There are a variety of uses for the range of liquids that are all called oil. Oil helps the car run--a lawnmower we used to have also used oil. A different sort of oil softens up the leather of a baseball glove or a pair of boots.. Oil helps in cooking, particularly delicacies like French fries. Oil is used in polishing wood surfaces. Oil is used on our skin and in our hair. Oil is used in oil lamps, or floating flames, in the latter case often for its aroma. Essential oils are used in all sorts of ways, for soothing or invigorating.
We are probably surrounded by more versions of oil than we even realize. And so on our Lenten journey we can take note of those reminders.
Numbers 4:16 details in one verse a range of uses for oils that Eleazar the son of the priest, is responsible for: "the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the regular grain-offering, and the anointing-oil"--all of which are used in worship. We tend not to use oil for light or incense in our regular worship, and grain offerings are not anything I have ever even seen. But oil for anointing I have used, both on Ash Wednesday and in a prayer gathering where we prayed for healing. And I have used that same kind of oil twice to anoint the doorposts of homes--in each case where an unexpected tragic death happened and the anointing was to bless the home and ward off any residual evil. I have also used this kind of oil in praying for and anointing someone who knows they are dying, as an assurance of God's care that the Holy Spirit is accompanying that person on the journey we all will take.
The story of the wise and foolish bridesmaids in Matthew 25 seems to be less about oil itself, and more about being prepared. Oil does serve as a useful vehicle for making the point--and can also serve as a useful reminder for us. Hard to keep the boot leather soft when we need to if we ran out of oil. Not keeping the right amount of oil in the car can devastate the engine (I know this from experience when I was much younger) and make it hard to get where we need to go. Hard to prepare the zucchini for the chicken stir-fry without oil when that's the dinner menu. We need to be prepared, in all areas of life, because the unexpected happens--including, perhaps, even the return of our Lord.
OLD TESTAMENT Numbers 4:16
16 Eleazar son of Aaron the priest shall have charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the regular grain-offering, and the anointing-oil, the oversight of all the tabernacle and all that is in it, in the sanctuary and in its utensils.
OLD TESTAMENT Exodus 29:1-9
1 Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them, so that they may serve me as priests. Take one young bull and two rams without blemish, 2 and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil. You shall make them of choice wheat flour. 3 You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, and bring the bull and the two rams. 4 You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and wash them with water. 5 Then you shall take the vestments, and put on Aaron the tunic and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastpiece, and gird him with the decorated band of the ephod; 6 and you shall set the turban on his head, and put the holy diadem on the turban. 7 You shall take the anointing-oil, and pour it on his head and anoint him. 8 Then you shall bring his sons, and put tunics on them, 9 and you shall gird them with sashes and tie head-dresses on them; and the priesthood shall be theirs by a perpetual ordinance. You shall then ordain Aaron and his sons.
GOSPEL Matthew 25:1-13
1 ‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” 7 Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” 9 But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” 10 And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. 11 Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” 12 But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” 13Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.