The Christian community for whom Luke writes faces a theological problem. The risen Lord Jesus looks to be late in bringing about the end and fulfillment of time and history. Luke seems to feel compelled in Sunday’s gospel to gather together sayings and parables that account for an unpredicted delay in the glorious return of Christ.
It is no small matter that history has continued to march forward long after Easter Sunday, that we must struggle with the effects of sin and evil, and that the world didn’t end as scheduled. (If you are reading this, it still hasn’t.)
Many early Christians expected Jesus’ second coming in glory — the parousia — to be immanent. Its delay forced the churches of the first century to ask questions, perhaps none with more direly personal consequences than whether believers have been wrong all along.
Just as in the case of waiting in the phone queue, a point arrives during the long, long silence when prudence suggests abandoning the project. A time comes to reassess the presumptions upon which we base our hope.
- Tell about a time of having to reassess your Christian hopes.
In Sunday’s gospel Luke confronts a church whose very leaders seem to teeter on the brink of doubt and despair as many Catholics do today in the wake of sexual abuse scandals. The sayings and parables Luke gathers together describe the kind of faithful servants a master can leave in charge of a household and be certain everyone is fed on schedule. He describes the kind of wise servants ready at any hour for a master’s return from a wedding feast.
Half way through Sunday’s gospel passage Jesus’ disciples ask if his teaching is for them or for everyone. Jesus responds by contrasting faithful and wise servants with abusive ones, who take advantage of the master’s delay to eat, drink, and get drunk. The parable suggests an episode of the TV series “Undercover Boss,” in which a CEO visits a part of the business as a newly hired employee. Its nine seasons are available on YouTube.
Luke intends Jesus’ exhortations to encourage his disciples. This section of his gospel aims to respond to Christians who are growing weary of waiting and beginning to cave in to immediate concerns.
The rich fool in last Sunday’s gospel sees his biggest problem as lack of storage space for his harvest. His wealth becomes his source of whatever confidence he has in the world. The axiom, “Eat, drink, and be merry,” allures him. Who needs to wait upon a future when there is so much to comfort us here?
Clearly Luke’s audience is concerned about how they will provide for themselves for the long haul, about whether or not the claims of the Kingdom have precedence over day to day imperatives, and about what commitments are worthy of ultimate trust and value.
- Where is your treasure and your heart?
- What in the way you live each day indicates where your heart is?
- What wisdom or wise people keep you from despair?
The element of surprise pervades Jesus’ discourse. Jesus counsels us to keep our lamps burning. The kingdom may startle us, erupting as suddenly as a thief breaking in. While the end times may be delayed, they are nonetheless rushing toward us.
The mention of a wedding feast has echoes of the Passover banquet. Images of dining at night while readied for flight recall the night of the exodus, Israel’s defining event in which enslavement in Egypt gave way to liberation. So, too, will our crossing over into eternity be a moment of rescue.
The suddenness of Christ’s return requires alertness on the part of all who wait, and a readiness for a new exodus without advance notice. Meanwhile, a critical facet of being ready involves the regular anticipating of the heavenly banquet through participating in the earthly one, the Eucharist. The marriage feast of the lamb may seem to delay, but we foretaste that sumptuous meal every time we gather around the altar.
Luke refuses to calculate when the Messiah will appear. We Christians cannot set an end-time clock and retire for the night. No, Jesus admonishes: Dress for hard work. Stay alert! Establish inexhaustible accounts in the heavens. This is a call to carry forth the signs of the messianic age in our own work. We must feed the hungry, heal the sick, and free the oppressed. We have the promise that the master who finds his work going on in his absence will upon his return put on an apron, seat us at table, and serve us.
- What do you understand by “an hour you don’t expect?”
- How does participating in Eucharist whet your appetite for the eternal banquet?