The 10 Virgins

This week in my New Testament class we have discussed both the signs of the second coming, and what we need to do to prepare for it.  I want to focus specifically on a parable from Matthew 25.  It’s the parable of the 10 Virgins, and it’s found in verses 1-13.  To best understand this parable, we need to look at the question that spurred it.  That is found in JS Matthew verse 49: “Who, then, is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?”  First of all, we need to understand what virgins symbolize. Christ used virgins in this parable to symbolize pure, good people.  We can think of this today as being the members of His church.  We read in the parable that there were five wise and five foolish virgins.  They were waiting for the bridegroom, and the wise brought extra oil with them but the foolish did not.  This is where I want to dig a little deeper.  We discussed in class that a very common understanding of the parable is that the lamp is our testimony and the oil is conversion.  However, Brother Griffin asked us to explore other meanings that the lamp and oil can have in our lives.  One that really stuck out to me was the idea that the oil is our covenants and the oil is the renewal of those covenants.  Every member of the church has made covenants with God to obey him and be an example of him.  However, not every member renews those covenants, which is where the true power comes from.  If we, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints only receive our covenants and stand idly by, we will not receive the benefit from them.  We must continually be renewing them and progressing (filling our lamps with oil) to reach our true potential.  The parable states that the wise virgins didn’t share their oil with the foolish ones, not because they were selfish, but because that oil is not something that can be shared.  We must each commit to becoming converted, we must each commit to renew our covenants with God.  We can’t do those things for anyone else but ourselves.  It was very powerful for me to realize that there could be more meaning behind the oil and the lamp than just a testimony and conversion.  Jesus’s parables are meant to be understood at many different levels, and I believe that we receive the benefit of those parables when we personally dig deeper.