For those of you who aren't as familiar with the parable, I'll give a brief summary. It's a short, simple story about ten virgins who were invited to attend a wedding feast. In Jewish tradition, the groom--called the "bridegroom" historically--would get ready for the feast in his own home and then travel to the bride's home for the celebration, gathering the guests along the way.
The bridegroom didn't have a set time that he would arrive, so guests would line up along the pathway and wait. Expecting this, and perhaps other complications, five of the young women brought extra oil for their lamps. The other five didn't seem to anticipate that anything could go wrong.
The young women waited on the side of the road--primarily asleep--until the middle of the night, when a man came ahead of the bridegroom's party and announced that the bridegroom was coming. By this point, the oil of the five "foolish" virgins had burned entirely, and the five "wise" virgins had their spare oil to light their way to the feast. The five virgins who procrastinated asked for oil, but the wise virgins didn't have enough to spare; ultimately, the bridegroom didn't allow the foolish young women to enter the wedding feast.
Overall, the moral of the parable is well known: take time and thought to prepare for the coming of Christ, for none of us know when He will come. But I had a few more insights I wanted to go over.
First of all: why virgins? Why did Christ represent the entire believing-on-His-name population with young women? Well ... who is the most excited to attend a wedding? Young, unmarried women have incredible motivation and excitement when it comes to anyone's wedding. If the bridegroom or bride had been a close friend of these young women, that would have only allowed their excitement to escalate. Christ basically implied that we are already in a position to be excited about eternal life--all of us want to be happy, right? Everyone would rather go to a peaceful rest than a tormenting or dissatisfying one; we're excited to not be in pain anymore.
Second: how are we meant to gather oil? How do we know if we have enough spare oil? I think this question is answered largely as we become adults--specifically in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, our level of oil is measured by our lasting dedication. The idea is to keep your eye on the eternities, keep your motivation centered on what will matter most eternally and act accordingly. I hypothesize that the foolish virgins didn't bring spare oil because it seemed like an inconvenience; so really, do you treat the commandments of God like an inconvenience sometimes? That, to me, is the greatest question. If you can take God's commandments seriously, one day at a time, that will become the oil supply that you need to prove to the Lord that you have been waiting for Him.
Third: was it selfish of the wise virgins not to spare any of their oil? Sure, it is impossible to share righteous acts and motivations with someone, so we cannot share our oil. But had this hypothetical scenario taken place, should the wise virgins have shared their oil? Their response to the request from the foolish virgins was "Not so; lest there should not be enough for us and you." A few years ago, I would have pinned this as selfish, but it comes down to a principle often shared in the social sciences and in airplane safety policies: you can't help others if you can't be in a position of strength first. Families are found to crumble if the parents "sacrifice too much" for the children, giving their time and finances to their children and nothing else. Airplane safety states that you should put on your own oxygen mask before assisting those who can't help themselves. I think the wisdom of the prepared virgins applied in this instance as well: not only did this teach the foolish virgins not to procrastinate, but it echoed this principle of maintaining your own strength and ability to help before trying to help others.
I honestly had a lot of fun dissecting this parable, and I hope this helped some of you with questions, or at least helped you learn about the parable a little more. Have a great week!
The bridegroom didn't have a set time that he would arrive, so guests would line up along the pathway and wait. Expecting this, and perhaps other complications, five of the young women brought extra oil for their lamps. The other five didn't seem to anticipate that anything could go wrong.
The young women waited on the side of the road--primarily asleep--until the middle of the night, when a man came ahead of the bridegroom's party and announced that the bridegroom was coming. By this point, the oil of the five "foolish" virgins had burned entirely, and the five "wise" virgins had their spare oil to light their way to the feast. The five virgins who procrastinated asked for oil, but the wise virgins didn't have enough to spare; ultimately, the bridegroom didn't allow the foolish young women to enter the wedding feast.
Overall, the moral of the parable is well known: take time and thought to prepare for the coming of Christ, for none of us know when He will come. But I had a few more insights I wanted to go over.
First of all: why virgins? Why did Christ represent the entire believing-on-His-name population with young women? Well ... who is the most excited to attend a wedding? Young, unmarried women have incredible motivation and excitement when it comes to anyone's wedding. If the bridegroom or bride had been a close friend of these young women, that would have only allowed their excitement to escalate. Christ basically implied that we are already in a position to be excited about eternal life--all of us want to be happy, right? Everyone would rather go to a peaceful rest than a tormenting or dissatisfying one; we're excited to not be in pain anymore.
Second: how are we meant to gather oil? How do we know if we have enough spare oil? I think this question is answered largely as we become adults--specifically in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, our level of oil is measured by our lasting dedication. The idea is to keep your eye on the eternities, keep your motivation centered on what will matter most eternally and act accordingly. I hypothesize that the foolish virgins didn't bring spare oil because it seemed like an inconvenience; so really, do you treat the commandments of God like an inconvenience sometimes? That, to me, is the greatest question. If you can take God's commandments seriously, one day at a time, that will become the oil supply that you need to prove to the Lord that you have been waiting for Him.
Third: was it selfish of the wise virgins not to spare any of their oil? Sure, it is impossible to share righteous acts and motivations with someone, so we cannot share our oil. But had this hypothetical scenario taken place, should the wise virgins have shared their oil? Their response to the request from the foolish virgins was "Not so; lest there should not be enough for us and you." A few years ago, I would have pinned this as selfish, but it comes down to a principle often shared in the social sciences and in airplane safety policies: you can't help others if you can't be in a position of strength first. Families are found to crumble if the parents "sacrifice too much" for the children, giving their time and finances to their children and nothing else. Airplane safety states that you should put on your own oxygen mask before assisting those who can't help themselves. I think the wisdom of the prepared virgins applied in this instance as well: not only did this teach the foolish virgins not to procrastinate, but it echoed this principle of maintaining your own strength and ability to help before trying to help others.
I honestly had a lot of fun dissecting this parable, and I hope this helped some of you with questions, or at least helped you learn about the parable a little more. Have a great week!
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