“Keep awake!” admonishes Jesus at the conclusion of today’s parable. Yet, the wise bridesmaids fell asleep alongside the foolish ones. Sleepiness is not the main issue. Instead, the focus seems to be on preparedness. The wise ones took advantage of the delayed return of the bridegroom to ensure that they had an extra supply of oil at hand. The foolish ones were more minimalistic. As a result, the foolish bridesmaids had lamps but no light when the groom reappeared, and after a fruitless search for a shop open at midnight, they found themselves locked out of the wedding banquet.
(It may be worth noting that at the time of the incarnate Jesus, a bridegroom would leave his own house – or that of his father – to travel to the house of his father-in-law, to take his new wife to their new home, and there consummate the marriage. Bridegrooms were delayed in their return journey if dowry negotiations dragged on.)
If the groom is Jesus, and the bridesmaids are members of the church, and the return of the groom is the eschaton, and the banquet the fully realized reign of God, then what is the oil symbolic of? One scholar points out that the oil appears to be “the responsible deeds of discipleship, including works of love and mercy.” This is what distinguishes the truly faithful from the nominally faithful; those who have heard Jesus’ teaching and acted upon it, versus those who “Seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand,” as Jesus describes them in Matthew 13:13.
And so, in short, this parable is about Jesus (of course!) and about the oil of love and mercy.
