Rewriting the Past

Published: Nov. 10, 2008, 3:22 a.m.

b'On the Sunday following the week the world changed with the election of Barack Obama, Clay Nelson wonders what might the relevancy of Matthew\'s parable of the Ten Virgins be? He suspects if Jesus had the chance to edit Matthew\'s Gospel he would probably toss it and write another that matched his vision and not Matthew\'s.\\n\\n"However, as happy as I am, I wish I wasn\\u2019t the preacher this morning because I\\u2019ve drawn another of Matthew\\u2019s (quote) parables (unquote) to preach on. With the world a very different place than it was last week, it is a little difficult to get excited about ten virgins worrying about a first century energy crisis while waiting for the same bridegroom. In such times, how irrelevant can the Gospel be? When was the last time anyone here lit an oil lamp? For that matter when was the last time you went to a wedding that had even one virgin? Frankly, it sounds a little like the beginning of a bad joke: \'Ten virgins walk into a bar\\u2026\'"\\n\\nFull text at http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=448&id=888.'