The Foolish Virgins

They were all waiting.

All ten of them.

All with lamps.

All expecting the bridegroom.

Five of them were wise and brought extra oil in their flasks.

Five were foolish and brought nothing extra.

The bridegroom was delayed.

They all grew drowsy.

They all slept.

At midnight the cry came: The bridegroom is here. Come out to meet him.

All ten woke up.

All ten trimmed their lamps.

The foolish ones said: Give us some of your oil. Our lamps are going out.

The wise ones said they couldn't. There wouldn't be enough for both.

They said: Go to the dealers and buy for yourselves.

While they were going to buy, the bridegroom came.

Those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast.

The door was shut.

Afterward the other virgins came.

They said: Lord, lord, open to us.

He answered: Truly I say to you, I do not know you.

They had not been opposed to the bridegroom.

They had been waiting for him.

They were not enemies. They were unprepared.

And the door was shut for them the same as it would have been for anyone who was absent.

The dividing line was not affection. Not intention.

It was readiness.

The oil that ran out.

The flask they hadn't thought to fill.

The small act of preparation they had skipped.

The cost of it was the door.

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