He was very wise apparently. The Queen of Sheba visited him to hear him make speeches and was impressed at this wisdom.
He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines.
Can you imagine having to deal with seven hundred mothers-in-law? And that does not include the concubines' mothers.
It does not seem very wise to me!
"What is Christ teaching us here? The obvious answer is that we should always be ready for His return. Keep awake, He says, you don't know the day or the hour of His return.
"There's always someone predicting when the world will end, and they read signs in the state of the world today and from that they deduce that we are near the end times. The reality is that only God knows when this will happen. Jesus said that even He did not know the date or time.
"But there's more to this parable than just this message. You will note that the five wise women took enough oil for their lamps when they waited for the bridegroom. Whilst the foolish women took no additional oil with them.
"When eventually the bridegroom arrived, the foolish women ran out of oil and asked to borrow some from the wise ones. The wise women refused and told them to go buy some oil for themselves.
"Were these women wise or just selfish? Should they have shared the oil evenly? Isn't that what Christianity all about? Being kind to one's neighbours and share with those who have not?
"What is Jesus teaching here?"
Father Ignatius stopped a while, as he usually did, to allow the message to sink in; and then he continued.
"Jesus is teaching that there are some things you cannot borrow from someone else. You cannot borrow their faith, their preparations, their zeal and their love for God, their fruits of the Spirit.
"The wise women had faith in the bridegroom arriving and prepared for that event. Their love for the bridegroom was obvious by their actions. We cannot as individuals say because someone else has great faith therefore we are saved. A man can't say that because his wife is a good faithful Christian therefore he is OK because God will see him right. Our entry into Heaven does not depend on someone else's faith. Only God decides who enters Heaven. He has invited everyone; but we should respond to that invitation. We don't go in as wife plus one!"
The congregation laughed. The priest waited a moment and then went on.
"What are the fruits of the Spirit? In Galatians 5:22 and 23 Paul says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.These are gifts given to those who have the Holy Spirit abiding in them. You can't borrow them from someone else.
"I believe that's the secondary message in this parable. The first one is that we should always be prepared for the coming of the Lord because we do not know the day or the hour. The second message is that we cannot borrow our salvation from someone else. If we want to be saved we should ask our Lord to help us on our road to Paradise."
If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to see it, does it remain upright?
What is the difference between a wood and a forest? What is the limit of trees beyond which a wood becomes a forest? 50? 100? Or more?
And what is a jungle? Is it bigger or smaller than a forest?
And if Tarzan lived in the jungle, how come he is always clean-shaven?
What time do you have to get up in the morning to go to the forest before the trees get there?
At this point in my wondering, a bird flew by and rested on the wisdom tree.
For some reason this made me think of humming birds. Why do they hum, I wondered. Is it because they do not know the words to the songs?
Did you know that there are as many as 361 species of humming birds? That's enough to make a choir. Can you imagine? A church choir of humming birds not knowing the lyrics and humming instead. I bet they'd sound better than some choirs I've heard!
I think I'll suffer in silence ... just like God does I suppose.
Years ago there was a song by The Tremeloes which said: Silence is golden, but my eyes can see.
I'm not sure that's always true is it? What if someone is about to sit on a cactus ... or worse ... on a pizza.
The song was about knowing that someone was cheating on a partner. Do you talk or not? What would you do?
Yes ... what would you do? If you knew, not suspected, but knew ... would you tell your friend? Or would you tell a relative that they are being cheated?
I asked the wisdom tree. It did not reply. And the bird flew away.
Where there's a will, I want to be in it.
The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on my list.
Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.
We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.
War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.
I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.
In filling out an application, where it says, 'In case of emergency, Notify:' I put 'DOCTOR'.
Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.
You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.
I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not so sure.
Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.
You're never too old to learn something stupid.
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WORDS OF WISDOM
If you walk for ever you will never stop.
A man swimming in the sea is wet.
If you walk a mile in someone's shoes you'll be accused of stealing them.
It does not matter if your glass is half full or half empty as long as it does not leave a stain on the table.
To avoid a stain on the table place a coaster on your bottom.
Marriages are made in Heaven. Also thunder and lightning.
Is it ignorance or apathy that are destroying the world? I don't know and I don't care.
As one door shuts another one opens outwards and hits you in the face.
