A story about being ready for God
(From the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, verses 1-13)
Jesus knew that he was in danger. He knew that important people in Jerusalem wanted to put him in jail or kill him. He knew that his close friends were scared. He wanted to help them get ready for whatever would happen to him.
So he took them to a quiet place outside the city of Jerusalem called the Mount of Olives. Jesus liked going to the Mount of Olives because it was a good place to rest and pray, away from the noise of the city.
One of Jesus' friends asked, "When will God's kingdom be on earth, like it already is in heaven? And how can we get ready for that?"
Here is what Jesus told them:
"The kingdom of heaven is like this:
A man and a woman decided to get married. Each of them began to get ready.
The bridegroom made plans to go to the bride's house and bring her to live with him in his house. He got the place where they would live together all ready for her. He invited all his friends to the wedding. He figured out what he would need for the trip.
But the bridegroom didn't tell the bride when he would come to get her.
So, the bride got ready, too, as best as she could. She began making a special dress to wear. She packed what she would need to make a home with the bridegroom. She invited all her friends to the wedding. And she asked 10 of her closest friends to help her. "Go to the outskirts of town and watch for my bridegroom. Stay all night, if you need to. When you see him, come quickly and tell me, so that I may be ready for him."
Her 10 friends did what she asked. It was already starting to get dark when they set out. So they all took oil lamps with them to light their way to the lookout spot, and to light their way back to town when the bridegroom showed up.
The bridegroom got delayed. It began to get really late and really dark. All the bride's friends began to get tired. Soon they were all sound asleep.
Around midnight, one of them got up to go to the bathroom. Off in the distance, she saw the bridegroom coming. "Oh my gosh! He's here!" she shouted. All the bridesmaids woke up quickly and got their lamps ready.
But 5 of them discovered that their flames had burned out. They hadn't brought enough oil with them.
"Quick – give us some of your oil!" they said to the 5 whose lamps were burning strongly. (The other 5 were smart. They had planned ahead and brought extra oil.)
But the wise bridesmaids said, "No! If we give you our oil, all of our lamps will go out before we get to town. Go buy some oil for yourselves right away."
And so the 5 foolish bridesmaids stumbled into town in the dark to look for more oil. Of course, at that time of night, the man who sold oil was sound asleep. By the time he got out of bed, found oil for them, and sold it to them, the wedding banquet had already started.
The 5 foolish bridesmaids knocked loudly on the door where the wedding party was underway. "Lord, lord," they shouted, "please open the door for us!"
But the bridegroom called to them from inside the party room, "Sorry, I do not know you."
Jesus told his friends: "Keep your eyes open. Stay alert. You never know when God is going to show up."
Questions to think and pray about:
I wonder what you think about Jesus' story. What is the best part? What is the worst part? Why do you think he told this story to his best friends?
I wonder if you have ever been left out of something fun and important.
I wonder if you see signs of God's special love in your life.
I wonder what you can do to help others see God, too.