Tuesday, Twenty Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

The image of ‘the knock on the door’ tends to have a negative meaning in our culture. The knock on the door is more often than not something to fear and be in dread of. In certain parts of the world, the knock on their door can spell great danger and even death. However, in today’s gospel reading, the knock on the door suggests a benign presence. According to Jesus’ image, when the master of a house returns from a wedding feast, knocks on the door, and finds that his servants are there to welcome him, he shows his appreciation by behaving as a servant to them. He sits them down at table, puts on an apron and serves them. This is an image of a master that goes beyond anything that would have been experienced in reality in that culture. Jesus is really speaking about himself here. He is declaring that if he finds us waiting for him when he comes to us at the end of our lives, he will serve us in ways that will surprise us. He will show himself to be the Son of Man who came not to be served but to serve. The Lord also stands ready to serve us here and now. He is among us now as one who serves and he will then serve us in a way that is beyond imagining in eternal life. What Jesus calls for in the gospel reading is a readiness on our part to welcome his service. He calls on us to be alert to his serving presence, ‘dressed for action’ with our ‘lamps lit’, as he says.  Having welcomed his loving service, we are then to let our light shine, by actively living out our relationship with him, showing ourselves to be his servants by relating to others in love as he relates to us in love. If we daily show ourselves to be his servants in this way, then we will receive from him a much greater service than we could ever give him.