The Wise and Foolish Virgins

This tarrying plays an important role in the parable, framing the entire narrative. It is the reason that the virgins fall asleep, allowing their lamps to start to go out.

Jesus Christ: His Life and Teaching, Vol.4 - The Parables of Jesus, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev

Matthew 25: 1 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.”

The foolish ones did not take extra oil with them, while the wise ones did. This might have been unimportant, except that the bridegroom was delayed in his arrival.

6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’”

The foolish asked the wise to share some of their oil, but the wise refused as there would not be enough for both. Instead, they suggested that the foolish go buy some from those who sell.

10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.

Did knocking on the door help?

11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

This parable is told within the context of a larger teaching of Christ’s second coming and Jerusalem’s destruction. The disciples want to know when these events will occur; Jesus offers signs but refuses to give dates and times.

Jesus deals with this by offering parables that teach that the second coming might come unexpectedly and sooner than expected, or might be delayed. In other words, always be vigilant.

13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

There are different understandings of what was happening as background in this parable. Metropolitan Hilarion offers his view of the most complete explanation. According to the conventions of the time, the wedding guests would be entertained in the bride’s home until late in the evening. They would wait for the bridegroom, whose arrival would be announced by messengers.

The groom would then take the bride to his father’s home for the wedding ceremony and further festivities. This procession to the groom’s father’s home would include lamps or torches, hence the need for the lamps for the virgins.

Because the groom tarried, the lamps were all low on oil. Five of the virgins had extra oil, five did not bring any extra. Now, for the procession, they feared their lamps would go out. But those with extra oil feared that if they shared theirs, that then theirs might also go out during the procession.

How might the lamps be understood?

Proverbs 13: 9 The light of the righteous rejoices, But the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

Isaiah 62: 1 For Zion’s sake I will not hold My peace, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, And her salvation as a lamp that burns.

Jeremiah 25: 10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

The burning of the lamp is seen in the parable as a symbol of righteousness; its dimming is seen as iniquity. To have the extra oil is a symbol of spiritual intensity and vigilance, waiting for the arrival of the groom; to not have the extra oil is a symbol of a lack of preparedness.

It is through the filter of this rich symbolism that we should understand the final scene in which the foolish virgins try to enter the house, but the Bridegroom says, “I know you not.”

Conclusion

Jesus taught just this in the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 7: 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

The two groups of women represent two different ways of approaching our responsibility before God: every person bears responsibility before God for his or her life actions.

Some show themselves to be wise, others foolish; some keep their lamps burning, others let theirs burn out.