Dear Explorer,
Read Luke 21:37-38
We are looking at the last week of Jesus' earthly life. How was He spending His days?
How was He spending His nights?
I think there was a mixture of prayer and sleep. He needed to be fresh to teach, but He also needed prayer for strength and wisdom and courage to get through everything that was coming up.
Now we'll continue to look at things that Jesus taught during this last week.
Read Matthew 25:1-13
If we modernized the story, we would say that the wise ladies took flashlights with some extra batteries, while the foolish ones took only flashlights.
Remember that the bridegroom would come at an unexpected time to get his bride. When the bridegroom took longer than expected, some of the ladies who were watching for him ran out of batteries. The ones who were “prepared” went into the wedding feast, but the others were left outside.
Now, let's look at what it means. First, who is the bridegroom?
The bridegroom is Jesus. Who are the prudent or wise ladies?
I believe that they are the ones who are prepared: they have invited Jesus into their inner core.
Who are the foolish ladies?
I believe that the foolish ladies represent people who are religious and want to do the right thing – but have not invited Jesus into their God-shaped vacuum. Now, why do I believe that? I think a big clue here is in what they ran out of. What did the foolish ladies run out of?
What does the oil represent?
Several times in other places in the Bible the Holy Spirit is referred to as oil. When you invite Jesus into your life, the Holy Spirit comes into your control center or core and lives inside of you. You can never “run out” of Him. But if a person has not invited Jesus in, they are empty on the inside. He or she could pretend to be a follower by doing religious activity, but sooner or later, SELF will run out of fuel!
So, I believe that the foolish ladies were empty on the inside but were pretending to be followers of Jesus.
This parable teaches that we need to be prepared by inviting Jesus into our lives, before He returns, because it will be too late to “get ready” when He returns.
Why do you think that Jesus would tell this particular parable right after an extended teaching on His 2nd coming?