You also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.
The Son of Man comes at an unexpected hour to see how his servants perform while he is apparently absent. He is often represented in parables as a figure who is distant or absent in order to reveal what is truly within the hearts of his subjects. Does their faith make them willing to remain obedient even when he seems distant? Or do they quickly forget about him and do their own thing?
If we lose our sense of urgency, forget about his Kingdom, and become lost in our own pursuits we tend to begin to act selfishly and put ourselves at risk. We begin to live, not from the motivation of what we can do to contribute to Jesus and his Kingdom, but from the motivation of what we can get from this life and from those around us.
But if that servant says to himself,
‘My master is delayed in coming,’
and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants,
to eat and drink and get drunk,
then that servant’s master will come
The delay itself often seems to be the challenge to our faith that we either admirably overcome by obedience or which causes us to relegate Jesus and the Kingdom to something that isn't important 'right now'. Perhaps later. But if he isn't around anyway, then isn't this the time for us, for our pleasure and enjoyment? But this isn't the way to true happiness. If we persist in it Jesus's eventually coming will feel to us as an unwelcome surprise, visceral challenge to our attachments in which our egos "shall be beaten severely".
But Jesus does not come only at the end of time. He comes periodically to upset the stranglehold of our egos over worldly things. He comes in many ways and at various times when our attention is directed elsewhere. He appears as the thief who takes from us what was never truly ours, what we could not keep, in order that we can look to possess that which we can keep for eternity.
Much will be required of the person entrusted with much,
and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.
We might be tempted to wish to remain in blissful ignorance of the master's will if knowledge of it makes us more accountable. But the thing is, it is possible not only to know his will, but to carry it out. Thus the person in the best position is not that of the servant ignorant of his master's will who was beaten lightly but rather the one who knew it and did it and was therefore beaten not at all. The master is fair but he does insist that we learn to be faithful. And for this sooner is always better than later.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
With joy you will draw water
at the fountain of salvation.
No comments:
Post a Comment