19th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Jesus presented us with a parable, at the end of which, he cautions, “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” This prompts me to share the story of a spider who lived in a cornfield. It had built a comfortable nest and had constructed an elaborate web among the cornstalks. The spider became fat and happy dining on all the insects trapped in its web. One day the spider snagged a tiny bug in its web. As the spider was about to feast on its little victim, the bug spoke up: “If you let me go, I will tell you something that will save your life.” The spider stopped and listened. “You had better leave this cornfield. Harvest time is here.” The spider scoffed. “What is this harvest time you talk about? I think it’s something you just made up.” “Oh, its true. The farmer of this field will soon come to collect the corn. All the stalks will be cut off and the corn will be gathered. You will be crushed by a giant machine if you stay here.” The spider sneered, “That’s preposterous. Harvest time and giant machines to cut down the corn? Prove it!” The little bug insisted, “Look at the corn. Look at how it has been planted in neat rows. That proves this field was designed by someone who is very wise.” The spider laughed. “That’s silly. This field has grown up on its own. That’s the way corn grows.” “Oh, no!” the bug argued. “The field was planted by its owner and at harvest time he will come and gather up the corn.” The spider said, “Ridiculous! I have lived here since the corn was a foot high and no one has ever disturbed me. Nothing ever changes in this field. I’ll be here forever.” Just as the spider was about to dine on the little bug, a rumble broke the morning stillness. The rumble grew louder and louder. Soon a thick cloud of dust surrounded the spider. The stunned spider gulped, “Oh, oh.” Might we be saying that when we are about to take our last breath? No matter how fat and happy we are, our cornfield will one day be harvested. The challenge of faith as these readings point out is to understand our cornfield with the wisdom of the little bug who sees beyond its immediate surroundings to realize an order and connection of the various elements of life to the giver of life, namely God. The sad fact, however, is that we live our lives with the complacency of the spider: we live for the moment; we are satisfied with meeting our immediate needs. We fail to see beyond “our own row of corn.” This life God has given us is fragile and fleeting. If we have truly embraced the spirit of the gospel, we are always conscious of the brevity of this life and live our days in joyful anticipation of the life to come. “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.” Last week, we heard a brief passage from the Book of Ecclesiastes, the only time that book is ever quoted on any Sunday. Too bad the editors of the lectionary didn’t think to quote from its third chapter. “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. A time to be born and a time to die.” God knows every moment but because God has given us free will, God can’t decide those moments. Before we were conceived, God knew the moment of our birth and of our death. Unless we take matters into our hands and commit suicide, we would not know the moment of our last breath, but are we ready to encounter God when that moment comes? For some, death comes with a warning, for example, a terminal illness, but for a good number of people, death comes unexpectedly as it did for the victims of recent mass shootings. They woke up that morning never imagining that they would not see the sun set that day. Hopefully they were ready like vigilant servants to greet the Son of Man that day. In the early days of the Church, many believed that Jesus would literally return in their lifetime but as the first disciples began to die, it became apparent that Jesus was speaking of meeting his believers when they died, provided their faith in him as the Son of Man had not waivered. Jesus commends the watchful servants, that is, those who are prepared for his return by prayer and faithfully fulfilling their duties. His return is a moment of joy for he invites them to participate in a great banquet. As the passage from Hebrews points out, faith motivates people to live the way shown by God. Abraham ventured forth not knowing where God was leading him. By faith he sojourned in the Promised Land and he had descendants “as numerous as the stars in the sky.” Likewise, faith and hope point us toward the fullness of life in God’s kingdom. One 90-year-old aunt said to her niece, “If I don’t see you here on earth again, I will see you in heaven.” That is faith and as the years go by, whenever heaven or the God who calls us home to dwell there seem like illusions, may that faith become more solid for you for faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and evidence of things not seen.