Is There Oil in the Marketplace?

Continuing to be stricken by a deepening awareness of some portents of the Lord's parables, still. And also regarding their meaning, in general.

 Being blatantly confronted with how utterly, absolutely necessary is the Holy Spirit's leading ever humbles and astounds.

And there are just so...so...so many things which He's made and is making clear, even now, that it always seems as though writing could just begin and never end, if all the varying dimensions and facets of thought were given time for consideration, for extrapolation. So, coming here still has to be a very prayerful endeavor. Going anywhere and saying anything really has to be, though.

Whatever is given, is the thing. Never knowing what, exactly, will proceed.

Not perfectly, perhaps, but just according to whatever momentary initiative is afforded, whatever depth of direction has been granted. Even as we are to walk in the fullness of God, having the very mind of Christ.

And of that latter, there are things which could be said rather explicitly, but suffice it to say that...there's something to knowing a person so deeply, so intimately, as to always be somewhat aware their regard for a matter, without having to even see their reaction. Something about presence, about sensing a mood. Only deeper than that, given the truth of matters being that we who do truly know Christ...dwell continually in His living presence, as indwelt by His very Spirit--even as our souls, our lives, are hid in Him.

Thing is...those aren't just words--written, recorded, printed, and read as Scripture. Those are truths.

Reality.
..for those who know Christ.

Our living God.

Not one who is far off, but a God who is ever near--
Even holding all things together, in truth (and spirit).

Part of which could be given to discussion of the distinctions between descriptions of agency and mechanics, again:
Being able to describe, to some extent, how a thing works...doesn't actually and explicitly reveal why it works as it does (e.g., "for what reason," "to what end," etc.) nor exhaustively describe other such features of agency, regarding antecedents.

One example which seemed very apt for illustrating the distinction asks, "Why is a (hypothetical) pot of water boiling?"
In terms of mechanics, you could cite various principles of thermodynamics and chemistry, mentioning excitation of atoms, transfer of energy, and change of liquid state into gas, given application of heat. All those things would be applicable and could be elaborated to varying degrees of description, so to describe "why it's boiling," when actually describing our understanding of how these things work.
Or, you could just as aptly answer by saying, "Because I wanted a cup of tea. Would you like one?," which is an expression of agency. "The pot of water is boiling because I decided I wanted hot tea," and acted upon that decision by getting the pot, filling it with water, and putting it on the lit stove burner. All antecedent circumstances which built up to that action, that decision, and the proceeding offer to share...can only be explicitly, exhaustively known to whatever extent as accurately revealed of and by the one who made the decision and took the actions.

Those two interpretations aren't mutually exclusive, is the thing--accurate interpretations of agency and mechanics are both valid, simultaneously. And in terms of agency, as goes the example here...somewhat a bit of mechanical interpretation within scope of agency is implicit as potentially discernible, in terms of some functions proceeding from, accompanying, and/or preceding agency. The extent to which a mechanical interpretation of agency is possible is much dependent upon whether context is sufficiently revealed, studied, and pursued to increasing extent of understanding.

...this latter does entail understanding which is founded upon deep, abiding, and broad searching of all available, revealed (explicit, implicit) and progressively grasped context as can be studied sufficiently to become truly, accurately known.

But, like the story of the blind wise men who attempted to describe an elephant by only feeling some one part of its major anatomical features...similarly, we can't truly know the sum of observed parts without input from the studied agent. Which, granted--elephants don't speak, but it's a necessary allowance for the sake of this metaphor, when using an elephant as an archetype of the manifest creation of a God who has spoken and does speak, whose express will is manifest all around us...

...such that, when we're trying to discern God--the Underlying Cause, the Absolute Origin...the meaning...

...of all this?

Yeah, we could totally describe so many features of His creation, without really having any idea what we're talking about, in terms of the truth of how vast and measureless He is. We have managed to describe and benefit from describing (ah, technology!) the manner in which all sorts of things work in this, His creation, though.

Even as, again with the elephant metaphor...

...one standing at the flank feels along and might declare to the others that he's detected a wall...another standing at a leg describes a pillar...one at the elephant's trunk describes a snake...at the tail, a brush...at the tusk, a branch...

...then, so too, have we taken to feeling our way into multifarious aspects of the way our physical, manifest reality has been ordered by God...

...using structured means we consider reliable for gauging and feeling our way blindly toward describing some amounts of truth regarding the mechanisms of our world (i.e., using scientific methodology), we've been able to detect and describe many various and orderly instances of mechanical activity ("laws of nature") sufficient to be able to distinguish and topically reference them according to observed (and even reasonably inferred) mechanical function--as physics, kinetics, thermodynamics, chemistry, biology, geology, psychology, sociology, philosophy, and even art and history--even building, cumulatively, upon each precept that's established as understood...unto further reaches of understanding the mechanics of all we see...

...while simultaneously entirely overlooking the fact that we're wholly ignoring the Agent whose manifest will and laws we're dissecting. We're ignoring the Creator, Himself.

We're looking piecemeal at all of creation, in other words. In a sense, this would be as though those blind men had taken the elephant apart to attempt to fully understand what its life is...whereas, in so doing, they would have been obliterating the very aspect of the creature's being which their study explicitly sought to comprehend.

Only, in our case, we haven't realized the vital aspect we've effectively obfuscated from being grasped is that which our existence and well-being entirely hinges upon--in turning away from the One who is our Source of life, we've actually chosen death. And in choosing death, we've become hardened against life, itself. Even as to hate God, the lifegiver, and the one from whom truth and all authority proceeds, and in whom it all resolves.

So, in esteeming ourselves as wise, we've become total fools--seeing everything, except for that which is most vital...then, we actually see nothing, for failing to see that upon which all else rests...

So, being blind to the pinnacle of all truth, we become increasingly blind to truth...
...thus hating the truth (increasingly acting without regard for it escalates to a spiteful neglect)...
...we have become deaf to it, also.

Unwilling to recognize the truth of who God is, we've closed our eyes to truth and thus lost the ability to see it.
Unwilling then, also, to hear truth, we've lost the ability to discern it, when it's heard--we are deaf to truth.
And without being able to see or to hear truth, then we are mute of it--we're unable to speak what we refuse to see, refuse to hear, and have refused to acknowledge. We are thus dead to truth, ultimately.

Yet, one thing that's so utterly incomprehensible of this trek we're on--seeking to understand all of God's creation while simultaneously despising and rejecting Him:

The more we turn from Him, societally and culturally and internationally...

...and the more deeply we peer into His creation, simultaneously--unraveling so many mysterious and wonderful principles of operation which He implemented--laws by which our world, our physical reality remains manifest...

...then, the more mystifying and compelling are these most intricate principles, as revelations which boldly proclaim His glory and wisdom and goodness and incomprehensible power and love--increasingly evidenced to anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear, as each and every bit of "scientific understanding" reaches more deeply, unveiling increasing complexities of the wondrous mechanics according to which God ordained our creation to proceed, operate, and persist.

And there are some who are deeply entrenched in discovery and exploration of these mysteries who do come to realize the truth of God's existence by peering so deeply into the glories evidenced by His handiwork...

...but many only become increasingly blinded by a glorification of self rather than the Creator--glorifying self for having attained to understanding of principles which God ordained, rather than glorifying the One who ordained such pristine and incomprehensibly perfect order, with such absolute precision as to have made all our reality be possible.

He has revealed Himself in so many ways, is all--in all of creation (the fact that it exists, and the more we know about the way it all works, the more magnificent His wisdom seems), through the writing in the stars (i.e., Mazzaroth). Through prophets, old and new, He has revealed Himself.

And, He entered history. He entered time...our Christ, Jesus. God, He took on flesh, He walked among us. Spoke to us. Taught us.

And His words are still on record.

Still true.

Timeless, as He is, truly.

Yet, even as He told the 12--it wasn't given that most should know, that most should understand His words. But meaning was revealed unto those who were as babes. Guileless. Curious. Desiring simply to know truth. Without qualm. With hopeful expectation to receive understanding...

And asking graciously...humbly. Receiving, also graciously.

And humbly.

So many things He said, though. And there are so many ways to read those words.
So many meanings, inherent them.

And, sometimes, certain depth comes to a particular phrase--depth never before suspected.
But, a depth which doesn't undermine prior understanding, yet only furthers grasp on truth--broader context, unfolded.

He leads, in understanding. Unto understanding. Into all truth.

We have to have a shepherd:
Someone to lead us into these things, otherwise we just can't know them:
He prepares our hearts to receive truth, then He gives truth, and impresses it upon us, and further prepares our hearts.

Continual, progressive. Active.

Reading through Matthew's account, still. And the parables have been so much more striking, this time. Especially...

...I had never before realized...

...these parables--they're admonishments to those who would be called to Christ. They're warnings to those who seek to serve Him.

Not just to anyone, not to people who don't want Him, not to those who don't want to know anything about Him.
...even as...still, He's so gracious...so incomprehensibly gracious and loving and good...
...that, although these parables are for those who seek to serve Him, they are still written/composed/spoken in such a way that those who don't know and aren't actively seeking to know Jesus...can still benefit from them, if taking even only the most superficial, preliminary, precursory view of them into consideration.

For instance...

...I grew up hearing a lot of these parables, and they never struck me as anything more than stories with a good moral.

In terms of today's reading, of the 10 virgins...it had only ever seemed a story about people who weren't prepared: so always be prepared, or you'll miss out. And that was the long and short of all my regard for that particular parable.

And as went the parable about the servants given the talents? It never really struck me as anything particularly interesting, honestly. At most, I thought it spoke of a "use it or lose it"-ideology, in terms of abilities and potential.

Thing is--those aren't wholly bad or wrong interpretations.

They are just so, so, so far short of anything even remotely near what's packed into those brief stories that it's nearly saying nothing about them, whatsoever. But I had no idea there was anything else there. And what little bit I'm seeing, even now, is so much more vast and yet surely still so utterly limited in terms of the scope which these truly entail, in terms of taking them in context of all of Scripture and creation, as would be according to full interpretation given by the Holy Spirit.

What has stricken so much lately, though, regarding His parables:
These seem primarily to describe servants of the King, servants of the Master, the betrothed of the Bridegroom, and all those who are called by Him, who do receive the Word--at some point, in some way...in truth.

He spoke almost exclusively about those who either were actively striving to enter the Kingdom of God, those who believed they were already a part of the Kingdom, and/or those who were actually entering the Kingdom (with some overlap in these three), but He very rarely mentioned those who weren't overtly on track to do any of this. Very rarely.

Even as there was such statement as, "For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe on Him would not perish but have everlasting life."

That is an all-inclusive statement--even reaffirmed by one of John's epistles, in terms of whose sins the Lord died for (not a restricted offering, except as according to aforementioned verse).

And we are told that creation testifies of His glory. Creation tells the story, for anyone who would seek or want to know (such that no one will have excuse). God is not reluctant to be known by those who do want to know Him, in earnest (which, He knows the heart so much better than we ever even begin to think to).

And yet, again and again it seems as though He has said, "Many are called, but few are chosen."

So, as goes the parable of the virgins, a few things which were particularly striking, today:

All those who were waiting were apparently betrothed to the Bridegroom (professing and believing themselves so). All of them had lamps to light their way. But only some of them also had oil, for fueling the lamps.

Those lamps were to light their way, when they were called into the darkness--beckoned by the Bridegroom's approach--gone out to wait to meet Him, even at midnight. They were called out into the darkness, unto Him, with their lamp burning, but requiring the oil as fuel. So, it was at the point when they were to meet the Bridegroom, when they were called to wait upon Him...that the oil was evidenced as vital necessity.

At that point, those who had a reserve of oil for themselves were able to have light to guide them unto the Bridegroom. Each of them had to have their own, personal reserve, though--they traveled alongside one another, yeah, but they each one could only depend upon their own lamp, their own oil--light and oil, a necessary fuel for such flame as was given to guide their way.

They could not and dare not look to one another for these resources. Those who tried were told it wasn't possible, and they were left with no option but to go out to obtain their own fuel. And when those were sent out...they were sent with lamps which had been trimmed and lit. So, they did have the lamps to light their way, but without oil, they went out in a wrong direction--they went to market, rather than to marriage. Bartering, discussing, perhaps quibbling--definitely seeking unto a dealing in trade. But not unto love, not unto open acceptance. The problem was, overall, they were not waiting upon the Bridegroom, as the other virgins remained to do, even going out in the darkness--drawing nearer Him, yet waiting patiently and exuberantly upon His arrival, nonetheless.

While the others, without oil, presumably rushed to market.
With their lamps lit.

(Thy Word, my Lord--it is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path!)

What gives life to a fire, though, but fuel?
Otherwise, it will sputter and die as a dry wick is burned up, near-immediate:
A burning lamp must have fuel, though, or otherwise it will extinguish.

Any lamp ever to be lit with fire...must have fuel.
Otherwise, the wick will be consumed, burned up, and have to be replaced before the addition of any further fuel could profit the lamp.

(Would you put new wine in old wineskins?)

The implication, though, is that the thoughtless virgins ultimately found something and then came knocking upon the Bridegroom's door. It's not said whether they found an alternate fuel or whether they gave up the search and just wandered in darkness, exhausting themselves with erstwhile efforts, then to just return to the bridal chamber. Regardless, they came to the door where the Bridegroom had entered with the others who had oil with their lamps...and these oilless ones were denied entry.

Because He didn't know them.

They were so busy attempting to do what they found as necessary--seeking after oil in the marketplace, when they were supposed to be waiting on Him, going out to meet Him--they neglected all opportunity to meet Him.

So, He wasn't familiar with them.

Because they had never met. Despite the apparent betrothal, public. Despite their preoccupation with the eventual wedding. Despite having brought the lamp and using it to guide them, at midnight, to the market. They hadn't sought to be prepared for His imminent arrival, but rather indulged themselves, taking for granted that their lamp, alone, was sufficient. Perhaps they assumed He'd only come when it was convenient for them, even...

It's not about words, though. It's not about works.
All our good and need resolves in our need to know Jesus, ultimately. So, on this one front at least--in regard to this parable--we are given to know (from Jesus's own explicit statements) that one small part of truly knowing Him absolutely entails acquiring, maintaining, and utilizing both our given oil and lamp. These, as we are to be diligent in waiting upon Him.

And it's even as Peter said, then--Scripture wasn't given by the spirit of man, it wasn't written according to the thoughts of the prophets...but it was directly given by God's own Holy Spirit. And because the Holy Spirit gave us Scripture, then He has to also interpret it for and to us. Scripture is not given for our own private interpretation--not given for interpretation apart from the Holy Spirit's direct guidance and instruction, in interpretation.

No methodology or hermeneutic will be able to replace Him (or equal Him). Period. He's the one that makes sure things pass from head to heart, when they do. He's the one who connects the dots, in terms of taking all Scripture in context of all Scripture. Just as, again, God is so incomprehensibly gracious...that even when we attempt to serve Him and seek Him in our own strength and according to our own understanding--which is expressly contradiction of what's directed us, in Scripture...
...even then, He still so often, for the sake of His own name and His own glory (even as to our benefit)...
...even then, He seems often to allow for truth to come to us, to become known, regardless our faithlessness and error and mistrust of Him.

So, not because we're good.
Not because we do well.
Not because we made a good effort.
But only because He's who He is.
And He stands by His word.
And He loves.

So, yeah.

All these things, and many more. Just a few, for now.

The Lord bless you and keep you.
Seek Him, while He may be found.