Expecting the Lord to Show Up
November 1, 2011 § Leave a Comment
As a child, I enjoyed singing the song, “Give me oil in my lamp…” Although I knew it alludes to the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-13, I always wondered what it refers to in my own life. One way is certainly to interpret it as symbolic imagery of
the eschatological banquet one day when Jesus comes again. But is there more to this than simply referring to an event that we think will take place in the distant future? Or is this a parable that primarily refers to an everyday posture that is required every moment in our lives? So that the “oil in my lamp” refers to the ability to always – every single moment – expecting the Lord to show up in surprising ways. The key to the meaning of the parable comes in the last verse: “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour” (25:13). And therefore, because we don’t know the hour, it is important to have this expectation every moment… and not only in terms of the second coming of Christ, but also the ways in which the ever presence of the Lord are manifested in the midst of our ordinary lives. May He open your eyes so that you can see the surprising ways in which this happen in your life today.
