19th Sunday or Ordinary Time
Wisdom 18:6–9
Psalm 33:1, 12, 18–19, 20–22
Hebrews 11:1–2, 8–19
Luke 12:32–48
“Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.”
God takes the initiative in our relationship with Him. Nothing we do can influence outcomes, as if we were “bargaining with God” by the actions we perform. Yet, God does make promises to us, and He does expect a response on our part.
Leaders ought to open their hearts to God’s guidance. This does not always offer a full understanding of His plan. Instead, it offers a vision and a step or two that move God’s people toward the fulfillment of the plan.
The Book of Wisdom presents the experience of Passover as such a step. In relationship to God, the people who have put their faith in the promises of God receive courage to face whatever happens. They wait for salvation and find glory in their relationship with God. They enter into Passover and cooperate with what God is doing for them as a people by putting into effect the provisions God has established. This is the divine institution that expressed the covenant relationship of the people of Israel with God.
The Letter to the Hebrews holds out Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Patriarchs, as examples of faith who have taken the steps they were meant to take but who did not experience fulfillment of the promises.
Faith is defined as “the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” Through faith, the Patriarchs, trusting in God’s promise, “saw it and greeted it from afar and acknowledged themselves to be strangers and aliens on earth, for those who speak thus show that they are seeking a homeland.”
Jesus proclaims the kingdom of God to His disciples, inviting them to open themselves to this gift by becoming empty and letting go of all attachments. He calls for an attitude of faith and hope, expectation of the fulfillment of God’s promises.
“Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.”
The delay of the fulfillment of God’s promises was a challenge to the Patriarchs, but they lived out their lives in hopeful expectation. The disciples of Jesus knew the presence of the kingdom in their relationship with Jesus Himself, the fulfillment of the kingdom and the Presence of the living God. Yet even they had to discover the mystery that in time there is a paradox: “the already but not yet” reality of the kingdom.
As disciples, we are called to know and to acknowledge the promises of God. We are promised a homeland, a progeny and a possession of the kingdom in its fulness. Knowing this, we are to be at work proclaiming the kingdom, inviting others to a living relationship with God.
Jesus adds another promise to those disciples who prove themselves faithful in times of ambiguity: “Truly, I say to you, the master will put the servant in charge of all his property.” He offers a warning to those disciples who fail to keep the promise in view, turning to satisfy their own desires in a worldly way. The Master “will punish the servant severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful.”
In response to Peter’s question as to whether the parable is addressed to others or to the disciples as well, Jesus makes it clear that those who are blessed to be among the “little flock” have a greater charge for understanding what it means to live in the kingdom. “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”
We live in a time that calls into question eternity and the promise of life with God after the earthly sojourn. If our faith does not transform us who claim to believe, we might lose what we have received. May we come to see and respond to the gift that is offered to the “little flock.”