Mixed Messages

Are we ready to take advantage of all God has to offer us?

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 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, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, 'Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise replied, 'No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.' And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.' But he replied, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.' Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. -  Matt. 25:1-13

Now, I thought the message of this story would be that the bridesmaids who had oil in their lamps would share, but they didn't.

So, how would a wealthy person interpret what those who possessed enough did?

We all have known people who would come to the test not having studied, or come to a party without a gift, or wanted to borrow some bread because a friend has come in the middle of the night.

Oh, that last one was one of Jesus' parables as well. Ignore that.

No wonder the apostles got confused. Sometimes, we get mixed messages from Jesus' teachings.

I said it. Shoot me.

The whole point of the parable is to invite conversations. (I know I have said this before).

We are supposed to challenge what we hear, playing both sides against the middle, so to speak, and come up with out own perspective on the situation.

In this case, I feel bad for the ones who don't have enough oil. But can't they tag along anyway? The bridesmaids are all going to the same place. 

You see why this is not as simple as it appears?

Remember when we were kids and mom or dad would reprimand us for something? Didn't we come up with an argument to refute their claims?

Today's sensibilities would dictate that the bridesmaids should have shared, so no one would have a lit lamp when the groom comes. Why he had to be so late, I don't know.

The point of the story is we need to be ready for when God calls us home. We get that, but we should still be able to have fun with the story. It gives us a way to test ourselves.

By the way, do you have extra batteries for your smoke detectors?

More to come...