Luke 12:35-38

Ephesians 2:12-22

Psalm 85:9ab-10, 11-12, 13-14

Luke 12:35-38

Jesus said to his disciples: 

“Gird your loins and 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.

Blessed are those servants

whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.

Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself,

have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.

And should he come in the second or third watch

and find them prepared in this way,

blessed are those servants.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, bless me today as your child and servant. I await the glorious return of your Son and will continue to prepare myself to welcome him. May I be a vigilant and diligent servant as I work in the vineyard of your Kingdom.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Hard Work and Alertness: In the Gospel, Jesus teaches us how we are to live in the Church. He tells us to gird our loins and keep our lamps lit. For Saint Cyril of Alexandria, the girding of our loins signifies the readiness to work hard in everything praiseworthy, while the lamp represents the alertness of the mind to repel any tendency to slumber off into the carelessness that leads to sin. For Saint Augustine, to gird one’s loins is to restrain lustful appetites, while to have lamps burning is to shine with good works. The first is about self-control, the second is about justice.

2. Servants Served by the Master: In the age of the Church, we await the return of Jesus the Bridegroom. Jesus is present in the Church, in the Sacraments, and in us through grace, yet will return in glory. On that day, Jesus will have his vigilant servants sit at table, and he will serve us. Jesus did this at the Last Supper and does so now in the Eucharist. This is the greatness of the New Covenant: we are reconciled with one another and with God, we have become brothers and sisters in Christ, we have become children of the Father, we have become friends of God and are introduced into his family. As Paul says, we are members of the household of God and are built together into a temple, into a dwelling place of God in the Holy Spirit.

3. The Blessings of Israel Bestowed on the Gentiles in Ephesus: In his Letter to the Ephesians, Paul tells us about the great things God has done for us through Jesus Christ. Through his sacrificial death and resurrection, Christ broke down the dividing wall of enmity between Jews and Gentiles and reconciled them both to God and to one another, bringing peace (12:13-16). The Gentiles were, for a time, considered as outsiders, separated from God and his chosen people Israel (2:11-12). Paul lists five privileges of Israel from which his Gentile readers were previously excluded. First, the Gentiles were without Christ – they lacked the relationship with Israel’s Messiah that they now enjoy. Second, they were alienated from the community of Israel and were outside God’s chosen people. Third, they were strangers to the covenants of promise. Fourth, they were without hope since they did not know the blessing promised to Abraham and did not know the resurrection. Lastly, they were without God (see Williamson, Ephesians, 70). All of this changes with Jesus Christ. Those who were far off and strangers have now become near through the blood of Christ. Jesus brings and establishes peace, breaks down the wall of enmity between Jews and Gentiles, and brings the Old Law to fulfillment in the New. The covenant relationship between God and his people does not depend on observance of the Law of Moses but is now founded on Jesus’ self-offering. Both Jews and Gentiles can share in this New Covenant in Christ’s blood. Jesus’ death and resurrection inaugurates a new creation. Through the Cross, we are reconciled to God in one body, the Church.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you have recreated all things and brought me to share in them. You have charged me to work in your household and serve my brothers and sisters in the Church and my community. Help me to be a good and faithful servant.

Living the Word of God: How can I be more vigilant and diligent in my Christian life? What are my current strengths and weaknesses? What are the opportunities and threats on the horizon? Where have I been lazy (slothful) in living out my Christian vocation?