Beyond The Basics

Jesus was a pretty confusing guy sometimes. He used to speak in all these weird short stories called “parables” in order to illustrate His point, except for then everyone had to try to figure out what He meant because these parables weren’t exactly clear, because were they talking about Israel? or God? or the world? or the future? or the Pharisees? or His disciples? And even today the meanings of many of them are still debated.

Dan, those are parabolas.

See what I mean? Thanks, Jesus.

In my defense, when I did a Google image search for parabolas, a very surprising number of images popped up depicting Jesus teaching parables.

One parable that Jesus taught was the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. And since He was standing on the Mount of Olives when He told this parable, that means there were even parabolas involved.

Enough with the parabola jokes!

In this parable, He tells a story of ten virgins who were waiting for a bridegroom to return. All these virgins had lamps and the bridegroom just happened to return at midnight so, you know, it’s a good thing they had lamps. Here’s the catch: in order for those lamps to work, they had to have oil. And only five of the virgins had oil. Since they didn’t have enough oil to share with the virgins who didn’t have oil, those five virgins had to run over to the 24-hour gas station and buy some oil. While they were gone the bridegroom returned and brought the five virgins who were prepared over to the wedding ceremony and locked the five unprepared virgins out of the wedding.

The purpose of the parable, of course, is to be prepared and to watch because as Jesus says in verse 13, we “know neither the day nor the hour” of His return. In order to be prepared we must have oil for our lamps because the bridegroom may return at midnight when it’s dark.

Okay, great. Makes total sense. Get oil. Like what, canola oil? Oooh I know, since this is the bible, it must be olive oil, right?

Oil symbolizes several things in the bible, including the anointing of the Holy Spirit. This is generally what most people will talk about when reading this parable; but I think there is a different direction we can go with this parable:

“You shall command the people of Israel that they bring to you pure beaten olive oil for the light, that a lamp may regularly be set up to burn. In the tent of meeting, outside the veil that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening to morning before the Lord. It shall be a statute forever to be observed throughout their generations by the people of Israel.” (Exodus 27:20-21)

The above quote is the first time we see oil and lamps together in the bible. Aaron, the high priest, was instructed to gather oil for the lamps in the tent of meeting and to keep them burning from evening to morning. The parallels to the virgins gathering oil to light their lamps for a bridegroom returning at midnight are obvious, and I think Jesus and His disciples knew this. I think Jesus was pointing to the priestly ministry of His followers in this parable.

There were two general aspects to the priestly ministry in the Old Testament: ministering to the Lord and ministering to the people. In the New Testament, all who believe in Christ are priests (1 Peter 2:5). Our primary responsibility as priests is to minister to the Lord. This includes the spiritual disciplines, such as prayer, fasting, and regular bible reading as well as corporate worship, intercession and self-sacrifice. This is the first commandment! If we love Jesus, we must spend time with Him.

Our secondary responsibility as priests is to minister to the people, just as the second commandment is like the first: love one another as we love ourselves. This includes, but is not limited to, feeding the poor, caring for orphans and single mothers, bearing each other’s burdens, confessing our sins to each other, and encouraging each other to live righteous and holy lives. Loving others is another way to show love for Jesus (Matthew 25:40).

I think Jesus is trying to say that getting oil goes further than just spending time with Him. It involves embracing our priestly calling to stand before the Lord in intercession on behalf of others; it involves serving others and loving others; it involves laying down our lives before the Lord in full submission and self-sacrifice.

There is one other aspect to this that we shouldn’t miss. Aaron was instructed to gather oil from the people rather than go and gather olives and manufacture oil himself. This is not a contradiction of Jesus’ parable; we can’t get our oil from others. We are responsible for getting oil for ourselves. However, it’s impossible for us to do this outside the context of the community of believers; if we try to do this on our own we will find ourselves without oil. Aaron and his sons were priests for and among the congregation of Israel and in the same way we are priests for and among the body of Christ. We cannot attempt to stay home and spend time with the Lord without being part of a church body because the very nature of a priest requires service to others.

All of us have different strengths and weaknesses. Even all the priests in the Old Testament had different roles to play in the function of the tabernacle. But everything we do should have these two goals in mind: ministering to the Lord and ministering to the people. By embracing this priestly calling on our lives we are gathering oil for ourselves to prepare for the returning bridegroom; in other words, we are preparing our hearts through intimacy and love for Jesus for the Day when He returns for His Bride. And on that Day, He will return to a spotless Bride, fully prepared to greet Him and give herself to Him for all eternity.

What does a fully prepared heart look like? It’s a heart whose one desire, one cry, one motivation is this:

“Come quickly, Lord Jesus!”