But on this occasion, when the appointed hour came at last and the bridesmaids were all ready with their lamps, the bridegroom did not come.  So, tired out with the long day and its excitement, they posted someone to keep watch for them while they went to sleep.  And “at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look!  Here is the bridegroom!  Come out to meet him’ ” (NRSV, Matthew 25:6).

It was then, as they hurriedly awoke, that five of the bridesmaids found that their lamps were going out for they had not allowed for the bridegroom’s being so late.  And so, while they went to get more oil from elsewhere, the remaining five, who had had the foresight to bring a reserve supply of oil with them, went out with their lamps burning brightly to escort the bridegroom in.

When the other bridesmaids returned, they found the door shut and bolted against them.  And as the climax of their day, instead of attending the bride at the marriage itself, they stood outside in the night, and in answer to their plea, “Lord, lord, open to us”, they heard the bridegroom say, “…I do not know you” (NRSV, Matthew 25:11,12).  “Keep awake therefore,” said Our Lord, “for you know neither the day nor the hour” (NRSV, Matthew 25:13).