I'm getting ready to study the passage for this coming Sunday about the ten virgins, five of whom had oil in their lamps and five who didn't.  On the surface of it, the whole story seems to run contrary to the golden rule. "Do for others what you'd want others to do for you."  If I was out of oil, I'd want you to give me some oil - so if I have oil, and you don't, I need to give you some oil.  That's generosity.  That's charity.  That's the gospel.

Instead, Jesus confounds things for us by having the story unfold in exactly the opposite way.  When the bridegroom came, the five who didn't have enough oil asked for help.  The answer they received was, in essence, "Get your own oil.  If we help you, none of us will have enough.  Better that some of us get into the party (i.e. we who had the good sense to prepare).