Understanding the Word

By Br. John R. Barker, OFM

The Isaiah reading comes from the post-Exilic period, when Israel’s  hopes for restoration remained unfulfilled. Years after their return to  the ancestral land, God’s people remained under foreign rule and  suffered agricultural, economic, and social difficulties, which many  took as a sign that Israel remained under divine judgment. Thus the  lament and communal confession in the reading, which features  reminders of the deliverance from Egypt. God is Israel’s father  (Exodus 4:22) and redeemer, an enduring reality that is the basis  for the present hope in God’s fidelity. As in the past, Israel’s heart is  hardened, but confession opens up the possibility of God’s saving  return. As in the past God came to Israel as redeemer, so now Israel  hopes to receive mercy again. 

Paul begins his First Letter to the Corinthians by reminding them  that they have been “sanctified in Christ Jesus” and are called to be  holy (1:2). Paul gives thanks that they do indeed show signs of having  received God’s grace in the form of spiritual knowledge and gifts.  These manifestations of God’s grace are also confirmation of the  truth of the gospel that Paul had preached to them (the “testimony  to Christ”). These divine gifts also reveal God’s fidelity and desire to  keep the Corinthians faithful as they persevere during this time of  waiting. It is God who has called them to fellowship with Christ and  it is God who will give them what they need to be faithful.

Jesus’ warning to his disciples is essentially an exhortation to  avoid spiritual procrastination, putting off ultimate concerns because  one perceives there is plenty of time to “take care of things” like  repentance or growth in virtue. Just previous to this reading, Jesus  had informed his disciples that only the Father knows when the end  will come (13:32), which means it is pointless and dangerous to hope  there will be time to get one’s house in order. When the Lord decides  to come, those who have persuaded themselves they can delay their  repentance or ignore their obligations to God and neighbor will be  found “asleep.” Jesus leaves it to his audience to imagine the fate of  those found asleep by the “man traveling abroad” when he returns.

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