The parable of the ten virgins ends with a scary verse, one my wife and I have talked about a lot.

The wedding banquet door is closed, and some late, unprepared attendants are outside knocking, trying to get in. From behind the closed door, the groom says, “I don’t know you,” and doesn’t let them in.

That’s pretty scary, especially when you realize the groom is Jesus and the parable is about the end times.

As I studied and grappled with what Jesus meant by “unknown” in this context, I must admit that something odd happened. The ten virgins morphed in my mind into ten FLASKS. They became living vessels that could hold the required oil, similar to how the Holy Spirit lives inside us.

In Part 1, I introduced Planet Flask and focused on the fact that all ten attendants said yes without knowing when the groom would come. But what happened after they said yes and before THAT DAY arrived?

All ten of them got torches.

That took time, effort, and preparation. But in the end, only five brought the extra oil they needed to make sure those torches stayed lit. At first, that can seem like a small difference, especially when Jesus calls five of them foolish over it.

But once I started picturing the large torches needed to light the way for a wedding procession, it didn’t seem so small anymore. Their job wasn’t merely to carry a torch. Their job was to be ready to keep it lit so they could help light the way.

And that raises a harder question for me: After saying yes to Christ, what does it mean to keep preparing, keep abiding, and actually be ready?

Topics:

• What happened after they said yes?
• Torches, not lamps
• Getting a torch took time
• Why were five called foolish?
• What readiness means for us

This episode is part of the “Scary Verses or Grace?” discussion of passages that sound scary at first, but surprisingly lead us toward grace as we grapple with them and seek the heart of Christ.