Being prepared is an important thing. You don’t want to leave for a long car ride without enough gasoline in your tank. When there are blizzard warnings, you want to make sure you have plenty of food in the house and your snow shovels aren’t out in the garage. As important as these may be, being spiritually prepared is even more important. “Be Prepared” should not just be the Boy Scout’s motto! In our Gospel reading today, Jesus tells a parable whose lesson warns us of the importance of being prepared and ready for the sure and certain coming event of His return. Let’s look into this lesson.
In the last few days of Jesus’s ministry He told His disciples the parable of the five wise and five foolish virgins. It’s good to know a little background of weddings in Biblical days in the Middle East. They usually started with the groom coming to the bride’s house for the ceremony. Then there was a procession to the groom’s home for a feast and party, often lasting several days. This party was not open to just anyone to come in. After the bride and groom arrived with their attendants and guests, the doors were shut and locked. These virgins in the parable would have been like bride’s maids, a part of her attendants. They were waiting to join that procession.
At this wedding ceremony that Jesus spoke about, the groom was delayed for some reason in arriving. The bride’s maids were waiting and waiting, and started to doze off (vs. 5). Half of the maids brought some extra oil for their lamps, and half didn’t. They undoubtedly did not expect that the groom would be delayed, and were thus unprepared when he was. When the call finally came that the groom was coming, the maids suddenly woke from their slumber and needed to tend to their lamps. The wise, prepared women had extra oil to get their lamps well-lit. The unprepared ones didn’t have anything, and the light of their lamps was quickly going out. There wouldn’t have been enough oil to go all around, so they had to run to the store and get oil for themselves (vs. 6-10). This delayed them, and they were unable to get into the wedding party, as the doors were shut and locked, which was the custom and protocol of that day. Being unprepared caused them to miss out (vs. 11-12).
Jesus emphasized that we need to be prepared (vs. 13). When He returns we will give an account of our lives and spiritual condition. Are we waiting and ready? Our life here on earth can end in a split second (James 4:14). We don’t know the day or hour when Jesus will return, or when our life on earth will end. The five foolish virgins or bride’s maids did not feel the need to be prepared. While going to buy their oil, the groom arrived and the door was locked. No matter how much they pleaded, the answer was “I don’t know you!”. When our life is ended or Jesus comes, all that will matter is whether we have been prepared by believing in Him.
Another lesson from this parable is that every person is responsible for their own spiritual condition. Just as the foolish maids could not get their oil from the wise ones, we cannot claim someone else’s relationship with Jesus for our own. When we stand before the Lord, it won’t matter whether our grandparents were strong Christians, or a sibling was a minister. When Jesus returns to take His people to heaven, we must be ready. Spiritual preparations cannot be bought or borrowed at the last minute. Our relationship with God must be our own. We cannot get in heaven by riding on the coattails of someone else.
Despite what some people may claim, no one knows when Jesus will return (Mark 13:32). That is why it is so important to be ready at all times. The wise maids were prepared, and that made all the difference. When Jesus returns, there will be no second chances for the unprepared. Let us be even more vigilant than any Boy Scout ever was, and be prepared for our Savior’s return.
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