Instagram, Shine-in-Jesus, December 2020.

….light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.  Luke  12:35-36.

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Time and again Jesus calls us to be ready in every sense of the word for the arrival of the master. In fact there are at least eight times in the gospels that the Lord warns us! So at the very least we cannot ever say we weren’t warned! And today’s gospel is no exception, as seen in the quotation above. No dozing off, no naps, no distractions – we must be always on the watch! But this time there is a twist: “Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have the servants recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.” Here the servants are being rewarded for doing their duty – and by the master himself! That is how high an opinion the master has for his faithful servants! But note that: his faithful servants. So there is a reward for simply obeying the master, being always watchful for his return and being ready for the happy event. I wonder if the servants’ reaction was the same as Peter’s reaction when the Lord washed his feet! At first he point blank refused, until Jesus said that this was necessary to continue fellowship with him; only then did he relent. The lesson is very powerful however, as we are all called to servant-leadership. Many of us will quite easily reject that image, saying perhaps we are not leaders, not managing directors of anything, not leaders of any industry, not presidents or prime minsters of anywhere! So how then, one might imagine, can we expect the Lord to kow-tow to us? Well now, in imitation, even holding the door open for the person behind you is an act of subservience! We don’t have to do it – but we do it with respect and as a part of civilized behavior. Helping anyone in clear distress is a measure of our Christian identity, because the Lord expects it of us. Indeed, we are called to be on the lookout for any occasion in which we might be of assistance, and perhaps that is what the Lord is asking of us. Because when we see others then perhaps we are being called to see the Lord in them. In other words, perhaps this is the way to be always on the alert, as Jesus demanded. It might well be a difficult challenge with some of our acquaintance, of course, but as I tell many in the confessional, when confronted with a challenging situation where we might be tempted to tell someone to go to hell, as it were, just think this: this person who has offended you in some way might be doing the best he or she can do! It clearly isn’t what we would do – but it might be all that poor soul can do, and so who are we to criticize? It does not lessen the challenge of having to deal with difficult people, but if might help us in handling it. Read this story which might bring that possible situation to life, and make it clearer. 

In that way, with a positive frame of mind which we are determined to maintain even in the worst situations, we are always on the watch! We will be searching for the good in others, for the presence of God even in the unlikeliest of places, even in the hearts and minds of those we might think have neither! So if we actually search for such situations with always a positive frame of mind, we will be satisfying the Lord’s insistence that we be on the watch. Couldn’t that be the meaning of this line from the first reading: For in secret the holy children of the good were offering sacrifice and putting into effect with one accord the divine institution. And then there is the second reading, which talks of Abraham, living way beyond the normal years of child-bearing: “So it was that there came forth from one man, himself as good as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sands on the seashore”. Flip that meaning into our own world, where we might be dead to saying something nice, positive and constructive, suddenly we are able to do exactly that? In that way we can create a lively atmosphere – an atmosphere full of life – where before there was maybe nothing, emptiness and negativity. So a good word, a small deed of generosity, an offer of assistance – anything positive, will mean we are on the watch, always and everywhere, just as we have been ordered to do by the Lord. Our lamps will be full of oil, lit, and breaking down the darkness that was there before. 

Hand holds a large old lamp in the dark, iStock by Getty Images.

IS THERE SOMEONE OF YOUR ACQUAINTANCE WHO MIGHT WELCOME THIS REFLECTION? THEN PLEASE FORWARD IT TO THEM. THANK YOU.

Reflections on next Sunday’s Mass Readings will be posted on Wednesday.

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