Vigilant and faithful servants

LUKE 12:35-38

Jesus said to his disciples: “Gird your loins and light your lamps and 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. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants.”

REFLECTION SERVANTS… VIGILANT. “Gird your loins” is a biblical image of getting ready for action. The robe worn as an outer garment is being cinched up so that the feet are free for movement. The Israelites are told to be ready for the Passover of the Lord and to march out of Egypt with their loins girt, sandals on their feet, and staff in hand (cf Ex 12:11). Now, the servants are waiting for their Master — Jesus. They have their garments cinched to be ready to receive him and do his bidding.

The same point is made with the injunction to “light your lamps.” This is more a woman’s action. Here, it is more “domestic,” with the house as setting, as compared to the parable of the Ten Virgins who prepare their lamps for the wedding (cf Mt 24:42-51).

Both the masculine girding of loins and the feminine lighting of lamps point to vigilance and watchfulness for the Lord’s coming. While the call may have an eschatological perspective since it points to Jesus’ Second Coming, it also applies to both the historical context of Jesus’ followers and the present life of every believer. Believers make themselves active in the work of salvation — theirs and others’ as well.

Paul advises the Romans and us: “It is the hour now for you to awake from sleep.

For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” (Rom 13:11).