For the Week Beginning Sunday November 12, 2017 Volume 02, Issue 40

INSPIRATION AND PRAYER WEEKLY

DISCOVERING BIBLICAL TREASURES

LET’S DISCOVER MATTHEW 25:1-13

(USING ANCIENT BIBLE STUDY METHODS)

LINGUISTIC STRUCTURE

A 1 "Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

B 2 "Five of them were foolish, and five were pru-dent. 3 "For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps.

C 5 "Now while the bridegroom was delay-ing, they all got drowsy and began to sleep.

A’ 6 "But at midnight there was a shout, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.'

B’ 7 "Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 "The foolish said to the prudent, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' 9 "But the prudent answered, 'No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.'

C’ 10 "And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. 11 "Later the other virgins also came, saying,

SOMETHING ABOUT THE LIN-GUISTICS

This is a simple A-B-C chiasm par-able .

Graphic Credit: theodysseyonline.com

APPLYING THE SCRIPTURE TO YOU

There is a tension between need-ing to get tasks done today and tasks that allow us to be righteous before God. In other words, the tension is, do I worry about Jesus’ return today or the tasks on my to-do list today. This is a true tension for all of us. There are so many tasks that we accomplish that have nothing to do with our love and devotion to our Lord and Sav-ior Jesus Christ. Yet, they must be done. You must work. You must

pay your bills. You must take care of any children living in your house. Well, you get the point. The hard part is trying to balance all the requirements of life and the requirements of Jesus. How does one balance these two? That is the trick. The tension will always be there. If you could take some of your tasks and apply them to wor-shiping Jesus that would be the best of both world.

REFLECTIONS

As with many of Yeshua’s parable this one deals with the end of time when the new Kingdom of Heaven will emerge. The church’s imagery of the parable is about the end of time when God returns except that their view is that it is Yeshua who will return. Nowhere in the Hebrew Scrip-tures or other Jewish writings of that day can such a claim be made. The bridegroom could be God or it could be a metaphor for the Kingdom of Heaven itself. In Yeshua’s day they were the competing images for the parable. Ei-ther way the Kingdom of Heaven will come. When? No one knows when the event will take place. When it does there will be a lot of people, even some who call them-selves Christians, who will discover that they are on the outside of the new Kingdom of Heaven. The oil in the lamps are a metaphor for righteousness. If you are a lamp, how full are you with righteousness? This view would consider that there are levels to righteousness. Due to human sin and error, none of us will ever be completely full of righteousness. Yeshua tells us in verse 13, which the church does not associate with the parable but it must be, that even the righteous can backslide and find that they are no longer filled with righteousness. Everyone must be on their guard to prevent backsliding. It is impera-tive. So, on a scale from one to ten with ten being the highest, being a scale of righteousness, where are you?

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MORNING PRAYER Morning God of life, for this new day we give thanks. May we bear witness to the gift of life in all we say and do, from the flowers that bloom to the critters that creep, from the friends we seek out to the strangers we encounter. As the birds sing out their praises, may we, too, make a joyful noise. May our words and our actions reveal your good news. Help us to be inspired and awed by your ex-

EVENING PRAYER

Evening Holy God, you have indeed done marvelous things and we give thanks. Throughout this day we were challenged and found hope; we were surprised by the places and people who give witness to you. Be with us and those we love this night. Com-fort those who are uneasy or afraid. Guide us through the night to the dawn of a new day filled with hope and promise. Amen.

Graphic Credit: http://www.oakbrookpca.org/