Reflection on Lk 12:39

“But know this, that if the master of the house had known

what hour the thief would come, he would have watched

and not allowed his house to be broken into.”

Before this word of life, Jesus said: “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the middle of the night or toward daybreak and find them so, blessed are those servants.” (v.35-38)

Jesus then emphasizes: “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (v.40)

Here Jesus uses a parable from ordinary life, exhorting us to be always ready for the moment of death, because we do not know when it will come for each of us. One thing is certain, it will come, and no one can avoid or escape it. Therefore, true wisdom is to obey the Lord Jesus and His counsel given to each of us, namely to be ready every day, because eternity is at stake, eternal life is at stake! There is a danger of losing it. This is a most serious matter that also concerns each one of us. True wisdom is to remember the end, remember our death, God’s judgment and eternity. He who belittles this shows himself to be either supremely unwise or in deep spiritual darkness, bordering on wickedness. He does not want to admit the most basic reality or even mocks this most certain truth. Whoever does so, let him realize that those who laughed in this way, trembled with terror when dying, with the sweat of death on their foreheads, and terror coming out of their eyes and voice. Most of them, however, were too late to be converted, because they had lived their whole lives in conscious obstinacy. They rejected the most basic reality, the truth of life, namely that life would end one day. They did not seek God or the true meaning of their lives. The purpose of life is not to eat, drink and sleep, to accumulate things or to pursue a career. The purpose of life is to seek the truth and care about the salvation of our immortal soul. With this goal in mind, then, we need to draw further information from the Gospel of Christ to show us how wisely we are to arrange this short life of ours, which is only a test to gain eternal life. It is essential to turn from the spirit of the world and accept Christ and His Gospel, and to walk in that light in the midst of the darkness, lies and evil that affect man. The goal is to follow Christ, to unite with Him in our life, our suffering and our death. Then we will be united with Him for all eternity in the glory of God.

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