Parable of Ten Virgins Calls for Mercy as Well as Preparedness, Pastor Writes

Leigh Benish, pastor of Hill United Presbyterian Church in Butler, Pennsylvania, has written a commentary on the parable of the ten young women in Matthew 25:1-13. In the parable, ten women are tasked with greeting and escorting their friend’s fiancé to a wedding banquet. Jesus describes five of them as wise and five as foolish. When the guest is delayed, the foolish women run out of oil for their lamps and miss the banquet.

Benish writes that a traditional reading tends to cast the foolish women as villains and the wise women as heroes, and she asks whether the wise women are as heroic as that reading suggests. She notes that the Greek word Jesus uses for the five, *phrónimos*, means prudent, sensible, or even shrewd. She contrasts it with *sophia*, a broader wisdom she associates with figures such as Solomon. In her reading, the wise women prepared to keep their own lamps burning, even though their companions would be left without oil.

Benish also argues that the parable ends with a warning that people will not always know when they need to be ready, and that the way people conduct themselves while they wait matters as much as their preparation. She contends that the parable, read alongside the wider Gospel of Matthew, shows Jesus calling his followers beyond self-preservation toward mercy, generosity, and love.

She describes her husband, an Eagle Scout who carries a backpack of supplies on family outings, and says his preparedness is valuable not because it covers only his own family’s needs but because he is willing to open the bag and share when others need help. Sharing what one has with people in need reflects care for neighbors (Matthew 25:35).

Benish concludes that the Kingdom of Heaven is not only a place where one’s own lamp keeps burning, but a place where lamps light the way for others, and where there is enough light for all.

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