lamps that the wise virgins brought. They all fell asleep so unlike the earlier metaphor of sleep, the difference here is not that they stayed awake, but their preparation. They all brought lamps, they all fell asleep, but five of the virgins came prepared for a long wait and five did not.
The Oil
Now Jesus could be telling them to simply be prepared in their hearts for a potentially long wait. And maybe so, but even that begs the question, “what does being prepared in your heart for a long wait look like on an average day”?
So what are our options for the extra “oil” in this story. One way might be to consider the oil to be our salvation by faith, meaning that 5 had faith and 5 did not. While that might be a simple solution it does not really fit the story very well. Did the 5 foolish virgins run off to find some more faith? Taken as faith then, this story could be told as, “10 virgins came to wait for the bridegroom, 5 had extra faith and 5 had only the faith they came with”. This seems a bit odd to me and if you make the oil the Holy Spirit it gets no better. Remember the point of the story according to Jesus is, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour”. He is telling this story to his disciples who are all believers, so what is the extra oil really talking about?
What else could it be?
What other options are there? Let’s get this story back into the context of the other stories in this group of parables. We just examined what the life of a fully awake disciple of Christ looks like, sobriety, faith, love, and hope. Let’s look at the oil as our preparation for the return of Jesus. That seems to fit well with the moral of the story that Jesus provides. Perhaps we could understand this preparation as, we fill our lamps with the works that flow from faith, love, and hope. These good works provide the light that we walk in. That is why there is no time to do this when the bridegroom returns, this oil is prepared before the return. When the Bridegroom returns there is no time to get more “oil”. That is why the oil is there even when they sleep, it was prepared beforehand by their walk of faith, knowing that there was no telling when the Bridegroom would come.
You might be thinking, “but isn’t that a type of works salvation?”. To this I would once again appeal to context. In the previous story, Jesus compares a faithful and an unfaithful servant, I have included the text below. In the parable following this one we see three servants that were given money and expected to make profit with it. They were expected to be fruitful with the gifts they were given, the servant that was cynical, selfish, and lazy was not fruitful and his gift produced nothing. He was rejected upon the return of the master while the faithful servants were blessed. After that parable, Jesus describes the final judgment. Here he explains the difference between those that he “knew” and those he did “not know”. Those Jesus did not know did not act on their love and faith and hope when they had the chance, those he knew and rewarded - did.
In this story the rejection of the foolish virgins by the Bridegroom is worded in the same way as the rejection of those in the final judgment story, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ So I think this story illustrates the difference between an “end of the world prepper”, to use a pop culture phrase, and a true servant of God. True servants of God and disciples of Jesus will be serving, and loving until the end. Even if they fall asleep from fatigue their works will follow them, they will awake to find Jesus, they will be prepared, and Jesus will accept them into eternal joy.
This Week
So what are we to do with this parable? Do we out of fear scramble to make sure we have enough “good works” to be accepted by Jesus when he returns? Absolutely not. Our salvation and new birth in Christ are a gift of pure grace received through faith alone. On the other hand our good works do flow out of our faith, in fact they are inseparable. If a fruit tree bears no fruit it is not a good sign. A thoughtless, careless, unexamined and unexpressed faith may in fact be no faith at all. With that in mind, I think it is wise to take Paul’s advice to the Corinthians seriously.
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV)
Our hearts are quick to abandon faith and sink back into selfish unbelief. This week let’s encourage each other to love and good works. Works that are not born of fear, or pride, or unbelief, but in true faith and a genuine love of others. As we do this we will have fellowship with both God and people and we will have nothing to fear no matter when our Bridegroom returns. In a world increasingly hostile and violent to faith in Christ we must all the more lean into fellowship and encouragement.
So to sum up, to be watchful in the way Jesus commands in this passage is to tend to our faith, keeping it fueled by practicing truth, and allowing it to burn brightly in this dark world as we wait for Jesus to return.
Remember the simple things like faith, hope, love, and encouragement, and have a great week!
Get full access to On walking the Way at tompossin.substack.com/subscribe
View all episodes
By Tom PossinToday we are continuing on from last weeks passage to look at a very famous but not always easy to interpret parable of Jesus regarding how we should live as we wait for his return. Remember, we are still in the context of answering the disciples questions regarding the destruction of the temple and the coming of the Son of Man.
“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)
Get full access to On walking the Way at tompossin.substack.com/subscribe
Watch Therefore
A story like this can be made to say many things depending on the meaning you assign to the various elements in the story. So, to keep our interpretations from running completely amok,(which is always a good idea) first let’s look at the moral of the story according to Jesus.
“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour”.
Last week we discussed what “staying awake” looked like for the disciples and for us. But this week the characters in this parable actually all fall asleep, but they do not all have the same outcomes, because some are wise and some are foolish. This is a very interesting expansion of the teaching on being prepared for the coming of Jesus. Beyond being told to simply stay awake it seems that wisdom prepares for a longer than expected wait. It shows us something of a difference between legitimate rest and the dangers of the drunken and careless deeds of the night that Paul was referring to in the passage last week. This story also takes a slightly different tack on the contrast between the good servant and the debauchery of the evil servant described in the passage just before this one.(I have included that story below)
The Bridegroom was Delayed
In this parable Jesus is adding to his previous warnings to, “stay awake” and remain “faithful servants”, the idea that his return may well take much longer than we expect and therefore, we should be watchful for we do not know how long it will be. In this story Jesus talks about the importance of preparing for a possible extended wait. The question today is then, “how should we live in light of an unexpectedly long delay in the coming of the Son of Man(Jesus)?” who is here depicted as the “Bridegroom”.
In this story wisdom was preparing for a long wait and foolishness was not preparing at all. The difficulty in this story is trying to understand the nature of the oil and the lamps that the wise virgins brought. They all fell asleep so unlike the earlier metaphor of sleep, the difference here is not that they stayed awake, but their preparation. They all brought lamps, they all fell asleep, but five of the virgins came prepared for a long wait and five did not.
The Oil
Now Jesus could be telling them to simply be prepared in their hearts for a potentially long wait. And maybe so, but even that begs the question, “what does being prepared in your heart for a long wait look like on an average day”?
So what are our options for the extra “oil” in this story. One way might be to consider the oil to be our salvation by faith, meaning that 5 had faith and 5 did not. While that might be a simple solution it does not really fit the story very well. Did the 5 foolish virgins run off to find some more faith? Taken as faith then, this story could be told as, “10 virgins came to wait for the bridegroom, 5 had extra faith and 5 had only the faith they came with”. This seems a bit odd to me and if you make the oil the Holy Spirit it gets no better. Remember the point of the story according to Jesus is, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour”. He is telling this story to his disciples who are all believers, so what is the extra oil really talking about?
What else could it be?
What other options are there? Let’s get this story back into the context of the other stories in this group of parables. We just examined what the life of a fully awake disciple of Christ looks like, sobriety, faith, love, and hope. Let’s look at the oil as our preparation for the return of Jesus. That seems to fit well with the moral of the story that Jesus provides. Perhaps we could understand this preparation as, we fill our lamps with the works that flow from faith, love, and hope. These good works provide the light that we walk in. That is why there is no time to do this when the bridegroom returns, this oil is prepared before the return. When the Bridegroom returns there is no time to get more “oil”. That is why the oil is there even when they sleep, it was prepared beforehand by their walk of faith, knowing that there was no telling when the Bridegroom would come.
You might be thinking, “but isn’t that a type of works salvation?”. To this I would once again appeal to context. In the previous story, Jesus compares a faithful and an unfaithful servant, I have included the text below. In the parable following this one we see three servants that were given money and expected to make profit with it. They were expected to be fruitful with the gifts they were given, the servant that was cynical, selfish, and lazy was not fruitful and his gift produced nothing. He was rejected upon the return of the master while the faithful servants were blessed. After that parable, Jesus describes the final judgment. Here he explains the difference between those that he “knew” and those he did “not know”. Those Jesus did not know did not act on their love and faith and hope when they had the chance, those he knew and rewarded - did.
In this story the rejection of the foolish virgins by the Bridegroom is worded in the same way as the rejection of those in the final judgment story, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ So I think this story illustrates the difference between an “end of the world prepper”, to use a pop culture phrase, and a true servant of God. True servants of God and disciples of Jesus will be serving, and loving until the end. Even if they fall asleep from fatigue their works will follow them, they will awake to find Jesus, they will be prepared, and Jesus will accept them into eternal joy.
This Week
So what are we to do with this parable? Do we out of fear scramble to make sure we have enough “good works” to be accepted by Jesus when he returns? Absolutely not. Our salvation and new birth in Christ are a gift of pure grace received through faith alone. On the other hand our good works do flow out of our faith, in fact they are inseparable. If a fruit tree bears no fruit it is not a good sign. A thoughtless, careless, unexamined and unexpressed faith may in fact be no faith at all. With that in mind, I think it is wise to take Paul’s advice to the Corinthians seriously.
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV)
Our hearts are quick to abandon faith and sink back into selfish unbelief. This week let’s encourage each other to love and good works. Works that are not born of fear, or pride, or unbelief, but in true faith and a genuine love of others. As we do this we will have fellowship with both God and people and we will have nothing to fear no matter when our Bridegroom returns. In a world increasingly hostile and violent to faith in Christ we must all the more lean into fellowship and encouragement.
So to sum up, to be watchful in the way Jesus commands in this passage is to tend to our faith, keeping it fueled by practicing truth, and allowing it to burn brightly in this dark world as we wait for Jesus to return.
Remember the simple things like faith, hope, love, and encouragement, and have a great week!
Get full access to On walking the Way at tompossin.substack.com/subscribe