The Servant Master

 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, C

“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.” (Luke 12:36-37a)

First of all, what’s the wedding? Who’s getting married? Well, it’s the marriage of heaven and earth, of humanity and God that Jesus Christ accomplishes in his life, death, and resurrection. So now, having accomplished and consummated this marriage of heaven of earth, of humanity with God, the Divine Master, Jesus, returns home.

And here’s where we can begin to see ourselves in the parable. For where is the home of God? By the incarnation of the Son, God has made a home among us; indeed, he has made our hearts his dwelling place. As the book of Revelation proclaims, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race.” (21:3)

So we are the servants in the parable, servants whose Master has celebrated a wedding. And we look forward to seeing the Master, especially when we are gathered here for Sunday Mass. The Master hopes to find us vigilant participants here in the Sunday assembly, that is, attentive to his Word, offering ourselves in union with his Sacrifice, and receiving Holy Communion as best we can, devoutly and with love.

And when the Master arrives in the parable, notice that something extraordinary happens. The gospel says, “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.” (Luke 12:37) The Master, returning home, probably tired from his journey and the celebration of the wedding, has the servants sit down and waits on them.

Notice the reversal! The Master is serving the servants! Arriving home from a long journey—long indeed, through our death to the new life of the Resurrection—the Master doesn’t have the servants take care of him, but he proceeds to serve them a meal.

This is us, brothers and sisters, here at Mass. The Master, Jesus Christ, having won our salvation by his death and Resurrection, arrives here in our assembly and invites us to recline at the table—this altar—and feeds us that same salvation with his Body, broken on the Cross for our justification and risen from the dead for our sanctification.

So let us remain vigilant here at Sunday Mass, vigilant in our hearing of the Word of God and in our devout eagerness for his Blessed Sacrament. Let us marvel at the God who makes himself the Servant of his servants, placing himself in some sense below us, caring for us with a sublime humility.