God is the Fuel

Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. The five who were foolish didn’t take enough olive oil for their lamps, but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil. When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight they were roused by the shout, “Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet him!” All the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps. Then the five foolish ones asked the others, “Please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.” Matthew 25:1–8

I think most readers find this parable unnerving and unclear — somebody gets left out of the wedding feast in the New Eden because they ran out of olive oil?! What does that mean? How do we avoid it?

In some cases, Jesus went on to interpret his parables, but not this one. The absence of interpretation is intriguing, because this is one of the parables Jesus told right after his penultimate warnings about the end of the age. Maybe he meant it to be unnerving; maybe Jesus wants us to sit up and pay attention.

Whatever else the parable of the ten bridesmaids means, the lesson surely includes this: We need to renew our love and devotion to Jesus, our deep union with him. We need to make sure we don’t run out of love and devotion and the resilience God-within-us provides before he returns.

Because I think the precious oil is God-within-us.

Throughout the Scriptures the Holy Spirit is connected with oil. We know we are meant to be filled with the Spirit, with God’s presence. If we add to that the reality C. S. Lewis pointed out, that God is the fuel the human soul runs on, I think the parable makes sense.

God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. ... Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. (Mere Christianity)

But of course — God is the fountain of life. We are only empty vessels, needing a source of life. It is Jesus-within-us that gives us resilience. I think what happened to those unfortunate bridesmaids is that they ran out of God! They didn’t see to it that they were filled with God, and when things wore on through the night, they ran out.

Let’s make sure we are filled with God. It requires intention; the parable is clear about that.

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