The Old Testament period was a time of preparation for the coming of Christ. The Catholic Church has always interpreted the text of the Old Testament as pointing toward Christ. The events of the Old Testament foreshadow various events from the New Testament and prefigure the teachings revealed by Christ.
The First Reading for this Sunday, taken from the Book of Wisdom, reflects on the Passover, through which the Israelites were freed from Egypt, where they had been slaves for generations. The night of the Passover, the Angel of Death flew over the land of Egypt and struck down the firstborn male in every household. The Israelites were to sacrifice a lamb and smear its blood on their doorframes, which was a signal for the angel to pass over the household and not to strike down the firstborn male. When Pharaoh saw the devastation in his domain, he decided to let the Israelites go. The captives fled, but Pharaoh decided to pursue them after all. With God's grace, Moses was able to open up the Red Sea, allowing the Israelites to walk dry-shod to the other side, but then the waters closed again when Pharaoh's army continued the pursuit, destroying them completely.
The liberation of the Israelites, known as the Exodus, prefigures the salvation of humanity by Christ. The sacrifice of the lambs offered for the Israelites foreshadows Christ, the Lamb of God, offering himself up in sacrifice on the Cross for the salvation of humanity. Israel was liberated from earthly captivity in the Exodus. Humanity is freed from the bondage of sin by Christ. To reinforce the connection, in his Gospel, St. Luke even uses the word "Exodus" to refer to the events of the crucifixion.
Another Old Testament event, referenced in the Second Reading, also pointed toward the crucifixion. God tested Abraham's faith by commanding him to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham proved his obedience and God stopped him in the last second, sparing Isaac's life. Unlike the false gods of other nearby religions, God did not require human sacrifice. He would not demand such a thing from us. However, God the Father showed the depth of his love for us by being willing to sacrifice his only Son, Jesus Christ, for our salvation.
The promise of the land, the Promised Land, moreover, prefigured Heaven, the New Jerusalem, where all the faithful will live in eternal blessedness with Christ. In the Old Testament, the Israelites were given a land to possess. With the coming of Christ, the focus is no longer on physical land but on Heaven itself. The Promised Land of the Old Testament pointed toward the new Promised Land, the heavenly eternal home of all the faithful, which we see described beautifully in the Book of Revelations.
But the question raised by the parable in the Gospel Reading for this Sunday is whether or not we are using our time in life to prepare for Heaven. We do not know when the Master will return. That is to say, we do not know when we will meet God face to face. We might have many more years to live. Or we might leave this life today or tomorrow. The key is to be ready, no matter the day or the hour.
We might sometimes be inclined to be depressed by how little we have achieved in life. Perhaps we wanted more education. Or a paid off home or a nicer house. Or maybe we wish we had traveled more or had founded companies. Perhaps we regret not finishing art projects or writing that book we knew we had in us.
If any such thoughts intrude, we can dismiss them with a single counter-argument. The only thing that really matters in life is our relationship with Christ. If we do nothing else in life but accept Christ's love into our hearts, that is enough. By doing so, we have fulfilled the purpose of life. When Christ's love is in our hearts, we love all others and all things with a healthy love and we are prepared for what lies beyond, the realm of the blessed in the New Jerusalem.
Conversely, we might feel proud of how much we have achieved. Education, possessions, experiences, art, writings, a legacy for others - all these things can be good, but they are meaningless if we do not have the love of Christ in our hearts when we die. Over two decades ago, I worked at St. James Cathedral in Seattle as sacristan. I assisted at many funerals. Some were for the movers and shakers of the city. Others were for the poor. They had led very different lives and had very different achievements. But they all ended up in the same place in this world - in the grave.
The question is not how much was on their resumes, in their bank accounts, or in their private collections when they died. The question is how much love they had in their hearts when they moved from this life to the next. That is the key question. And that is the question we need to ask ourselves. How much of the love of Christ would we have in our hearts if we died right now?
Of course, we should also consider that the love of Christ is not a mere feeling. We receive the love of Christ through the Sacraments and prayer life of the Church and we maintain the love of Christ in our hearts by being faithful and obedient to all that he enjoined upon us, which is interpreted by the Church he founded. Love is not just a feeling. Love is a choice, an action, a way of life.
The parable in the Gospel Reading also shows us how Christ responds to our love. When the Master returns, he waits upon the faithful servants, tending to their needs. If we reach Heaven, all of our needs will be fulfilled. We will no longer experience hunger, suffering, sorrow, illness, aging, or death. We will be granted eternal joy, peace, and fulfillment. We will be imbued with infinite, eternal love.
Christ offers us his love and our mission in life is to accept it and to reciprocate it. He then gives even more love in return, which leads us to love all the more, which in turn helps us to receive all the more love from Christ. This powerful, inexhaustible love dynamic will continue for all eternity, if we accept Christ's offer of love. Let us, therefore, use the time we still have in this life to say yes to Christ.
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The readings for Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C are:
Wisdom 18:6-9
Psalm 33:1, 12, 18-19, 20-22
Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19
Luke 12:32-48
The full text can be found at the USCCB website.
Photo Credit: Mansion at Night, AI generated art using NightCafe by Zoltan Abraham.