Are You Ready?

This is the season of Advent in the Christian calendar.

It is a time which was originally set aside by the Church to focus in a special way on the Second Coming of Christ.

It has become, more popularly, simply the "holiday season" in which preparations are made for the celebration of Christmas, which celebrates the first coming of Christ as Jesus of Nazareth, not the Second Coming.

The Second Coming has been the source of endless speculation for centuries. Some Christians believe the Second Coming has already happened, on Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit (of Christ) was poured out on all flesh. But the majority of Christians still look forward to the Second Coming, although there is a great deal of difference of opinion on what that means, how literally to take the depictions of it in the Bible's New Testament; and when and how it will happen, whatever "it" is.

The story I chose for today's blog, from among the many Jesus told, is a story that depicts this mysterious Second Coming or The End of the Age, as the coming of a bridegroom at a great wedding feast.

Here is the story: (Matthew 25: 1-13)

The kingdom of heaven is likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps, but took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered.

At midnight a cry went up: "Behold, the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him!"

Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.

The foolish said to the wise, "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out."

But the wise answered, "No, lest there should not be enough for us and you. But go rather to those who sell, and buy oil for yourselves."

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

Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, "Lord, Lord, open to us."

But he answered, "Assuredly, I do not know you. "

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

My response:

To start with, I'd like to send that last sentence, in huge letters, to all those people out there who are still trying to figure out when the Last Day, the Second Coming, will be, forgetting that Jesus himself tells us no one knows, which includes no one living now. When I think of all the people who have allowed themselves to be deluded by the dubious and arrogant claims of those who claim to "know prophecy" I wish this story would be told in their ears.

To end with, I take this story to mean, for me at least, that I need to search my heart to see if I am ready for

"the Last Day" which at the very least, means the end of my life here on earth. Am I prepared to meet the Bridegroom of my soul? Is there oil in my lamp? If the lamp could be a symbol for my heart/mind/soul,

and oil the symbol of the Presence of the Spirit which makes Light possible---am I keeping my lamp filled and replenished with conscious cultivation and awareness of the Spirit of God within me? Or am I just going through the outer motions (carrying my lamp) without the inner meaning and devotion represented by the wise virgins? Or am I looking to others outside myself to supply me with spiritual oil? If so, this story tells how how foolish this is. If I am wise, I will always be ready, whether for my own death at any time, or some greater Ending of this Age.

Another way to see this story is to interpret the Bridegroom's coming as the personal experience in my soul of the sacred meeting with the Divine Beloved---the one named "Jesus, Lover of my Soul" in a favorite hymn of mine. Mystics in all the world's religions speak of this union with the Beloved, the Great Mystery, in their hearts. A wedding feast is an apt symbol for this experience of Love that can only be spoken of in poetic words and symbols that are never more than pointers at a Reality beyond all words. Their testimony is that this experience can come quite unexpectedly, and it is wise to be ready. What would that mean for you?

Are you ready?