23rd October >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Luke 12:39-48 for  Wednesday, Twenty Ninth Week in Ordinary Time: ‘You too must stand ready’. (2024)

23rd October >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Luke 12:39-48 for Wednesday, Twenty Ninth Week in Ordinary Time:‘You too must stand ready’.

Wednesday, Twenty Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Luke 12:39-48

The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what hour the burglar would come, he would not have let anyone break through the wall of his house. You too must stand ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’

Peter said, ‘Lord, do you mean this parable for us, or for everyone?’ The Lord replied, ‘What sort of steward, then, is faithful and wise enough for the master to place him over his household to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? Happy that servant if his master’s arrival finds him at this employment. I tell you truly, he will place him over everything he owns. But as for the servant who says to himself, “My master is taking his time coming,” and sets about beating the menservants and the maids, and eating and drinking and getting drunk, his master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the unfaithful.

The servant who knows what his master wants, but has not even started to carry out those wishes, will receive very many strokes of the lash. The one who did not know, but deserves to be beaten for what he has done, will receive fewer strokes. When a man has had a great deal given him, a great deal will be demanded of him; when a man has had a great deal given him on trust, even more will be expected of him.’

Gospel (USA)

Luke 12:39-48

Much will be required of the person entrusted with much.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?” And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so. Truly, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. 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 on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish the servant severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”

Reflections (4)

(i)Wednesday, Twenty Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

As well as the group of beatitudes that are well known to us, there are single beatitudes scattered throughout the gospels. One such beatitude is to be found in today’s gospel reading. Jesus declares, ‘happy that servant if his master’s arrival finds him at his employment’. This is the ‘faithful and wise’ servant who provides for the needs of the members of the household while the master of the household is away from the house. The master/slave relationship is not one that we are comfortable with today. Yet, it was an integral part of the world in which Jesus lived. In sharing his vision for human life, Jesus regularly drew on the day to day experience of the people he was moving among. Although the social world presupposed by Jesus’ image may be foreign to most of us, the message it embodies retains its validity for disciples of every age. We all seek to be the Lord’s faithful and wise servants. He needs such servants, people he can trust to provide for the needs of all the members of his household, all who have been created in God’s image and likeness and whom the risen Lord desires to draw to himself. We are all servants of one Lord, which means that none of us can set ourselves up as lord of others. Rather, our task is to faithfully and wisely care for the needs of those alongside us. We are called to embody the Lord’s concern for the members of the family of God. If we are faithful to that calling, we too will be embraced by the Lord’s beatitude in today’s gospel reading.

And/Or

(ii)Wednesday, Twenty Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

In the second image in this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus speaks of the faithful and wise steward who remains faithful to the task given to him by his master and is faithfully working away at it when the master returns after being away on a journey. We are all called to be faithful and wise stewards in that same sense. We are to remain faithful to our calling, to our task of living the gospel day in and day out. Faithfulness was what characterized the ministry of Jesus. He was faithful to the work God gave him to do, even though it meant his crucifixion. He was faithful to the disciples he had chosen, even though they let him down and abandoned him when he most needed them. According to Luke in his gospel, he was faithful even to his enemies, healing the ear of one of those who came to arrest him and praying on the cross for those responsible for his crucifixion. In a variety of ways, Jesus showed himself to be the Faithful One. His faithfulness can inspire and empower something of the same level of faithfulness in us. Like Paul, we want to be able to say at the end of our lives, ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith’.

And/Or

(iii)Wednesday, Twenty Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Most of us don’t like to be taken too much by surprise. We like to think that we have a good idea of what is coming down the road and when it is coming. Yet, we know from experience that the unexpected does happen. It is that experience of the unexpected that features in the parables Jesus speaks in this morning’s gospel reading. The burglar breaks through the wall of a house at an hour nobody expects; the master arrives home at a time when his irresponsible servant is not expecting him. Jesus indicates that there can be the element of the unexpected in his relationship with us and ours with him. The Son of Man comes at an hour we do not expect. We may be inclined to relate that to the hour of our death; sudden and unexpected death is certainly a reality. However, more may be being referred to than that. The Son of Man comes to us in the course of our lives; his daily coming in the midst of life can also be unexpected. The Lord may call us to do something we had never thought about; he may take us down a path we might never have gone down if left to ourselves. The Lord can come to us through unexpected people, through people we would never think of as the Lord’s messengers. The gospel reading suggests that when it comes to the Lord, we can expect the unexpected. As Isaiah says, his ways are not our ways, his thoughts are not our thoughts. He is always the God of surprises and that requires us to be alert and attentive to his many unexpected comings.

And/Or

(iv)Wednesday, Twenty Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s first reading, Paul speaks out of a sense of having been greatly graced by God. Although ‘the least of all the saints’ (the baptized), he has been entrusted with a ‘special grace’. The grace Paul speaks about is the gospel which unveils the mystery of Christ. Paul is overawed by ‘the depths that I see in the mystery of Christ’. He is very aware that this grace that has been entrusted to him carries with it a responsibility. He is now a servant of this gospel with which he has been graced, responsible for proclaiming it to those who have never heard it. In the language of the gospel reading, Paul sees himself as a ‘steward’ who has been given much by his master and who now needs to show that he is worthy of what has been entrusted to him. We have all been graced in various ways by the Lord. We have been baptized into Christ; we have been given a share in his Spirit; we have been entrusted with the gospel; we are members of Christ’s body the church; we receive his coming as bread of life in the Eucharist; we are touched by his merciful presence in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Like trustworthy stewards, we have been entrusted with a great deal by the Lord. Today’s gospel reading calls on us to be ‘faithful and wise’ stewards. We need to keep treasuring the many graces we have received from God and live out of what has been entrusted to us. We have been graced by the Lord so that we can grace others with what we have received.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

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