Main news for 27 July 2022

The meaning of this parable is expressed in the final words: "Watch." But all ten virgins became drowsy! So the point is not simply to avoid drowsiness. Each of us has periods of spiritual relaxation and lack of gatheredness, for not everyone is able to burn in spirit all the time. Rather, the point is that, besides the burning lamp of faith, a person needs to have a certain "reserve of strength," a kind of spiritual resource that will help him, if needed, get up from his knees and trim the fading lamp.

This is not about some special strength, genius, or vigor. All these are gifts that only God can give. But there is something that depends chiefly on us: faithfulness, honesty before ourselves and God, and the desire to be with Him no matter what.

The vigilance to which Christ calls His disciples is constant readiness to meet the One who comes in the name of the Lord. The "wise virgins," whom the Lord sets before us as an example, prepared for a long wait and so could remain in the appointed place as long as the Bridegroom pleased. That is why they are ready for this meeting at any moment, even if the Bridegroom "was delayed." The "foolish" virgins, however, at the hour when the Bridegroom's arrival caught them, turned out to be occupied not with waiting to meet Him, but with getting ready.

The Lord is saying, then, that we do not have the option of being occupied with ourselves and with our own affairs and problems. The coming of the Kingdom is possible at any moment. From the beginning this thought inspired Christ's disciples to live in righteousness "already today," without putting off the cleansing of the heart until "later." At the same time, it is curious that when the Lord speaks about waiting for the coming of the Kingdom, He still hints to us that the Bridegroom "was delayed," thereby warning us against an excessive fascination with eschatology.

Today's reading offers us Jesus' parable about His coming return. In it Jesus again turns to the theme of His followers' readiness (more precisely, their unreadiness) for this event. At first glance, it was impossible not to be ready for it, because Jesus' disciples really did await meeting Him, as a bride awaits meeting her bridegroom. Only a person born and raised in the East can understand this expectation, where the traditional way of life is still preserved and where a bride cannot meet her bridegroom until the very day of the wedding.

Today, one has to admit, even among Christians few wait for the Savior's return as the main event of their life, but for the first Christian generation such expectation was the norm. Yet the long-awaited meeting falls apart over what, at first glance, is a mere trifle: the young women waiting for the bridegroom did not think to stock up on oil for their lamps (v. 3). And no one had extra oil (vv. 8-9). Meanwhile, the doors to the wedding chamber close quickly; the slightest delay can prove fatal, and for some it truly does (vv. 10-12).

This story recalls the Savior's parable of the withered fig tree: Jesus came up to the tree unexpectedly; there were no figs on the tree and there could not have been any, but the Kingdom comes not when you expect it, and Jesus also appears unexpectedly and not as, by human ideas, He should appear. In such a situation, spiritual collectedness means above all readiness for the unexpected. Of course, while waiting for so significant an event, it is not hard to forget such a small thing as a supply of oil for a lamp. But it was noticed long ago that in spiritual life there are no small things. For a spiritual condition is, first of all, a certain level of awareness of reality, when everything that is done becomes significant, when unconscious, barely noticed, flashing thoughts disappear, along with equally unconscious actions performed automatically. Then every small thing becomes significant: the depth of understanding of this small thing in such a case is no less than the depth of understanding of any "great" deed.

In God's work there are no small things; small things become small things when we stop perceiving the reality around us as the reality of the coming Kingdom. In our world that has not yet been transformed, there are important matters and there are minor matters unworthy of attention; in the Kingdom everything has significance. And if we have not learned to see reality in this way, then we still do not know what the Kingdom is.