Pastor's Corner: Have you checked your oil?

This coming Sunday's gospel reading is the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids found in Matthew 25:1-13. Here's the takeaway: What can one do to avoid being embarrassed like the five bridesmaids whose lamps ran out of oil, or - to use a modern metaphor - whose smartphone batteries were deader than disco? To fully understand the power of this parable, it's necessary to review how Matthew arranges Jesus' red-letter words of the two previous chapters: 23 and 24.

Chapter 23 is full of stinging denunciations against the religious leaders of his day who "do not practice what they preach" (23:3). "Woe to...