How often have you spent the day waiting for a parcel to be delivered? You’ve ordered something and you get the email or text to say it is going to come today and so, because you have to sign for it, you have to wait for it to come. Think of all the things you cannot do while you wait. Maybe some friends are going out and they’d like you to come along but you have to decline. Maybe you have some errands to run but you can’t do them because you know the second that you leave the house the delivery will come. Essentially you get nothing you wanted done while you sit and wait for the knock at the door. Life passes you by while you are stuck inside sitting and waiting.
This is the feeling I get from our readings today. In the gospel reading, a master is going on a trip and so he resources three of his servants to carry on his business while he is away. Two immediately get to work but the third one simply hoards his master’s assets until the master returns. When he does, he has nothing to show for the time the master was absent and so is punished. In our second reading, the apostle Paul reminds the Thessalonians that as they as citizens of the kingdom of God they must live like citizens of the kingdom and not like others who are asleep to what God has done in Jesus. Paul is encouraging them to be about Jesus’ business while they wait for His return, much like the first two servants in the gospel story.
As Christians, these teachings also apply to us. We know that Jesus is coming back at some time although we do not know when. We know Jesus has commissioned us to carry on His work until His return. We know Jesus has given us the resources to carry out His work and we know we have to give an accounting for how we have spent this time. Yet many Christians seem to be content to sit in their churches and wait for His return without actually engaging with the work entrusted to us. Are we committing our resources and labours to continuing His work in our communities and actually being Jesus to those around us? Are we amassing the resources of the church for our own preservation? Are we afraid to commit ourselves to mission in case we make some mistake? Paul reminds us that we have to be prepared for Jesus to return at any time, and the best way to be prepared is to be actively engaged in His business. If we are simply waiting for Him to return to show Him how well we have preserved what He has given us, we are not being good and faithful servants.