Bread, Milk and Oil...

It’s been a joke for a while, that when a storm is forecast, everyone buys bread and milk.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a hurricane or a blizzard, bread and milk are a must have to weather the storm.  We live less than a mile from a Food Lion, but did nothing to prepare for Hurricane Helene this week.  We were happy to hear that we could work and attend school remotely on Friday, but we really hadn’t been watching the forecasts.  We awakened Friday morning to an electrical outage.  Good preparation would have been to charge our phones to 100%, charge the laptops and backup phone chargers, and have full tanks of gas in the cars.  As I should have learned from Hugo, it’s also a good idea to fill the bathtubs with water - it’s helpful to have water nearby to flush the toilets if the water goes off!  Additionally, some battery operated lights because candles all over the house make me a little nervous.  Note to self as Isaac and Joyce are brewing in the Atlantic Ocean as I type this.  Now is the time to prepare!

​In Matthew 25, Jesus shares a parable about preparation.

1“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

6“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

7“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.  8The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

9“‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

10“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

11“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’

12“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

13“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.​

It’s my understanding that each of the ten virgins were hoping they would be chosen by the bridegroom to become his wife.  During those days, women did not choose to be single, they needed to have a husband to care for and protect them, so each of the 10 virgins was hoping to become the wife of the bridegroom.  They each took an oil-burning lamp to light the way and keep them from waiting in darkness.  None of them knew exactly what time he would arrive, but only 5 took additional oil to add to the lamp, if needed.  The bridegroom took longer than expected, and the lamps of those who did not bring additional oil went out.  They asked those who came prepared to give them some oil, but they refused.  Those in need of oil left to go purchase oil and while they were gone the bridegroom arrived.  When they returned, the banquet door was closed and locked.  They had lost their opportunity by not being prepared.  

This parable is not about hurricane preparedness.  It’s about knowing Jesus now!  We know that He is coming back for His people.  We know that those who do not know Him will spend eternity in Hades where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.  What we do not know is when it will happen.  “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”  (Matthew 24:36)  It could be this evening, it could be 5 years from now, or 500 years from now - we do not know.  Now is the time for preparation.   Psalm 139:23-24 tells us,
”23Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”  Jesus’s final instruction in Matthew 28:19-20 was as follows: 19"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Amen


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