Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Lord’s coming
13 Now concerning those who have fallen asleep: we don’t want you to remain in ignorance about them, my dear family. We don’t want you to have the kind of grief that other people do, people who don’t have any hope. 14 For, you see, if we believe that Jesus died and rose, that’s the way God will also, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
15 Let me explain (this is the word of the Lord I’m speaking to you!). We who are alive, who remain until the Lord is present, will not find ourselves ahead of those who fell asleep. 16 The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shouted order, with the voice of an archangel and the sound of God’s trumpet. The Messiah’s dead will rise first; 17 then we who are alive, who are left, will be snatched up with them among the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And in this way we shall always be with the Lord. 18 So comfort each other with these words.
The wise and foolish girls
25 “Then,” continued Jesus, “the kingdom of heaven will be like ten girls who each took their own torches and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were silly, and five were sensible. 3 The silly ones took their torches, but didn’t take oil with them. 4 The sensible ones took oil, in flasks, along with their torches.
5 “The bridegroom took his time coming, and they all nodded off and went to sleep. 6 In the middle of the night a shout went up: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come on and meet him!’ 7 Then all the girls got up and trimmed the wicks of their torches.
8 “The silly ones said to the sensible ones, ‘Give us some of your oil! Our torches are going out!’
9 “But the sensible ones answered, ‘No! If we do that, there won’t be enough for all of us together! You’d better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’
10 “So off they went to buy oil. But, while they were gone, the bridegroom arrived. The ones who were ready went in with him to the wedding party, and the door was shut.
11 “Later on the other girls came back. ‘Master, Master!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’
12 “ ‘I’m telling you the truth,’ he said, ‘I don’t know you.’
13 “So keep awake! You don’t know the day or the hour.”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.