The Parable of the Ten Virgins 5:
Readiness vs. Preparedness

What does it mean to be ready for the Last Days? How do we get ready? How must we be ready? 

In 1962, Pastor Hamill, then President of the Pakistan Union of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, came to my school in the foothills of the Himalayas to give a week of prayer. He told us in no uncertain terms that we were living in the last days, that the end of time would occur within 10 years. 

This was 60 years ago. I’ve lived my entire life thinking that it is the End of Time, that Jesus is coming soon. I’ve read about it. I’ve heard hundreds of sermons about it. I’ve sung songs in church about it. The End of Time has penetrated all my waking hours. As a young man, I even dreamed about it. 

But this punctuation, this penetration, of both my sleeping and waking hours had another theme as well. The question which always accompanied was this: Are you ready for the End of Time? Are you ready for the second coming? Are you ready for the end of the earth? Are you ready for judgment? Are you ready? Are you prepared? Are you equipped? Are you primed for these events to occur? 

But what should you be ready for? What does it mean to be ready? What is implied, of course, is that my spiritual condition is buffed up and shining, that my life is in order, my character clear and clean, my sins  forgiven, and my name is written in the book of life. In my youth, it all made a lot of sense: Be good, go to heaven; Be bad, go to hell. It was pretty straightforward, what “being ready” actually meant. No wonder it was so frightening! 

I was of course a normal teenage boy—selfish, self-centered, with wayward thoughts and actions. There was no chance in hell (so to speak) of me going to heaven. Are you ready? Are you prepared? What does it mean to be prepared? Is being ready and being prepared the same thing? There seems to be some kind of perhaps quantitative difference.

A YouGov online poll in 2015 asked Americans how the world would end. Respondents had varying ideas, from nuclear war, to a direct act of God, to a zombie apocalypse. Two-thirds said they had given little or no thought to preparing for the end of time. When asked to elaborate on the most likely end of the world scenario, respondents showed off their partisan differences and some similarities. Nuclear war, at 28%, was the number one answer to “How do you think the end of the world will occur?”; 20% didn’t think that there would be an apocalypse at all, 16% said the apocalypse would occur because of climate change, and 16% thought that it would come as the Judgement Day of God. 

Separated out by political affiliation: 27% of Democrats thought the world would end because of climate change and 12% said it would end with Judgment Day; Independents didn’t believe there would be an apocalypse; and 36% of Republicans said that the world would end with a nuclear war and Judgment Day. More Democrats than Republicans felt there wouldn’t be an apocalypse at all. By race, 30% of white Americans said nuclear war and 15% Judgment Day. Black Americans said nuclear war (23%) and Judgment Day (21%); Hispanics said that the most likely reason for the end of the world would be climate change, and Judgment Day was only 18%. Uniquely, Hispanic Americans top apocalyptic concern was climate change. This somewhat matches the findings of a 2014 Pew Research survey, in which Hispanic respondents were a lot more likely than their black and white counterparts to acknowledge global warming as real and to say it was caused by human activity. 

One concern, however, that was remarkably consistent among all these groups, was the zombie apocalypse: Regardless of how the results were stratified, 2% of all groups were concerned about zombies destroying the world. But there was really no need to worry about it, they said, because the undead wouldn’t be able to handle natural predators, heat, cold, day to day damage from trying to eat everyone, natural barriers that would limit their movement, and guns. These hurdles would likely limit a zombie outbreak so they felt it would never be much of a threat to humankind. But if anyone is truly concerned about the zombie apocalypse, you can ease your concerns by going on to the internet and take a zombie avoidance simulation which shows that finding refuge in a rural area could guarantee survival. 

What does it mean to ask: “Are you ready for the end of the world?” If you want to be ready, what steps would you take to get ready? What would you do? What would you say? And as you sit here today, do you actually feel ready? How confident are you that you are ready for the end of the world? 

The theme of preparedness come to light in the parable of the Ten Virgins we’ve been studying. The five wise virgins are apparently prepared and the five foolish virgins are apparently unprepared. But what are they prepared for? And what are the foolish unprepared for? Are they prepared for the wait? Are they prepared for the arrival of the bridegroom? (It doesn’t seem so—they’re all asleep when the bridegroom arrives.) Are they prepared for the judgment, where the bridegroom says: “I don’t know who you are”? 

Every one of them was a virgin. All of them had a lamp. All of them had wicks, all of them had oil. All of them fell asleep. All of them woke up. All of them saw the bridegroom. All of them trimmed their lamps. All of them saw that the wedding was just about ready to start. But for some reason, the foolish were worried about their oil. They judged themselves as not being prepared. The key difference between those who were ready and those who were not ready seems to be worry about their oil. The foolish judged themselves as being somehow inadequate because of their oil, whereas the wise seemed to judge themselves as being adequate. 

How do you come to not worry about your oil? The problem is not with the oil itself. The wait is over. The bridegroom is here. It’s time for the wedding feast to begin. So why are the foolish not at peace with the amount of oil that they have? They’re not at peace with the Holy Spirit of grace. They judge themselves somehow as unworthy. Their solution is to get more oil. The bridegroom’s solution is that the party is ready so let’s get the party started. 

How do you prepare for grace? What does it mean to be ready for grace? If we are saved by grace, “and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8) then the readiness about which we have been speaking cannot be holiness, cannot be righteousness, but must be somehow being ready for grace. Like myself as a boy, foolishness means that you believe it’s your job to take things into your own hands to get them right. But the oil seems to be the province and the work of the bridegroom, not yours. To be ready, to be prepared, is to answer grace with grace. To be ready is to accept grace. But grace is surprising, unexpected, and lacks the cause and effect and the quid pro quo which is so much a part of the human condition. 

There is a story in the Bible that reads like a parable of God’s amazing grace and illustrates our response and our readiness to grace. There’s much to be said about the story. I’m not going to spend too much time on the story. It could be dissected more deeply, maybe at a future time. It’s a story about David and the revealed kindness he shows to Mephibosheth. We see in this remarkable story God’s kindness toward you and me. Although it’s a biblical story that has a historical precedent, it functions as a parable to teach us the grace of God and the wonderful surprise that it’s not too good to be true.

  One day David asked, “Is there anyone left of Saul’s family? If so, I’d like to show him some kindness in honor of Jonathan.”

 It happened that a servant from Saul’s household named Ziba was there. They called him into David’s presence. The king asked him, “Are you Ziba?”

  “Yes sir,” he replied.

 The king asked, “Is there anyone left from the family of Saul to whom I can show some godly kindness?”

 Ziba told the king, “Yes, there is Jonathan’s son, lame in both feet.”

 “Where is he?”

 “He’s living at the home of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.”

 King David didn’t lose a minute. He sent and got him from the home of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.

 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan (who was the son of Saul), came before David, he bowed deeply, abasing himself, honoring David.

 David spoke his name: “Mephibosheth.”

“Yes sir?”

 “Don’t be frightened,” said David. “I’d like to do something special for you in memory of your father Jonathan. To begin with, I’m returning to you all the properties of your grandfather Saul. Furthermore, from now on you’ll take all your meals at my table.”

 Shuffling and stammering, not looking him in the eye, Mephibosheth said, “Who am I that you pay attention to a stray dog like me?”

 David then called in Ziba, Saul’s right-hand man, and told him, “Everything that belonged to Saul and his family, I’ve handed over to your master’s grandson. You and your sons and your servants will work his land and bring in the produce, provisions for your master’s grandson. Mephibosheth himself, your master’s grandson, from now on will take all his meals at my table.” Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.

 “All that my master the king has ordered his servant,” answered Ziba, “your servant will surely do.”

 And Mephibosheth ate at David’s table, just like one of the royal family. Mephibosheth also had a small son named Mica. All who were part of Ziba’s household were now the servants of Mephibosheth.

 Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, taking all his meals at the king’s table. He was lame in both feet. (2 Samuel 9, The Message bible)

David’s kindness to Mephibosheth denotes God’s grace that seeks us, welcomes us, and enriches us through Jesus Christ. In the chapter preceding this we see that David has had his way with the Philistines and is in a place in his life where he does not need anything. But in this chapter, the one who did not need anything began searching for someone to show covenant kindness toward. Verse 3 makes it clear that David understood that this kindness was a derivative of the kindness of God. In other words, David wanted to be kind in order to imitate God, who was a kind hearted sovereign seeking and searching for someone to be gracious unto. 

The external reason why David sought someone out to show kindness was because of Mephibosheth’s father. His name was Jonathan. Jonathan and David were best friends. Jonathan loved David so much that he even protected him from Saul’s wrath and supported his ascension to the throne of Israel, even though he was Saul’s son and the rightful heir to the throne.

In 1 Samuel 18 and 19, David and Jonathan enter into a covenant with one another. David promised to be kind to Jonathan’s house after this promotion and Jonathan’s death. In 2 Samuel 9 David seeks, as we’ve just read, someone from the house of Jonathan to whom he can show the loyal love of God. David was gracious to Mephibosheth for the sake of another—that is, for the sake of Jonathan; God is gracious to ask for the sake of another—that is, Jesus. 

Ziba was Saul’s servant who administered his estate. David summoned him and inquired about the surviving members of Saul and Jonathan’s family. Ziba singled out Mephibosheth even though there were others whom he might have mentioned, but he did not say Mephibosheth’s name. In verse 3, Ziba introduced Mephibosheth simply by his condition: Crippled in his feet. According to 2 Samuel 4:4 Mephibosheth was just five years old when Saul and Jonathan were killed in battle. When the news of their death reached the royal family they fled. Mephibosheth’s nurse dropped him as they fled, leaving him permanently crippled. It seems that Ziba reports Mephibosheth’s condition to say that it was not worth David’s time to mess with him. This crippled man could neither help nor hurt the king. 

But undeterred by Ziba’s unflattering descriptions, David asked: “Where is he?” and Ziba reported Mephibosheth was hiding out in the home of benefactors in Lo Debar, which means “no pasture.” We do not know much about where Lo Debar is but scholars agree that the name was meant to indicate that this was a barren, unfruitful, inhospitable place. Mephibosheth was a crippled man from a fallen dynasty living in a horrible environment. David reached out to him in kindness and brought him from Lo Debar. 

That is what grace does for us. God reaches us in spite of ourselves: 

 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9) 

The story again raises the question, what does it mean to be ready? When David’s soldiers knocked at the door of Mephibosheth and carried him to Jerusalem, he must have seen his whole life flash before his eyes. He knew what was in store when a new king arose: The family of the previous dynasty would be put to death so there would be no revolts or rebellions later. Mephibosheth must have entered David’s presence like a cornered enemy, but David embraced him like a long-lost friend. 

David’s welcome teaches us two important things about grace: (1) Grace means that you don’t have to be afraid of God, and (2) grace means that you don’t have to be ashamed of your own weaknesses. Can you imagine the sense of terror that must have consumed Mephibosheth when he met King David? He thought he would be brutally tortured and perhaps executed, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. Whatever was about to happen was about to happen. Imagine his surprise when King David said to him: “Do not fear, for I will show you kindness,” David’s kindness removed Mephibosheth’s fear, and God’s grace does the same for us. In this we can confidently say like the Psalmist:

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom should I fear?
The Lord is the defense of my life;
Whom should I dread? (Psalm 27:1)

Grace also means that you do not have to be ashamed of your weaknesses. David promised to show Mephibosheth kindness. David vowed to restore Saul’s estate to Mephibosheth and David assured Mephibosheth a permanent place at the royal table. These overwhelming gifts made Mephibosheth skeptical. He says: “What is your servant that you should show regard to him who is such a dead dog as I am?” One of the most degrading things you could call a person in David’s day was a dog, and for a person to call himself a dog would be a great act of self deprecation that expressed humble submission before his superior authority. 

But note that Mephibosheth does not just call himself a dog, he calls himself a dead dog. That’s how Mephibosheth saw himself: As less than nothing, worse than the worst, lower than rock bottom. But that’s not how David saw him. And that’s not how God sees you. 

There is a sociological concept called the theory of the looking-glass self. It suggests that we have a way of seeing ourselves through the eyes of other people and we incorporate their views into our own self concept. This is why so many of us have such a perverted view of life—we see ourselves only through the lens of other people’s opinion of us. But grace leads us to look at ourselves through the lens of God’s amazing grace. 

We don’t have to be ashamed of what we see. Faith is to accept God’s acceptance of you. Are you ready to be ready? You may be crippled and living in Lo Debar, but God loves you and there’s nothing that can make God love you more—or less: 

 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

So how can we be prepared for the surprise of God’s amazing grace? (Surprise is one of the key elements of grace.) What is the relationship between being ready, being prepared, and God’s grace? 

Jay: I would compare the concept of being ready with this passage: 

 But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.   

 “Watch out, stay alert; for you do not know when the appointed time is. It is like a man away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay alert. Therefore, stay alert—for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— so that he does not come suddenly and find you asleep. What I say to you I say to all: ‘Stay alert!’” (Mark 13: 32-37)

It seems that being prepared means doing the task assigned to you. The master of the house has assigned tasks to each of his servants. He’s got the doorman and presumably other servants also  assigned to complete this task. To be asleep is the opposite of doing the task you are assigned. So to me, it seems as if preparedness is for something about which you have no idea when it’s going to happen. 

It seems to be associated with a task that is continuous, not a one time task. It’s not like you do it and you’re done. It must be continuous because the Second Coming can occur at any time. To me, it’s what you are, it’s something that you’re always doing. It’s being on what Doaists call the Way, always flowing. 

To relate this to the parable: It seems that the wise virgins have arrived at a state of being where they know that they are prepared, that they have been doing the task, that they have been living their life. The foolish want to try to discern whether or not they have been doing the task, whether they have been doing enough of it, whether they have done it to the standard of the bridegroom. For the wise, it just seems to be a matter of “This is what we do, this is who we are,” and therefore they’re prepared.

C-J: I liken the story to the book of Daniel. When Daniel was really a child—he hadn’t even come into puberty yet—he was taken captive, and was unprepared for all the things that happened to him. And yet, during that process of being groomed for the palace life, which took years to learn all the things that were required of him, he could have been dismissed at any point as being unsuitable. 

But as he grew in the tasks he was being groomed for, something else happened to Daniel, and what he learned was relationship with God. And the first relationship you have with God is that the only way I can grow in God is to allow myself to be vulnerable. I must be willing to be molded and shaped.

The only thing Daniel probably had was the oral traditions, the rituals of what this faith, this way of life, would look like. I don’t think in my flesh I could ever prepare to be in the presence of the Divine. No matter what I did, I would always be unworthy. But then again, when God touched me, I was a dead dog, When God looks at us, he doesn’t see us in the condition that we are. He sees us in the intention of his divine creation from the beginning. He always sees that intention and purpose in us and all he asks is for us to say “Thy will be done.” 

In that process, Daniel grew, whether he was in the den of the lions, the furnace, refusing the king’s direct order (for which could be killed). He found favor due to the fruit of his conviction to walk and trust God in all things. So I don’t think it’s anything we do in the flesh. I think it’s the relationship of submission, and being vulnerable before God trusting, unquestionably trusting.

I just want to address what Jason said regarding the tasks God has given us in this life, in this segment of time. I do agree with Jason that God gives us very clear ministry. The task for us is will we embrace it and live the fullness of the intention of the Divine? Am I going to put my flavor on it or am I going to truly be that vessel, yielded to God’s purpose and intention?  I think we look to people in light of that ministry, in faith, what we expect from them the high standard we hold for them. 

Our political leaders, our social leaders, teachers, people who live and act to serve us—in medicine, education, even people who pick up our garbage—the standard that each of those have in ministry. I agree that God gives us a heart, not just a circumstance, to serve. It may start out as a circumstance—”I don’t know how I got here, I never ever wanted to grow up and be this, but God just seemed to orchestrate my life and changed my heart.” But we do. I believe that God has given us a purpose in this time, in this season, and when we embrace that and become servants unto the Lord that’s when the really good work happens.

Dewan: Jesus asked us to preach the gospel. Christian leaders have enough knowledge but they don’t have wisdom. Jesus said we are the chosen people because we have a unique and urgent message to share with the world, as did ancient Israel. It’s unique because we have the complete system of truth on Earth. It’s urgent because the clock is ticking: The second coming of Jesus is very soon. But we are not spiritually superior to others.

Reinhard: The entire book of Proverbs is about wisdom and foolishness. That Jesus chose virgins seems to me irrelevant. Virginity was not the point. He could as well have used 10 adult males. The key point of the parable is about neglect and negligence. I think God wants to remind us not to be negligent, especially in the end time. Several parables are about the second coming and how to live a Christian life. Most of this parable is talking about us, as the people waiting. Other parables, such as the five talents, highlight the role of the master, not just the people who receive the talents from him. Parables about how to live a good Christian life include the prodigal son, who possesses characteristics of all of us—wanting a blissful life, wanting to spend money and have no responsibilities. 

The servant with one talent didn’t want to do anything, like he was lazy. The other two servants put them talents to good use. God gives us gifts to grow for his purpose and to glorify him. All-in-all, these parables teach us how to live. In the 21st century it is rather bad if we cannot live the way God wants. In olden times they did not have the advantage of a detailed history of the world to show them the right way to live a spiritual life. We need to saturate our minds with God’s word. We don’t have to worry about the End Time if we preach the gospel. As long as we are in God’s hands, we’re going to be okay.

The human cannot grasp all the lessons of some of Jesus’ parables—such as farm workers who work only one hour yet get the same salary as those who work ten hours, God wants to show that salvation is for everyone. Difficult though it may be, we should just accept what Jesus teaches. After talking with the rich young ruler, Jesus told the disciples it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get through the gates of Heaven. Humans find such things hard to believe but in his love for us God wants to teach that his gifts of mercy and grace are available for us and that we have a responsibility to share them with other people. 

The same applies to the parable about God and the sheep on the left and goats on the right. Whatever people do—or don’t do—for their fellow humans, they also do (or don’t do) for God—visit people in prison, clothe the naked, and so on. All the parables are about what our attitude is supposed to be in our life today. 

The parables remind us to be alert. The devil is in the parable of the wheat and tares and the parable of the seed. We really have to watch out, not be distracted, and live the Christian life in preparation for the end time.

C-J: I told a woman recently all that God requires of us, including obedience. Her response was: “I always had a problem with that.” Nothing was said about the things we are to check off. I think that if we come from the place of “This is what I have to surrender, and I must behave this way,” we miss the mark, if I’m so caught up in my pride of “Well, I don’t do this and I didn’t do that and I followed God’s word here.” 

All these parables are speaking of a relationship, and relationship can only come through the experience of the Holy Spirit coming upon us, and transforming us, sometimes like Paul, who thought he was serving God in a very dramatic way and others. Not every Christian had the experience that Daniel did in the lions den. They were mauled and eaten for the fun, the entertainment of the Romans and others. So it isn’t a level playing field. We have been given much, and God is constantly revealing to us the nature of God and His divine will. 

But there’s this whole other collective that don’t want to get in that line. Not because they don’t want the relationship—they have no understanding of the relationship. But they see that long list. They see the confinement, we see the liberty.

Don: Are they ready?

C-J: I don’t know, because I am not the Lord. I cannot look at that and say, “You should have done this because you had access to it, and you denied me.” I just know that in the process of learning and growing, God has never done denied me growth if I was willing to embrace it or understand what I was looking at. There, again, it only comes by the Holy Spirit. Who can deny the Holy Spirit when it comes upon an individual? I know I didn’t, there was no way I could deny that. I don’t know how that works. But God does it. 

I don’t like it when people say “You got to do this or you’re gonna perish.” I would much rather be the modeling of the Divine, through a life where I get beat up but I stand up and I choose God. Or that when I speak, it resonates within them about not a religion, or a faith and a series of do’s and don’ts, but Wow. You don’t usually see that. A woman said to me recently: “Connie, you are so open.” It’s because I don’t exclude. 

I’m very conscious of the language I use when I’m talking in mixed company about spiritual things. How can I be a witness of God’s love and availability if I say, “We Christians don’t believe that. I mean, you have the right to do what you think is good for you, but I think you’re really leaving out a spiritual life and it should look like this.” I just don’t think God is like that. God has never met me like that. God has always been extremely generous. “Okay, Connie. Let’s do that lesson again.”

Kiran: Only two people in the Bible are like Jesus, unblemished: Joseph and Daniel. Daniel is a great guy and went through a lot. Yet when the angel Gabriel came to him, Daniel prostrated himself and said he was unclean, dead. I would have a different experience. I’m not praying three times a day, I’m not fasting, I’m not going against a king who would kill me for sticking to my vegetarian practices. If the angel of the Lord came to me I would be able to look him in the face and think I did right. That’s foolishness. 

Sometimes we don’t even have the concept of the holiness of God. The foolish virgins thought that they can go buy the oil and then come back and be ready. Anything that we do is not sufficient. But on the other hand, accepting grace is also not easy because it means we are admitting that there isn’t anything that I can do to change myself, and coming to that conviction means I have to personally admit that there is nothing I can do, that I’m a fallen human being, and I tried and I failed. Accepting defeat is not easy.

Don: So what does it mean to be ready then?

Kiran: To be ready is to accept that I’m a broken man, and I need the grace of God and nothing else. Giving up my own efforts to fix myself and relying on God. That being so, I think I’m ready, because I know I can’t fix myself! 

Sharon: I’m wondering if we can overthink this. I don’t mean to dumb down the conversation, but I come back to “Until we become like little children” we won’t be ready. I’ve got four dogs here. When the mistress of the house comes, they’re ready. We’re so far from the mark of holiness, but in the simplicity of our everyday walk with Jesus, I just think we’re ready. 

The grace is abundant. We’re living the abundant life with grace, little children waiting on him, serving him in whatever haphazard way we can, and in our naivety just trusting that whenever he calls us, his robe of righteousness has got us covered. 

The older I get—the closer my mortality approaches—the more the idea of readiness resonates. It could be any day that I need to be ready. But I don’t know that I can ever really understand the complexity of that readiness, or the complexity of the Holy Spirit or the complexity of grace. But what I can do is just live it, and walk with my hand in his, as a naive child, knowing that he’s prepared a place for me in heaven and that he will come when he’s ready and take me. 

Meanwhile, I love him for that and it’s this love relationship that makes that complexity and the overwhelmingness of the intellectual comprehension bearable—just to be grabbed in a childlike loving, caring relationship.

Don: Based on the discussion on readiness, what do I have to do to prepare to be ready? Is there a sense in which preparing and being ready are different? Or are they the same thing?

C-J: I think we might have to prepare for the mission as Jason described it. But being ready is really being vulnerable before God and saying, “O wretched man that I am, for your mercy is unlimited, and I receive you—please receive me. I know that you will have mercy on me.” An infant can’t go before God and say: “What is my task?” That’s in the hand of God, to use that child’s life, however briefly, as a testimony of what the mission was for that life. 

For people in leadership roles at every level—a parent, a leader—that’s the preparation. We hope we have good teachers, good mentors, that we study to be approved. But the rest is in God’s hands. It is his to do his will with. It’s very humbling. I cannot prepare for that. That is his grace. I can prepare for a task.

Jay: Readiness and preparedness paint two very different mental pictures to me. Readiness is, for me, a state of being. “I’m ready.” It’s either as Kiran has described it—a realization that there’s nothing I can do and it’s God’s grace, or as Sharon has described it—a childlike state. But preparedness derives an action that needs to be accomplished by me. 

It’s a word you see a lot when you look at writings about the second coming: Being prepared, preparing for the second coming. When you research the parable of the 10 Virgins you find that many people relate it to being about being prepared: You’re wise because you’re prepared and you’re foolish because you’re unprepared. Prepared invokes a “What have I done?” question. 

It’s not completely off the mark for me, because my personal belief is that beyond a state of being of childlike and grace accepting, there seems to be something we have to do with grace, that there’s a call or a calling or a command for us to do something with the grace we’ve been given. You see that in the feeding of the hungry and giving water to those who are thirsty and so on. 

There seems to be something about doing something with grace to the point where it becomes a state of being because it’s just what you are. Grace just flows, it just moves through you. It is what it is, it’s what you get. The word readiness and preparedness are not the same for me.

Carolyn: I think preparedness is a pathway for the relationship with Jesus. In accepting the grace, people want to know how and want to have help leading them in the pathway, and having the confidence to come boldly and say, “Thank You, Lord, I have this grace.” But I think preparedness kind of comes with preparing to make sure our hearts are aligned with the Lord and with the Holy Spirit.

Don: There is one additional feature of this parable that that we’ve not wrestled with, namely why is it that when the foolish virgins end up back at the wedding hall, the bridegroom says “I don’t know who you are”? The idea about knowing God or being known by God is something that we need to wrestle with a little bit more. It’s also interesting that in the two subsequent parables (which we haven’t studied yet but will begin next week) we see that the concept of knowing God is a key point in the judgment.

One of the things that the man with one talent does is to bury it. When the homeowner comes back, he gives a long soliloquy: “This is what I know about you. I know that you’re a hard man, I know that you reap where you don’t sow etc, etc”. This idea that “I know a lot about you and I know how you behave and how you act, therefore, this is what I did” is contrasted with the next parable, where Jesus says that “when you’ve done something unto the least of these, my brethren, you’ve done it to me.” 

There is a knowledge factor here that that is key to understanding something about judgment. We’re going to talk about that next week in relation to why God doesn’t know the foolish virgins at the door—why the bridegroom says “I don’t know you.” There’s always surprise at the judgment: Those who think that they’re “in” discover that they they’ve never been known by God, while those who have no idea that they’ve been serving God discover that God knows them rather well. We’ll work on that as we think about judgment as part of the end of time events.

David: As the resident Daoist I absolutely agree  with Kiran that you just have to accept your nature. It is the way, the Dao, that you just follow as it is presented to you. I agree too with Sharon that it’s a matter of just accepting that “it is what it is and you are who you are.” You rely on God’s grace, the Daoist Way.

Don: it’s a pretty reassuring concept.

David: It is! As Sharon said, perhaps we’re overanalyzing it. Everybody is so frightened. I see no reason to be frightened. 

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