I love Jesus because He teaches in such a way that my mind alone cannot process His message. Jesus challenges me. His lessons lead me to examine my heart and conscience, to search my memory and imagination, and most importantly, to work with the Spirit of truth to understand principles that on the surface don’t make sense and sometimes seem to contradict.
Jesus is the Truth. And His Truth is divine truth, so it can mean something in one moment and its wisdom apply differently in another breath.
The truth always is, and it is always becoming.
This is the mind-blowing teaching I encounter in Jesus’ parable about the 10 virgins at the wedding banquet.1 First of all, it takes a little bit of work just to see into the abstraction and determine what is what. Seemingly, the wedding feast is heaven, the Lord is the bridegroom, and we are the virgins with lamps; some of us are wise and some are foolish.
But what humbles me is how Jesus describes the actions of the wise and foolish virgins.
The wise virgins took their lamps and extra oil for burning. The foolish had their lamps but no additional oil. Because the bridegroom’s arrival was delayed, when the 10 finally heard it was time for the banquet doors to open, “The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
‘No,’ said the wise, ‘go buy some for yourselves.’”
Huh? The wise said no?
The same Jesus who teaches us to turn the other cheek, to not only give up our tunic but also the cloak, to go the extra mile, and to “not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you,”2 is also telling me that it’s wise to say, “No. You can’t have my oil.”
What? Someone send me a tutor because this is hard teaching. It’s also one of Jesus’ most important lessons about working out our own salvation with fear and trembling.3
Because Jesus tells us that while the foolish were out looking for oil, the wedding began, the wise entered, and the door was shut. Later, the foolish arrived and knocked furiously, but the Lord did not open the door.
Rather, He replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.”
The beauty of Truth is that its wisdom has to be applied. I believe Jesus is telling us that faith cannot be borrowed. If oil is faith in Jesus’ name, then true-burning oil only comes through communion.
Knowing Jesus is loving God is being saved by Christ.
God is real. God is personal. And He wants us, every part of us. He knows everything already, but His desire is that we choose to make ourselves known and honor God through relationship. Our Eternal Father wants to be our Dearest Friend.
The foolish request disrespects the relationship by asking for what we are not willing to lovingly uphold; it is also foolish of me to give away a pearl that’s just as likely to be trampled as it is treasured.4
My foolishness was thinking of myself to be dutiful and wise, as if my oil could ignite someone else’s light.
Christ is the flame and consuming fire. Without Him, we’re left empty, cold, and out in the dark.
Please come, Lord Jesus, and let us come to You. Shine anew in us, so our lamps lead others to Your glorious presence.
