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| "The secret ingredient is: water!" |
As humans we tend to crave a certain amount of novelty. Even those of us that take comfort in routine long for something new now and again. Everyone gets bored from time to time. And so we search. We end up finding the same old things repackaged in new ways. Often this is enough to distract us. But we never find something that is genuinely new. Until we find the one thing that is: Jesus himself.
He is the mystery "which was not made known to human beings in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy Apostles and prophets by the Spirit". God's plan for us in Jesus is hidden from past ages. But now it is revealed as the inscrutable riches of Christ and the manifold wisdom of God. There have been so few spoilers that even the principalities and authorities in heaven have to learn about this plan "through the Church".
Now that this plan has been revealed it cannot remain a secret. We need to have the same confidence and boldness of speech that Paul has "in Christ Jesus our Lord". It is now the "proper time" to "distribute the food allowance". We must not leave the menservants and the maidservants hungry while we gorge ourselves, "to eat and drink and get drunk". But the menservants and the maidservants need food. They are hungry. If we don't share this great allowance of food, this divine revelation, with them they will be starved. We are beating them down even by what we omit. In their souls they are moving toward the food we have. Let us welcome them. Let us not push them aside in our own hearts. Let them come to receive this allowance of food. This feast is meant to be shared.
If we dwell on our perception that the master is far away...
‘My master is delayed in coming,’
...we begin to focus on ourselves in excess. We know our master's will. He reveals it to us today. He longs for his benefits to be shared with all his children. This is one reason what it is a big deal to know that "the Gentiles are coheirs". God does not exclude anyone so neither can we! But it is even more than that. It is simply inspiring to see how God's heart is big enough for the whole world. Our hearts are not like that by their nature. But they are meant to become thus by God's grace.
God is in the midst of his kingdom even when he seems "delayed in coming" He is here like the host of some Restaurant Impossible type show. Let's call it Kingdom Impossible. He wants to see us act with generosity toward others whether or not we think he is watching. We'll get more than a chewing out if we don't.
That servant who knew his master’s will
but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will
shall be beaten severely;
But he's fair. He only holds us accountable for what we know. It's only so extreme because it is so important that the world get fed. It is his love that makes him discipline us. We are not meant to be motivated by fear. That is the whole point of the show.
This Kingdom will succeed even though it sometimes seems quite impossible. Sometimes the clientele seem impenetrable, the staff seem incompetent, and the resources of the business insufficient. But we have a secret ingredient that the world does not. And everyone wants it.
You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation.
We have some amazing Top Chefs like Saint John Paul the Great that show us how to put this ingredient the best possible use. So let's get cooking. Let us market this thing by joining in the praise of the psalmist:
Sing praise to the LORD for his glorious achievement;
let this be known throughout all the earth.
Shout with exultation, O city of Zion,
for great in your midst
is the Holy One of Israel!
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