Thursday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s gospel, Jesus urges his followers to stay awake and be prepared for their master’s return. This is an especially challenging command for us today. We get prepared for something we believe will happen; if it doesn’t, we lament that our preparation was a waste. We see waiting as passive, but we see preparation as active. Being ready and then not doing anything seems silly. Wouldn’t it be better to move on to the next task on our list? Or better yet, be ‘done’ for the day and enjoy a cold drink?
Jesus explains with the illustration of the head servant. This supervisor can either continue doing his job even though his master’s timing is taking longer than expected, or he can take advantage of the extra time and abuse his power, beating his fellow servants and getting drunk. It seems to him that Jesus is asking us to persevere in righteousness. One of the reasons I do good works is because I expect good to come back to me. I expect right actions to bring good results. But sometimes that doesn’t happen. Often, it doesn’t happen at the pace we expect. We do a house project the ‘right’ way, and it still doesn’t turn out like we wanted. We train and discipline our children and they still misbehave. We return a lost wallet to the lost and found, but when we lose our own, no one turns it in.
If this is my only reason for acting righteously, then soon I will become discouraged and begin to act selfishly. But, Jesus will return. He may come back when we don’t expect it. So we’ve got to persevere, to maintain our readiness. The psalmist is singing today of the challenge of perseverance: “Return, O Lord! How long?” When our work doesn’t seem to be paying off, we pray, “Prosper the work of our hands.”
We need this prayer; without it, the task of waiting can be mind numbing. The first reading gives insight on how to wait. Paul writes “What thanksgiving…we render to God for you, for all the joy we feel on your account before God.” Paul takes delight in his relationship with the Thessalonians. He loves them. They are not perfect, but he is eager to see them again. God delights in you and I too. The Spirit wants to be present with us throughout the day. Let us also take great joy in the people and the righteous work God has called us to. May we persevere and learn to enjoy watching God’s work unfold in the world. Amen.
-Chris Nieport