Insightful Musings on the Scriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Passage: Matthew 25:1-30
Focus: “Five of them were foolish and five were wise.” Matthew 25:2.
We tend to have all manner of classifications for people. Young and old, black and white, rich and poor, male and female, tall and short, educated and uneducated, heathen and Christian, and even saved and lost. But as I read and meditate again on these teachings of Jesus, I see more clearly than ever before that the status of WISE and FOOLISH is more basic and fundamental to the Kingdom of God than any other standard. Jesus seems to say over and over from many different angles that the outcome of a person’s life is contingent on whether he is one or the other, either WISE or FOOLISH, in relation to God and His Word in preparation (or the lack of it) for judgment and eternity. This is the critical standard of ultimate determination, not mathematics or history or theology. David affirms, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps. 111:10). To be saved, you see, IS WISDOM. It is the result of a person taking seriously his personal responsibility to a sovereign God. To be lost, then, IS absolute FOOLISHNESS as it is the result of a person failing to take seriously his personal responsibility to a sovereign God.
These two polarities are featured here in the story of the ten virgins. Even the following story of the Talents could be viewed as a contrast of the same. The first two servants were essentially commended for their being WISE. The Master rebuked the third servant, however, as being “wicked and lazy.” Don’t you agree that it is extremely FOOLISH to be “wicked and lazy” when one knows different and that he will one day stand in judgment before his Master. Consider also the previous chapter (25:45) when Jesus says, “Who then is a faithful and WISE servant…?” The emphasis there also relates to this personal responsibility to the sovereign Master. And one of the clearest examples of this is Jesus’ story of the WISE and FOOLISH builders in Matthew 7. “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a WISE man who built his house on the rock” (Matt. 7:24).
The recipe for inclusion in the Kingdom of God is really not all that complicated and technical. Take God serious and be WISE.
“True wisdom is the accurate perception of what is really important.”