"You too must stand ready ..."

In today's gospel Jesus says, ''You too must stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not know.'' (Luke 12:39-48). Are these words meant to scare us because we may not be living in full union with Jesus when we are called to meet him at the hour of our death? Rather than scaring us I think they give us comforting advice. Jesus tells Peter and the disciples, 'Happy that servant if his master's arrival finds him at his employment.'' Jesus is telling us not to get complacent but that if we continue to live according to his teachings then he will welcome us into his kingdom. The rich young man told Jesus that he had been faithful to all the commandments but when Jesus called him to give up his riches to help the poor, he went away in great sadness because he was too attached to his riches to recognize the needs of others. So the "employment" that is expected of us is to continually deepen our love of Jesus and follow the example of his compassionate presence to those in need. I am reminded of the story of the man who fell into a deep hole. When he heard footsteps passing he called out, ''Help. help.'' The man passing was a doctor who looked and dropped some pills down the hole. Later the man heard more footsteps and shouted out for help again. This time it was a priest and he looked down and blessed the man. He cried out for help again when he heard someone else passing. This time the man looked down and jumped into the hole. ''Now we are both stuck.'' said the first man, but the second one said, ''I am here to keep you company and together we will find a way out of the hole.'' If we feel that we could never do anything to help another who is sick, lonely or depressed, just being present in friendship might be a big step in helping him or her out of the dark hole. And Jesus will take us to his house of many mansions when the time comes.

 

Don Hornsey