23 October. Tuesday, Week 29
First reading
Ephesians 2:12-22
Do not forget that you had no Christ and were excluded from membership of Israel, aliens with no part in the covenants with their Promise; you were immersed in this world, without hope and without God.
But now in Christ Jesus, you that used to be so far apart from us have been brought very close, by the blood of Christ. For he is the peace between us, and has made the two into one and broken down the barrier which used to keep them apart, actually destroying in his own person the hostility caused by the rules and decrees of the Law.
This was to create one single New Man in himself out of the two of them and by restoring peace through the cross, to unite them both in a single Body and reconcile them with God: in his own person he killed the hostility. Later he came to bring the good news of peace, peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near at hand.Through him, both of us have in the one Spirit our way to come to the Father.
So you are no longer aliens or foreign visitors: you are citizens like all the saints, and part of God’s household. You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations, and Christ Jesus himself for its main cornerstone. As every structure is aligned on him, all grow into one holy temple in the Lord; and you too, in him, are being built into a house where God lives, in the Spirit.
The word of the Lord.
All reply:
Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 84:9-14
The Lord speaks peace to his people.
I will hear what the Lord God has to say,
a voice that speaks of peace.
His help is near for those who fear him
and his glory will dwell in our land.
The Lord speaks peace to his people.
Mercy and faithfulness have met;
justice and peace have embraced.
Faithfulness shall spring from the earth
and justice look down from heaven.
The Lord speaks peace to his people.
The Lord will make us prosper|
and our earth shall yield its fruit.
Justice shall march before him
and peace shall follow his steps.
The Lord speaks peace to his people.
Gospel
Luke 12:36-38
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘See that you are dressed for action and have your lamps lit. Be like men waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks. Happy those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. I tell you solemnly, he will put on an apron, sit them down at table and wait on them. It may be in the second watch he comes, or in the third, but happy those servants if he finds them ready.’
No longer masters and servants, but a united human family
By the time he wrote his gospel, somewhere in the 80’s of the first century, Luke and most other Christians were no longer obsessed with the idea that Jesus would return in glory any day soon. Awaiting the Day of the Lord was no longer keeping them awake at night! As with the Our Father, Luke thinks of the daily presence of Jesus in our neighbour and in daily events. We must be ready in another sense, ready to open the door of our heart, and our goods, whenever Jesus comes knocking. Whatever happens anytime, anywhere, must be received as though Jesus were here in person.
On a small but significant point, Jesus overturns normal custom and sets us to rethink our approach to authority and service. Normally, when a master returned home, his servants waited on him. But now the reverse is to happen: The master will get the servants to sit at table, and proceed to wait on them! When we are focussed on faithfully doing our service to Christ in others, it is we ourselves who ultimately benefit. When we try to be of service to others, it is they who heap good gifts on us.
Ephesians has a great, mystical vision of God’s grace in our lives: Our lives, like Christ’s, are to be a sacred sacrifice. Our bodies are built into a “temple,.. a dwelling place for God in the Spirit.” Perhaps the greatest gift will come through our realization that our family extends to many brothers and sisters. “You are strangers and aliens no longer. You are fellow citizens of the saints and members of God’s household.”
Waiting on the staff
Today’s parable has the strange image of the noble master putting on an apron, sitting his slaves down at table and then waiting on them. This kind of scene had no place in the culture in which Jesus and his disciples lived. Yet it does put us in mind of the scene in John’s gospel where Jesus wraps a towel around his waist and washes the feet of his disciples. The Lord, it seems, wants to serve us; Jesus wants to be our servant. Normally, the role of Lord and the role of servant are at opposite ends of a spectrum, but in Jesus they are combined.
In the parable, the master’s kindly service is in response to the staff’s faithfulness and vigilance. The Lord who serves us expects us to be faithful and vigilant, so that we are ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks. We are reminded of that saying of the risen Lord in the Book of Revelation, “behold, I stand at the door and knock.” The Lord is always knocking at the door of our lives; he comes and knocks every day. If we respond to his daily coming, today’s gospel assures us that he will be our servant in ways that will surprise us.
