"If you sit fenced off in your apathy, if you look at the stars and yawn;
if you see suffering and don't cry out; if you don't praise and you don't revile,
then I have created you in vain, says God." - Aaron Keitli
We're coming close to the end of the Church year. Soon we will celebrate the feast of Christ the King, followed immediately with the beginning of the Season of Advent. During these last weeks of the liturgical year, the theme woven throughout the Gospel readings is that of preparedness. Traditionally, we tend to view this state of readiness in terms of the "final times", the end of the world or Judgment Day - the time when The Lord shall come when we least expect.
The "useless" servant of this week's Gospel takes his place with the five foolish virgins, the wedding guest who gets thrown out of the wedding banquet for lack of a proper attire, the rich young man too wrapped up in himself to answer the Call and the laborers who work all day long only to get the same pay as those hired at the final hour. These are those who didn't prepare well, those who didn't prepare at all, or those for whom there seems to be no place in the kingdom.
But these are not bad people. These are not malicious people. Yet somehow they don't measure up. Again, we ask ourselves what is Jesus saying to us? What is the common denominator, if any, among those who do not seem to qualify for the Kingdom?
It seems to me that Jesus is concerned, in each case, with our understanding of the kingdom Not just the Kingdom to come at the end of time, or the Second Coming but for the Kingdom present within and among us, here and now. The invitation to discipleship is one that is a call to build up The Kingdom in the here and now, and is not determined by our own qualifications or our own merits. The invitation is at once both Gift and Challenge.
St. Paul tells us that we are not of the night or of darkness, but that we are children of the light and children of the day. And with this wonderful affirmation comes a disturbing warning: the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night. The question we need to ask ourselves is not how well we are prepared for His coming but how well prepared we are to make an accounting of our use of the gifts we have received.
The Lord taps us on the shoulder and asks for an accounting. The gifts of grace are not to be hoarded. They are not personal rewards. They are like seeds to be brought to flower, like yeast to permeate the whole mass, like light to drive out darkness. The parable reminds us that the faith we treasure is not frail or easily contaminated by taking it out into the market place and investing it. Instead, Christ has given us a gift that can withstand the tests the world throws at it. We are encouraged by this parable to take risks and take our faith with us into the affairs of daily life: work, school, shopping, social events and into the public forum where we must witness to what we believe.
If we are willing to be simple bystanders, we may well merit for ourselves the very harsh words of condemnation that end today's Gospel story.
