Nineteen Sunday in Ordinary Time

Christ tells us something today every Boy Scout knows by heart.  Be prepared.  Be like the servant who is awaiting the master’s return.  Have the lamps lit.  Be at the door, ready to greet him.

There is an almost anxious tone to this gospel – and I suspect we often think of it in terms of the second coming, or last judgment.  Be prepared for Christ’s return, and to have to give an accounting of your life.  Be prepared to be judged.

That is part of it.  But I’d like to suggest another way of approaching this passage.  Because this particular gospel is not about an ending… but a beginning.  Be prepared – for something wonderful.  Be prepared for God to come into your life.  Be prepared to open the door to Christ… and let him in, and to serve him.

In a way, this gospel is nothing less than a profound parable about vocations.  Not just vocations as we know them, to the priesthood or religious life.  But also, the vocation to the Christian life.  Because we are all called.  Each of us has a vocation, a calling to fulfill for God.  But are we able to answer it?  Are we listening for it?

Are we ready for whatever God wants us to do with our lives?  Are we looking for God, anticipating God?  Are we ready to give God what God wants and needs – our time, our talent, even, perhaps, our lives?  Are we prepared?

This gospel reading is one my mother drilled into her 8 children again and again: “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much… and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.” 

Both my mother and my father’s message to their children was this: because you have had advantages that others have not, you need to give something back.  It undoubtedly had an impact.  To this day, most of my siblings and nieces and nephews are committed to some form of public service.  

But I think this passage goes deeper.  We have all been entrusted with something even better, the most monumental gift: our faith.  Faith needs time to ponder the workings of God.  Faith has to recollect itself long after the goodness of the Lord has unfolded in our midst.

As the letter to the Hebrews puts it so eloquently, that faith “is the realization of what is hoped for, and evidence of things not seen.”  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – the first stewards of the work God has given to all humankind.  And, it is ours.

Clearly, Jesus imagines a variety of responses to God’s promise.  There is the prudent servant who keeps vigil.  There is the defiant servant who has decided that the Master has been delayed.  Then, there is the ignorant servant who never really takes the time to remember God’s promise.

As a faith community, we assemble here to confirm the wonderful works God has done in Christ.  We have been entrusted with much.  And much will be required of us.  We wait.  We watch.  We will never know when God might come to our door, asking us to give something back.  Be prepared.

Paul A. Magnano

Pastor