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I know the story is about prepardness, and president Kimball said that the oil is not sharable (“How can one share obedience to the principle of tithing; a mind at peace from righteous living; an accumulation of knowledge? How can one share faith or testimony? How can one share attitudes or chastity…. Each must obtain that kind of oil for himself.”) But I can’t help but try to draw parallels to “he that loseth his life for my sake…” or the association to Christ paying the price for our sins in the garden. I see a hidden message that a truly Christlike virgin who had the needed oil would DESIRE to give it selflessly to another – that they may be “saved.” (One that would give his own life to save a friend.) Anyone ever have similar thoughts?
I was reading that the significance of oil as the symbol was that the oil represents either Christ (one’s acceptance of Christ) or the spirit. Olive oil as the specific type of oil could also represent the atonement. So, should one want to share it? Yes, but theoretically one should be sharing it well in advance of the bridegroom coming. I like to think of it as enlightenment. I’m not sure it’s possible to do a crash course in enlightenment. 
That’s a good point. I agree it doesn’t fit the purpose of the story to share – it’s just when I hear the 5 say “if we share with you we won’t have enough for ourselves” it strikes me as being less than perfectly selfless, and it seemed to contrast the other times Jesus taught selflessness. (Maybe they could have worded their answer in a different way?) I find it interesting that some Bible scholars think this parable may have been inserted by the church centuries after Christ’s death. Quote:I find it interesting that some Bible scholars think this parable may have been inserted by the church centuries after Christ’s death.
That could be said for a lot of what’s in there!Fwiw, I’ve heard some REALLY wacky “hidden messages” from the parables in my life, and they generally have been presented as Truth – you know, for those who “get it”. Given the extremes, I tend to limit the interpreting I do of parables to the obvious stuff. I don’t look for hidden meanings. In a nutshell, here’s why:
Jesus was teaching mostly common folk, and he was using images from their lives that they would understand. I don’t accept that he was “hiding” anything; I just think people who didn’t (and don’t) understand the image he used tend to look for ways to interpret them in ways that often aren’t consistent with the intended meaning. They get twisted, for example, by urbanites who don’t know crap about farming – or modernites who’ve never used an oil lamp with a wick that needs trimming, in an era when it was impractical to carry excess oil around on your person. The story makes absolute sense to someone who has used such a lamp in such a situation. (like a hike, where every ounce you carry is planned carefully)
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