Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Jesus reminds us today that we do not know when the thief of death will come or the master will return in fullness. We need to be prepared. To make preparations now. All of this is true. And, it can feel overwhelming and a bit scary. It can feel like another burden to carry, another thing to do, another rule to follow.
Here is where context helps us. Just before this passage today, Jesus told his disciples, “Do not be afraid” (v. 32) and to be ready to open the door to the master when he returns from the wedding (v.35). Jesus is inviting us to trust, to be both vigilant and joyful in our preparation for Christ’s second coming. We can do this by responding to Christ’s presence already among us.
Jesus invites us not only to watch for the master’s coming and the coming kingdom, but to prepare for its in-breaking. At the same time, the master is already here among us! Remember, Christ is among us! Christ is in the least of these (Matthew 25:31-46). In his new apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te, Pope Leo is calling our attention to Christ’s presence in the least of these, to create the social structures that are just and recognize the human dignity of each person. This is how we prepare to live in God’s kingdom, by practicing living in it now.
Paul tells us in Romans that we are no longer under the law but under grace. I wonder if this is another key to hearing Jesus in Luke. Instead of our vigilance being in a spirit of fear of failing to uphold the rules, as important as they are, what if our vigilance was in a spirit of responding to God’s grace, prompting us to treat one another as Christ?
What if instead of running away from our fear of sin and death, we ran toward God, who is Love, returning from the wedding feast in the face of those who are poor, in the face of immigrants, in the face of those who are sick?
This is freedom and joyful vigilance! In Christ, we are free to run toward the door and welcome God, who is always knocking.
—Kelly Adamson