oil for the wise and the foolish

Today we read about wise and foolish girls in Matthew 25:1-30 in the One Year Bible. Some of them were wise, and not only filled their lamps with oil to be ready for the groom's return, but they even bought EXTRA oil just in case. The foolish girls didn't prepare, didn't have any oil for themselves. So when the groom came, the wise girls went with him, but the foolish were left outside.

The foolish girls asked the wise ones to borrow some of their oil, but they refused. Even though they had even bought extra. I've shared in the past that I find their behavior to be wise, but not very loving. In my opinion, they should have shared their oil.

Now, it's a parable. So it's a matter of interpretation what the oil represents, what the girls represent, etc. We know that the groom is Jesus and the girls appear to be people who do or don't get ready for His return. But what is the oil?

If we think of the oil as faith, then why didn't the wise girls share their faith with the foolish ones? If it's love, they definitely should have shared their love with them. It's hard to find a metaphorical meaning for the oil that the wise virgins would not have been able to share.

In any case, the meaning of the parable is clear: be ready. Don't be the foolish girls who didn't get ready in time. Now is the day of your salvation. Make the decision today.

But I think an "above and beyond" meaning of the parable is: be kind and loving to your foolish neighbors. Share your faith with them. Share your love. Spread the oil around. Spend all you have on that oil, it's apparently what's most important when the end comes. And share it with those who need it.

God, thank You for giving us the oil that we need to be prepared for Your return. Please help the foolish ones (and who isn't foolish at one time or another?) to wise up and get ready.