Natural Selection: The survival of the proactive.

One of the worst excuses I have ever heard occurred during the completion of an important project. Everyone was doing their part as planned and scheduled—except one individual. We reached the point where the entire team was waiting to hear from him so we could finish and close the project. Finally, he contacted us saying, “Sorry. we just had a baby. Can you wait a little longer?”

After hearing his “excuse,” many questions flooded my mind:

• Did the baby just appear from nowhere as a surprise?
• Did the wife go on a nine-month trip, and upon her arrival, suddenly appear with a baby?
• Is he the first father in the world, with no opportunity to ask other parents about the experience and plan accordingly?
• Was he thinking the mom’s growing belly would never result in a child?
• Had he never seen other people having kids and becoming busy?
• Isn’t nine months enough time to plan and adjust schedules to minimize collateral damage?

I didn’t have that baby. The other team members didn’t have that baby. So why should we be expected to help this poor planner who failed to pay attention during human reproduction cicle class?

The wedding light bearers

In first-century Jewish wedding customs, the virgins (unmarried female peers acting as bridesmaids) played an essential role that was both practically necessary and culturally significant for the wedding procession. Because weddings were major community events culminating in a late-night parade through dark streets, these women served three critical functions:

1. Guarding and Escorting the Procession. The “lamps” mentioned in the text were likely torches—long wooden poles topped with oil-soaked rags. The bridesmaids’ primary job was to light the path as the bridegroom traveled to the bride’s home to collect her, and then escort the couple back to the groom’s family estate for a multi-day feast. Without high-reaching torches, a large crowd navigating pitch-black, unlit ancient streets would face chaos, tripping hazards, or security threats.
2. Validating the Celebration (Social Proof). In ancient Near Eastern culture, a grand torchlit procession served as the public declaration that a marriage was legally and socially official. The number of attendants and the brightness of the lights directly reflected the honor of the families involved. A dim or dark procession would bring immense public shame to the bridegroom, signaling a lack of joy, respect, or community support for the union.
3. Serving as a Security Filter. Because these wedding feasts were massive neighborhood celebrations lasting up to seven days, strict security measures were required to keep out uninvited wedding crashers or thieves. The wedding party moved as a distinct, illuminated unit. Anyone trying to enter the groom’s courtyard in the dark without a burning torch would immediately be identified as an intruder, a threat, or someone who did not belong to the official party.

It is within this social context that Jesus tells the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-13. The story centers on ten girls—wedding light bearers—stationed in a strategic place, waiting to join the wedding caravan and fulfill their vital task.

Jesus emphasizes that five of the girls were proactive, while the other five were procrastinators. The five proactive ones had planned for future and unexpected demands, while the others focused only on immediate needs. Nevertheless, all ten had the same responsibility and waited together.

To Share or Not to Share

“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. “The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’” (Matthew 25:6-9)

So, why was the oil not shared? Some religious writers emphasize that sharing was impossible because the “oil represents spirituality,” which cannot be transferred. Even though this is a valid perspective, I believe it is limited and somewhat convenient.

The wise virgins’ response was not, “You know this oil cannot be shared, right?” On the contrary, the foolish virgins’ request (“Give us some of your oil”) and the wise ones’ reply (“No, there may not be enough”) clearly indicate that sharing was considered possible.

So, why did the wise girls firmly refuse the request to share, despite the appeal to kindness?

The Mission Is More Important

Above all else stands the mission of preaching the gospel. It is our responsibility to protect it—even from internal threats, whether intentional sabotage, laziness, or poor planning.

The wise virgins’ answer was clear: “There may not be enough for both you and us.” In other words, helping you now would cause the mission to collapse. You had your time to prepare; at this critical moment, the mission must proceed without you.

Sharing limited resources with those who failed to prepare jeopardizes the entire mission and ensures total failure. In this light, saying “no” is not selfish—it is a necessary act of preservation to protect the enterprise.

The decision not to share and to carry on with the mission highlights three important aspects:

1. The Principle of Resource Preservation. Sharing was mathematically possible but logically destructive. If the wise virgins had shared, all ten lamps would have burned out halfway through the procession. By refusing, they ensured that at least half of the mission would succeed. In emergency management and logistics, this is known as triage—prioritizing viable resources rather than diluting them until they become useless.
2. Safeguarding the Enterprise. The primary goal was to honor the bridegroom and light his path. The foolish virgins compromised that goal through neglect. Rewarding their poor planning with scarce resources would actively undermine the core objective. In any operational environment, protecting the final goal must take priority over accommodating individuals who failed to meet readiness standards.
3. Boundary Setting and Accountability. By directing the foolish virgins to “go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves,” the wise virgins enforced strict boundaries. They placed the full burden of consequences back on those responsible, refusing to enable bad behavior at the expense of the mission.

Procrastinators’ Collateral Damage

How many souls have not heard the gospel because the mission was hindered by efforts to aid procrastinators who left everything until the last minute?

Isn’t it tragic that the mission often loses focus due to the energy spent “rescuing and protecting” those who fail to perform adequately, yet remain on the team?

What would happen in today’s teams if someone firmly says “NO” to a request for help stemming from procrastination or inability to complete a task? Or if someone demands “exceptions” to bypass procedures they failed to follow on time? There would likely be an uproar of accusations:

• You are not a team player.
• We are all humans who fail.
• The team’s “unity” is more important.
• We have to be compassionate with each other.
• We are here to “help” each other.
• We can always make an exception.
• We should not be the bad guys.
• We share everybody’s burden.

After hearing such lectures, the “wise girls” would probably feel pressured to share their oil out of shame. Compassion rooted in misplaced peer pressure is difficult to resist. From then on, the wise would learn to remain silent and yield to incoherent demands to accommodate procrastinators and poor planners.

The Mission Is Above Us

However, in the parable, Jesus—the ultimate embodiment of compassion—does not offer any of these defensive justifications for the procrastinators. Instead, He reminds us that at some point, the door will be shut.

“So they went to buy the oil. But while they were on their way, the groom arrived. The bridesmaids who were ready went in with him to the wedding dinner. Then the door was shut. “Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’ “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’” (Matthew 25:10-12)

The mission of preaching the gospel is greater than any individual. We are called to be prepared to carry it out effectively under any circumstances. This includes the difficult but necessary task of protecting it from those whose procrastination or poor planning would hinder it at the moment of execution. We must prioritize the mission’s success over enabling unpreparedness.

Italo Osorio 2026

Photo by Kevin Finneran on Unsplash