Homily for Tuesday
32d Week of Ordinary Time
Nov. 14, 2023
Luke 17: 7-10
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence,
N.R.
“We
are unprofitable servants; we’ve done what we were obliged to do” (Luke 17:
10).
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uploads/2015/07/Doing-Our-Duty-1-1024x789.jpg
Jesus’ short parable today doesn’t sound very encouraging to us who follow him and call him Master. What it comes down to, I think, is that we can’t claim any merit of our own in his service. We earn nothing, profit nothing, just for keeping his commandments.
But
we have hope that our divine Master will in fact tell us, “Come here
immediately and take your place at table” (17:7). On some recent weekdays, we’ve heard Jesus
speak about feasts (Luke 14:7-24). In
one, a master sent his servants out into the lanes and hedgerows to gather in
anyone they could find to come to the feast.
Jesus does issue gracious invitations—invitations as grace, not
invitations that are merited.
Yes,
we are unprofitable servants who only try to do what’s expected of us—and who
fail often enuf. But our Master forgives
and invites and sits us down for the banquet, foreshadowed already at this
table of the Lord’s Supper.
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