“I do not know you”

Matthew 25:1-4, 10-13

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. . . . And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone (Vol. 2)

Even more obviously than the previous one, this story is rooted in the Jewish tradition of contrasting wisdom with folly—being sensible with being silly. . . . It’s probably wrong to try and guess what the oil in the story “stands for” . . . . It isn’t that kind of story. Within the world of the story itself, it simply means being ready for the key moment. . . . What matters is being ready; being prepared; being wise; thinking ahead, realizing that a crisis is coming sooner or later and that if you don’t make preparations now, and keep them in good shape in the meantime, you’ll wish you had (133-4).

Aaron Orendorff

Again, Jesus starts his story: “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like . . .” Again, he contrasts the wise with the foolish. Again, fear (the right kind of fear, the fear of being unknown by the bridegroom, of being ill-prepared and forever outside) is used to distinguish the end of the wise from the end of the foolish.

The thought then that ought to be ringing in our ears is this: prepare now because one day it will be too late.

There’s no way to say this (nor to write this) without sounding like a wide-eyed, pulpit-pounding, hellfire-and-brimstone fundamentalist. Yet this is where Jesus leads us (again and again); and so (we must conclude) this is where Jesus wants us to be.