{"id":5306,"date":"2026-03-20T09:22:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T13:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/?p=5306"},"modified":"2026-03-20T09:22:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T13:22:55","slug":"from-there-he-will-come-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/20\/from-there-he-will-come-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"From There He Will Come (II)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here<\/a>
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Throughout the season of Lent, we’re taking a close look at the Apostles’ Creed – one of the earliest and most concise summaries of what followers of Jesus believe.<\/em>
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In ancient times. there was nothing quite like a wedding in a Middle Eastern village.
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Even though Say Yes to the Dress <\/em>was still 20 centuries away, bridal families definitely knew how to throw a party.
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Honeymoons had not yet come into fashion. In truth, there was no place for a newly married couple to go.\u00a0
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Instead, they would remain in their village and a host a week-long \u201copen house\u201d of sorts, one that would overflow with food and wine. For most couples this would be the happiest week of their lives.\u00a0Every neighbor would be invited.\u00a0No one would want to miss the fun.
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Weddings did not begin on a certain day at a certain hour, with the bride\u2019s mom insisting that the minute hand be sweeping upward when the ceremony began.\u00a0Nobody owned a clock.\u00a0Thus, the wedding would begin when the food was ready and the preparations were complete.\u00a0Just by paying attention to the sights, sounds, and delicious smells, one could generally narrow down the starting time to within a day or two.\u00a0
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Make no mistake:\u00a0Everybody in town would know that the time was getting close, and they ought to be getting ready to join the party.
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At a moment of his choosing \u2013 quite possibly in the middle of the night, just to be playful or ornery \u2013 the groom would begin to walk through the streets of the village, taking the longest possible route.\u00a0His best man would precede him, shouting that it was time to drop everything and come to the celebration.\u00a0
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Neighbors would come out and form a kind of conga line behind the groom as he walked toward his own wedding.

In some villages, to this day, it is required that anyone who joins a wedding procession after sunset must carry a small, lighted lamp.\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 time those lamps were clay vessels that could fit into the palm of one\u2019s hand, like the one pictured above.\u00a0Oil was poured into a hole in the center. The wick would protrude from an opening on the side.\u00a0
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Sufficient oil to keep the lamp burning was carried in a small flask.\u00a0When the party began, you had better have your lamp ready.\u00a0 Otherwise, you would be seriously breaching Middle Eastern etiquette by insulting the bride and groom.
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In Matthew 25:1-13, Jesus tells a story about ten young women who, like everyone else in town, have been waiting for the fun to begin.\u00a0Five of them are ready.\u00a0Their lamps are at hand and their flasks of oil are full.\u00a0Jesus calls them wise.
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But the other five young women, for one reason or another, are caught off guard. The groom suddenly shows up \u2013 surprise<\/em> \u2013 but they\u2019ve run out of oil.\u00a0
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Without burning lamps, they\u2019re going to miss the parade.\u00a0They\u2019re going to miss the feast.\u00a0They\u2019re going to miss the chance to experience the splashy coverage of the biggest social event of the season.
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Jesus calls them foolish.\u00a0
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On the pages of the Bible, a \u201cfool\u201d isn\u2019t someone who lacks IQ, physical grace, or common sense.\u00a0A foolish person is someone who misses the chance of a lifetime because something else \u2013 something comparatively trivial \u2013 seems more important than being ready for the moment when God suddenly shows up.
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The five unprepared young women were certainly intending<\/em> to join the party.\u00a0But when it comes to walking with God, good intentions are not good enough.\u00a0
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There\u2019s a world of difference between hearing <\/em>Jesus\u2019 words and obeying<\/em> them.
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The Apostles\u2019 Creed declares, \u201cFrom there [from heaven] he will come.\u201d Come to earth, that is, a second time. We do not know when this will happen. We do not know precisely what that day will look like or feel like.
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The one thing Scripture makes perfectly clear is that we had better be ready.
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In Jesus\u2019 parable, there\u2019s little doubt who the groom is. It\u2019s Jesus himself. And how does the Bible describe what it will be like when God\u2019s Son brings together all of God\u2019s people at the end of history? It will be a party like no other in the next world \u2013 the Wedding Feast of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6-9).
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The groom in the parable takes longer than expected to start his walk through the streets.\u00a0The young women all fall asleep.\u00a0Then in verse five they hear the cry, \u201cHere\u2019s the bridegroom!\u00a0 Come out to meet him!\u201d\u00a0This is the moment at which spiritual wisdom is fully contrasted with spiritual foolishness.\u00a0
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Only when it\u2019s too late do the five unprepared women discover that they cannot hitchhike on somebody else\u2019s faith.\u00a0
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\u201cGive us some of your oil; our lamps are going out!\u201d (Matthew 25:8). But we cannot borrow the faith of our parents or grandparents.\u00a0Nor can we make a withdrawal from the commitment of our spouse or the resiliency of our small group and pass it off as our own.\u00a0
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We have to own our own trust in Jesus<\/em>.
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Perhaps we\u2019ve been led to believe that if we just have a lamp \u2013 an invitation to God\u2019s big party \u2013 all is well.\u00a0We don\u2019t really need a reservoir of oil.\u00a0 Bible study is nice and all that, but we can always fall back on a good internet search engine to dig up promises and commands if the need ever arises. Nor do we need to go all-out to learn how to pray, serve, or even comprehend what we say we believe.
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Bible scholar Dale Bruner is surely spot on when he points out that all too many people are content with the lamp <\/em>of experiential Christianity but refuse to take up the flask <\/em>of discipled Christianity.
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That truth begins to dawn on the five foolish virgins.\u00a0\u201cWhile they were on their way to buy oil, the bridegroom arrived.\u00a0The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet.\u00a0And the door was shut.\u00a0Later the others also came.\u00a0\u2018Sir!\u00a0 Sir!\u2019 they said.\u00a0\u2018Open the door for us!\u2019\u201d\u00a0
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But it’s too late.\u00a0They’ve missed the party.\u00a0\u00a0
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Did you used to cram for tests \u2013 you know, stay up all night before a final exam, trying to pour into your head all the learning you should have been doing over the course of an entire semester?\u00a0Jesus is telling us that we cannot \u201ccram\u201d our relationship with him.\u00a0
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We cannot pretend to know someone whom we have not actually taken the time to know.<\/em>
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In the age of electricity, what does it mean to keep our lamps burning?
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Read.\u00a0Pray.\u00a0Ask questions.\u00a0Pay attention.\u00a0Don\u2019t fall asleep in the middle of your life.\u00a0
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The Creed is a great reminder that one of these days, the Groom of all grooms is going to show up.
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And he\u2019ll be walking right down the middle of your street.


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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here\u00a0Throughout the season of Lent, we’re taking a close look at the Apostles’ Creed – one of the earliest and most concise summaries of what followers of Jesus believe.\u00a0In ancient times. there was nothing quite like a wedding in a Middle Eastern village.\u00a0Even though Say Yes to the Dress was still 20… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5307,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1080,194],"class_list":["post-5306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-apostles-creed","tag-second-coming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5308,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5306\/revisions\/5308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}