1 Jesus said to his followers, “This picture story is about what will happen in God’s family, at the time when I come back from heaven.* Luke 12:35

There were some young women that had a special job at a wedding ceremony. When the man getting married came to the house, they had to meet him, and they had to bring him into the house. Then they were all going to eat a big dinner with that man and his new wife. That wedding was at night time, so the young women had their oil lamps with them. 2-4 There were 10 of these young women. And 5 of them used their brains. They took jars of extra oil with them for their lamps. But the other 5 women were stupid. They didn’t take any extra oil with them.

5 That man getting married didn’t come for a long time, so all the young women got tired and went to sleep.

6 In the middle of the night, somebody shouted, ‘He is coming now. Come out to meet him.’

7 The 10 young women woke up. Then they got up quickly, and they tried to make their lamps burn bright. 8 The 5 stupid women that didn’t have any extra oil said to the other 5 women, ‘Give us some of your oil. Our lamps are going out.’

9 The other women said, ‘Sorry, we can’t do that. There is not enough oil for all of us. You have to go and buy some oil for yourselves.’

10 So those 5 stupid women went to buy some oil. While they were away, that man came to the house to get married. The 5 other women were ready, and they went with him into the house, and somebody locked the door. Then they all started to eat the wedding dinner.

11 Later, the 5 stupid women came back. They called to that man. They said, ‘Sir, please open the door for us.’

12 But he said, ‘Who are you? I don’t know you.’ ”* Luke 13:25

13 Then Jesus said, “It will be like that for you too. You don’t know when I will come back. You don’t know the day or the time. So you have to keep on waiting for me properly. You have to be ready for me when I come.”

31 Jesus said, “I am God’s special man, and one day, I will come back from heaven, and all God’s angel messengers will come with me. At that time, I will be really great and powerful. I will be the biggest boss, and I will sit down on the big boss’s seat.* Matthew 16:27; 19:28 32 All the people in the world, from every country, they will all come together in front of me. Then I will split all those people into 2 mobs. 33 I will put one mob on one side of me, and the other mob on the other side of me.

34 Then I will say to the people on my right-hand side, ‘Come on, you mob. My father is happy with you, so you can be in his family. A long time ago, at the time when he made the world, he made a good place for you. It is ready for you now. 35 You see, at one time I was hungry, and you gave me some food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me some water to drink. I was a stranger with nowhere to live, so you took me into your home. 36 In the cold weather time I didn’t have enough clothes to keep me warm, so you gave me some more clothes. I was sick, and you looked after me. I was in prison, and you visited me there.’

37 Then these good people will say, ‘Sir, when did we ever see you hungry, and give you food? Or thirsty, and give you water to drink? 38 When did we ever see you as a stranger, and take you into our homes? When did we ever see you short of clothes, and give you some more clothes? 39 When did we ever see you sick, or in prison, and visit you?’

40 I will say to them, ‘Listen. You did all these things to help my followers. They were not important people, but they were mine, so every time you helped them, you helped me at the same time.’

41 Then I will turn to the people on my left-hand side, and I will say to them, ‘Get away from me, you mob that God will punish. Go into that big fire that burns for ever. God made that fire for all the bad spirits and for their boss, the devil. And you have to go there too. 42 You see, I was hungry, but you didn’t give me anything to eat. I was thirsty, but you didn’t give me a drink. 43 I was a stranger with nowhere to live, but you didn’t take me into your home. I didn’t have enough clothes to keep me warm, but you didn’t give me any more clothes. I was sick, and in prison, but you didn’t visit me.’

44 Then they will say, ‘But, sir, when did we ever see you with those problems and not help you? We never saw you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or short of clothes, or sick, or in prison.’

45 And I will say to them, ‘Listen. You didn’t do anything to help my friends. They were not important people, but they were my people. Every time you said no to helping them, at that same time you were saying no to helping me.’

46 Then that bad mob will go to the bad place, and God will punish them for ever. But the good mob will go to live in the good place for ever.”* Daniel 12:2