This parable has to be one of the least liked in the whole Bible. It speaks stern words to those who are not ready for the moment of truth — and it leaves uncomfortably vague just what "being ready" might entail.

To understand what Matthew interprets Jesus to mean by readiness for the final judgment, we have to read his whole gospel, and in particular the final third of this chapter, that famous scene of the sheep and the goats, which we'll be reading in another two weeks. But already today there is an important clue to how we can be ready for judgment, in the centrality to this parable of the symbol of a supply of oil.

Oil was an essential commodity to the people of Jesus' day. The beautiful silver-grey leaves and gnarled trunks of olive trees were visible everywhere in Palestine, becau…