Homily for Wednesday of the 29th Week in Ordinary Time

Many people do not like to be taken by surprise. We like to know what is coming down the road and when it is coming. However, we know from experience that the unexpected does happen, and it happens all the time.

It is that experience of the unexpected from which Jesus draws today’s parables. The burglar breaks into a house at an hour nobody expects; the master arrives home at a time when his careless servant is not expecting him. Jesus suggests that there can be an element of surprise in His relationship with us. 

The Son of Man comes at an hour we do not expect. This warning may be about sudden and unexpected death, but it is just as likely to be about the unexpected coming of the Son of Man to us in the course of our everyday lives. The LORD may call us to do something we had never given any thought about; He may take us down a path we might never have gone down on our own. The LORD can come to us through unexpected people, through people we would never associate as the LORD’s messengers. The Gospel suggests that when it comes to the LORD, we can always expect the unexpected. +