Stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Whether by the coming of the Lord we mean is at the end of our own lives, at the end of time, or even the secret presence of his grace in our daily lives, it is not something we can know with certainty. There may be signs indicating the likelihood of each of these comings, and watching for those signs helps us to stay ready (at the very least by the encouragement of hope), even if we end up being wrong to a greater or lesser degree about the timing. But we can't prepare our way around the need to remain vigilant, to remain faithful. We can't leave the house for dinner because we know precisely when the thief is coming, and can therefore be back just in time to prevent his intrusion. And maybe this is for our own good. Maybe Jesus knew that the only way we would take the call to fidelity as seriously as we should was if we were too uncertain to procrastinate, as even otherwise decent people might try to do.
Be sure of this: if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
Perhaps keeping the hour of his coming a secret also helps protect us from a final test by the evil one, who might otherwise recognize his last chance to make or retain us as his possessions. Instead, the surprise of the coming of Jesus can more likely take place when the defenses of our egos are down, when we are not clinging so desperately to our mortal lives, more ready to release ourselves into his hands. This possibility exists, not so much for those aren't paying any attention at all, as for those who have been consistently watching and hoping. For the later, the surprise of the advent of the Lord will be a welcome one. But not necessarily for the former.
Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant,
whom the master has put in charge of his household
to distribute to them their food at the proper time?
Jesus was primarily speaking to his disciples and their successors as the ones who would give the laity the food in due season. But we all are tasked with seeing to it that the needs of others are met, both corporeal and spiritual. For us as well as the clergy, this call to love is meant to be our overriding priority while we await the return of the Lord. It is precisely in and through loving others that we express or fidelity and commitment to Jesus himself.
But if that wicked servant says to himself, 'My master is long delayed,'
and begins to beat his fellow servants,
and eat and drink with drunkards,
the servant's master will come on an unexpected day
and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely
and assign him a place with the hypocrites,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
There is only one real alternative to living for others for the sake of Jesus, and that is living for ourselves and for our own sakes. When we choose this alternative others will either be perceived as tools for our pleasure or obstacles to it. And in either of these cases we will not treat them with the compassion due to creatures made in the image of God. God himself regards such abuses with the utmost severity.
Part of the point of today's Gospel is to not allow ourselves to be lulled by the (apparent) delay of the master. His delay might make following his way seem less and less worthwhile, with the reward seeming to recede into the distance of the future. When his reward seems distant we become more likely to try to find other, less noble rewards. But for those who stay awake and remain faithful his rewards are not distant. We find him in those others to whom we show his care, and his own spiritual presence as he makes it possible for us to love others with his own love for us.
What thanksgiving, then, can we render to God for you,
for all the joy we feel on your account before our God?
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