Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? (see Luke 17:7).
How shocking are the promises that await those who are vigilant for the Lord's return.
Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself,
have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.
We are called to be vigilant. But it is as not as though we thereby put the master in our debt. He incurs no obligation toward us. How surprising then that it seems as though he wants us to stay up and wait for him, not simply to keep working, but precisely so that he can show this unearned and unguessed generosity toward us. It is as though the purpose of the oil in the lamp of the five wise virgins was for no efficient, productive, or utilitarian goal, but instead so that they could share the joy and the exhilaration of the midnight cry, "Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!" (see Matthew 25:6).
We must remain ready to move and to serve and to love. We must remain in the light, discerning the good and avoiding evil. Otherwise we risk complacency. We risk slipping into a mode, a sense of entitlement, where we begin to use others for our own ends. We begin, at least metaphorically, to beat the male and female servants, and become so involved in our own enjoyments (see Luke 12:45) as to be dull to the true and eternal consolations the bridegroom's presence brings.
The union between bride and bridegroom makes it possible for there to be peace and harmony between all the peoples who make up the body of the bride. The promises of this wedding celebration were made from the cross itself.
For he is our peace, he made both one
and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his Flesh,
abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims,
that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two,
thus establishing peace,
and might reconcile both with God,
in one Body, through the cross,
putting that enmity to death by it.
We must stay awake, alert, and attentive, to welcome the messengers of this celebration, to open the door to the bridegroom when he comes. He himself is the one who gives peace and rest to his people. He himself is their very source of unity. We risk missing opportunities to deepen this unity when we are unprepared for them. We quickly give up on peace which we can not achieve ourselves while the bridegroom stands outside, knocking but unheard.
The Lord is building a Church based on the blueprint of the unity he has with the Father, with the model of the love and obedience he showed on the cross. Let us listen for when he knocks, because he wants to begin building from within. And it is precisely here, as he proceeds to wait on his people, that we find rest.
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