Reading
Matthew 24:42-51
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Comment
“Watchman, what is left of the night?” asked the lookout in the prophecy of Isaiah (Is 21:11); “Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; every night I stay at my post” (Is 21:8) and the psalmist: "My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises" (Ps 119:148). Jesus recalls this invitation to remain vigilant, to be ready for his return.
As no one knows when the thief will break into the night, so no one knows the hour when the Lord will come to visit us with his grace. But the visit of the Lord does not have to do only with an eschatological dimension, it does not have to do only with "the end of time". He stands at the door and knocks (Rev 3:20). He visits us through internal inspirations, the people around us, the events that are happening in our life. He is always present within us; but are we present to him?
Are we awake and ready to receive it, or are we clouded by the many distractions with which the world seduces us? His visit calls us to account for how we have used our life, our natural abilities and our wealth. The parable of the talents, which Jesus will pronounce a little further on, takes up precisely this teaching.
Living with awareness, "on alert" - this is the meaning of the Greek word Gregoreus - means living in a way that can please the Lord at all times, taking care of the needs of others (v. 45). But it also means living in depth, beyond the flow of stimuli and distractions with which the world "seduces us", tires us, drains our mental energies, reducing our ability to be in the presence of God.
The inability to watch, to live consciously, shatters our conscience and distances us from God, ultimate reality, and fullness of being. Blessed are those who manage to overcome the torpor in which the world would like to imprison us, to await the one who will come to visit us from on high like the rising sun (Lk 1:78).
Prayer
May the light of faith illuminate our night, o Lord, so that we can keep watch waiting for your coming back. Give us the wisdom to administer righteously what you have entrusted to us and be found as faithful servants upon your return. Amen.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
