MID-NIGHT CRY
There is a story in the Christian Bible about ten Virgins of whom five were wise and five were foolish. According to this epic piece of drama told as a parable by the historic Jesus Christ, they were all waiting for the Bridegroom to appear. They all hoped to get married, have a feast and go on their long honeymoon with the Groom.
Some may say that this story does not sit well with our western culture because we are a monogamous society. For a groom to have ten potential brides is polygamy, a violation of our laws and contrary to our western way of thinking. We can however take comfort in the fact that it’s a parable, meaning that the story never happened; it is meant to open our eyes to mistakes that we can make and may never recover from.
As the story continued, the virgins were supposed to meet their groom in the night so in order for him to see them, each was required to carry a lamp. Unfortunately however, only five of the ten virgins had oil in their lamps. Those without were stumbling at the last minute to find oil and eventually there was no more time to purchase oil, already it was too late for them.
This story reminds me of our representatives in government and top business executives who seem to be never prepared for what’s coming. The world is changing so fast and they are so empty that they cannot anticipate disaster soon enough to avert it or take corrective action, the innocent and the vulnerable are left to suffer the consequences of their willful negligence. It is no wonder there is so much crisis and economic failures in our world today.
Failure to act before the last moment is often the reason for confusion and mass hysteria. Failure to anticipate market conditions, failure to anticipate food shortages, failure to find ways to put an end to wars that only drain their economies and plunge nations into poverty, pestilence and disease, failure to manage greed and violence, failure to govern effectively, failure to act before a crisis sets in, and failure to manage the resources of the world in a fair and equitable manner so that peoples of the planet can enjoy its bounty.
Let’s hope that the day will come when we find a method to elect only the wise virgins who can answer the mid-night cry.