The Master's Arrival

Last night, after the vigil Mass, I attended the "Taste of Faith" banquet in Little Rock. Perhaps some of you have heard of it? Our diocese hosts this dinner each year to help Catholics from around our state get to know better our seminarians studying for the priesthood and raise money for their studies. I know that the parish in Slovak has a group that normally attends, and I hope our parish will be able to participate in the future as well.

When one attends a banquet, it’s good manners of course to not just show up unannounced. The difference between being welcome and unwelcome is whether those who are preparing know that you are coming! In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives a parable in which he describes two kinds of visitors: one who is welcome but long delayed in coming, and another who is very much unwelcome. These images are meant to represent the kingdom of God, continuing the theme of last week’s Gospel: rather than focus on the passing things of this world, it’s better to focus on the final reality of God’s kingdom, building up spiritual treasure there. But this week, there’s a new wrinkle – Jesus teaches that we cannot know the exact moment when God’s kingdom will come. Instead, we have to remain ever vigilant.

Let’s take a closer look at the two images that describe the coming of the kingdom. The first is that of the joyful return of a Master to his house, who finds his servants prepared for his arrival despite the fact that he is long delayed. Notice that Jesus says the Master was returning from a wedding. Because, wedding celebrations in the ancient world lasted for several days, maybe even a week or more, there would be no telling exactly when the Master might return. Thus, the servants had to be ready at any time. Because travel in the ancient world was difficult – it might take several days to reach one’s destination – the servants are prepared for whatever the Master might need following his long journey. But as we heard, in the kingdom of God, the Master does something unexpected – he has the servants sit at table and he proceeds to wait upon them. They had prepared for their Master and waited eagerly for his return, and now they are rewarded by taking their place at the banquet of his kingdom.

The second image Jesus uses is more alarming. He says the kingdom of God will come like a thief in the night who catches the master of the house unaware. It might seem as if this image is totally unconnected to the first image: instead of a Master arriving home to his servants, a thief is coming to break into the master’s house. However, in the longer version of this parable (Lk 12:32-48), one can see that these images are connected. The thief who breaks into the master’s house is really the Master himself, who has returned to take back the house from the malicious servants who have begun acting as if they are the master. Unlike the faithful servants awaiting the Master’s return, the wicked servants are punished, and some of them are thrown out of the house into the darkness outside.

Evert Jan Boks, The Surprise of the Master's Unexpected Arrival (1896)

If these two images – the Master of the house and the thief in the night – feel a little complicated, the last line of today’s Gospel sums up the point: “At an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” Throughout the Gospels, whenever Jesus refers to the “Son of Man”, he’s referring to himself in his divine mission, the role for which he was sent into the world. It’s clear then that the kingdom of God is not an abstract, esoteric concept. What we are talking about is the return of Jesus himself! How we await him, how we prepare for him makes all the difference between whether his arrival will be welcome or unwelcome for us.

Sometimes the Lord’s return can seem long delayed, especially when we look at the disorder and dysfunction in our world. Perhaps we think, “What are you waiting for, Jesus? Come back, Lord, and save your people!” But just as quickly, we should also then think whether we are really living in a way that is ready for his coming. Are we prepared for his return? Have we attended to our disorder and dysfunction on the inside, making sure to have our lamps lit by his grace? Or have we grown drowsy and inattentive, sinful and slothful? Have we perhaps allowed ourselves even to think that maybe the Lord is not coming, at least not now, not until some long distant day. And when we have begun to think that, then perhaps we have decided also to take up his place as master of our own affairs, doing what we think is best rather than what he has commanded? If we are honest with ourselves, I think that most of us would say that if Jesus returned this very minute, we would be a little caught off guard – there would be at least a few things we wished we had done, a few more preparations we had made. The Lord seemingly delays, but it may well be he does so out of mercy, hoping that we will at last attend to what we need to before he arrives.

Friends, today’s Gospel asks us this question: Who is the master of your house; who is the lord of your life? If it’s yourself, then there’s a not insignificant chance that you may be unprepared when the Lord does come for you. It’s a terrible feeling to be unready for a visitor, wishing desperately that you had had more time to make ready, especially when it is the Lord who is arriving. Even worse is to not be expecting him at all, so that his arrival is unwelcome, like that of a thief. If you do say that Jesus is your Master, then be sure you are truly living that way, not just in words but in action.  Make preparations now and remain vigilant for his arrival, so that the kingdom of God will be for you not a break-in by force but a joyful and expected banquet. For “at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”