The Barefoot Evangelist

Read Matthew 25:1-12 with your family.

In the last chapters of the Gospel of Matthew, there are a lot of parables telling us that some will be left out of God’s promise. That has made Christians over our history think we are better than everyone else, and that is wrong.

The people hearing these stories for the first time knew they were not better people, they just wanted to trust that God loved them. They grew up in a world where they were always told God only loves the people with power. The writer of the Gospels wanted people to know it was actions and how we loved that mattered to God, not how much we owned or how much money we had. They needed to be told that God loved them.

We know God loves us and everyone else in this world, and that no one is being left out of the promise for a new world with God.

The take-away lesson from this story is to always be ready, do the things Jesus asked us to do. Be ready by making sure everyone has had enough to eat. Be ready by making sure everyone has a safe place to sleep, like the ten young women in this story. Be ready by making sure we take care of sickness and injuries to each others bodies.

All of us will be part of God’s world, that is always the promise. But by living the way Jesus wants us to live, we will not only be ready, we will be helping that world happen.