Be Ready To Play

There are some lessons life teaches the hard way. Sometimes they arrive wrapped in sweat and bruises on a Friday night football field.

A friend of mine told me a story from when he played high school football. He was tough, competitive, the kind of kid who would try to tape a broken finger back in place and run right back into the huddle. One week he caught a terrible cold. Fever. Headache. The kind of sick where every breath feels like you’re trying to inhale through wet concrete. He probably should have stayed home.

But he didn’t.

He figured the coach would never accept that excuse. The coach had a mantra he repeated so often it may as well have been printed across the team jerseys:

“When you show up, be ready to play.”

No exceptions.

So my friend suited up that night. He played both offense and defense. He tried to keep up. He tried to ignore the fact that his head felt like it was about to burst.

By the middle of the third quarter, the world was spinning. He waved to the sideline and said, “Coach, I need a breather. Just give me a couple plays to recover.”

The coach nodded. He called someone else into the game. My friend sat down, helmet in his lap, gulping water. A few plays passed. Then the quarter ended. Then the fourth quarter rolled along. And he remained on the bench.

Not only that. The coach benched him for the next two games as well.

Eventually he marched up to the coach and explained himself.

“Coach, I was sick that night. I’m better now. I’m ready to play.”

The coach stared at him without blinking.

“You should’ve told me. I could’ve made other plans. When you show up, be ready to play.”

That line stuck with him. It stuck with me too. It isn’t about perfection. It’s about readiness. If you’re on the field, be all there.

Jesus once told a story that carries the same kind of weight. Not about football. About a wedding. A joyful celebration. A once-in-a-lifetime moment that everyone in the village wanted to be part of. In Matthew 25, Jesus tells us about ten young women waiting for a groom to arrive so the celebration could begin. Five were ready. Five weren’t.

Jesus wasn’t just giving wedding commentary. He was pointing directly to the Kingdom of Heaven. To His return. To the moment we will see the world’s true King face-to-face.

The central message is painfully simple:

The King is coming.

No one knows when.

Be ready when He arrives.

This parable isn’t meant to confuse us. Jesus didn’t hand us a riddle and say, “Good luck.” He painted a picture vivid enough that everyone listening would understand: some will be ready… some won’t… and the ones who aren’t ready will wish they were.

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>> Weddings in Jesus’ Time

Let’s step into the world Jesus describes.

A wedding in a small village was not a quiet affair with a printed invitation list and a tidy guest count managed by an anxious wedding planner. Weddings were community events. If you lived in the village, you were invited. Even if you didn’t know the family well, you went anyway. It was the highlight of the year.

Music. Dancing. The best food the families could afford. Children running and laughing. Friends reconnecting. Lanterns burning bright in the night air. Joy on every face.

And no getaway honeymoon. The newly married couple would host everyone for a weeklong celebration. Just imagine your living room filled with people for seven straight days… and all of them expecting to be fed!

One part of those weddings was particularly unpredictable. The groom decided when the ceremony would start. The bride’s attendants waited for his arrival, lamps ready, so they could escort the bride and groom to the wedding feast.

This meant waiting. Sometimes waiting late into the night. Sometimes waiting until guests wondered if the groom had cold feet. But this was part of the excitement. Part of the game.

One of the groom’s attendants would run ahead of him through the streets shouting, “The groom is coming! Get ready!” It was just enough notification to pick up your lamp, adjust your cloak, wipe your eyes, and join the procession.

But none of that would help if your lamp had gone out.

When the groom arrived, the doors would be shut behind the wedding party and the feast would begin. No late arrivals. No slipping in unnoticed. If you weren’t ready when the announcement came, you would miss the moment.

Jesus wants us to feel the energy of that story. The hope. The anticipation. The joy that comes from knowing a celebration is about to begin… and the rightness of the moment when the doors finally close and the feast begins.