“He looked up and saw Lazarus next to Abraham. The rich man yelled, ‘Father, please send Lazarus with a drop of water on his finger to cool my tongue. I am in constant torture!’

“Abraham said, ‘Son, remember how you enjoyed all the good things of life, while Lazarus lived in misery? Now he lives in comfort while you live in agony. Besides, going there is impossible. A large chasm has been placed between us.’

“The rich man said, ‘Oh, Father Abraham, I beg you, send Lazarus to my brothers. He can tell them about this place of torment. I don’t want them to come here.’

“ ‘Son, they already have warnings. They have the writings of Moses and the prophets.’

“The man said, ‘That’s not enough! They will listen if someone comes back from the dead. Then they will repent.’

“Abraham said, ‘No, that’s not true. If they ignore the writings, they won’t listen, even if someone comes back from the dead.’ ”

Sometime later, Jesus told this parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like ten bridesmaids who went out to meet the bridegroom before the wedding. Five of them were wise and five were foolish. The bridegroom was late in coming, so the ten young ladies fell asleep and their lamps burned out. In the middle of the night, they heard the shout, ‘The bridegroom is coming!’

“The women woke up and tried to relight their lamps, but the oil had burned out. The five wise bridesmaids had brought extra oil, but the other five hadn’t. The five foolish girls said, ‘Please, give us some of your oil.’

“The others said, ‘No, there isn’t enough to share. Hurry, run and buy some more.’ So the foolish girls ran to get some more oil.

“While they were away, the bridegroom came. Everyone went into the house and the doors were closed and locked. When the foolish girls came back, they knocked on the door. ‘Please, let us in. Open the door.’

“Then, from inside the door they heard, ‘No! I don’t know you.’”

Jesus gave another example about the kingdom of heaven. He said, “It’s like a man walking through a field. He suddenly saw a valuable treasure! He knew he couldn’t take it off the property. So he sold everything he had and bought the field.

“It is also like a man who was in the market for valuable pearls. He suddenly saw one that was under priced and the owner didn’t know it’s true value. They settled on a price, then the man went and sold everything he had. When he raised enough money, he went and paid for the pearl.”