2 January 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” Luke 12:40
The Nativity season closes with a lamp in the hand. Jesus tells his disciples: “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet”. The servant's task is simple: stay awake, keep the lamp burning, open the door the moment the master knocks. Then comes a surprise that only the Child of Bethlehem can explain: “he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them.” The Lord who came as a servant in the manger will come again as a servant at the table of his kingdom.
How do we stay awake? St Paul answers with the gift of the Spirit. As only a person's own spirit knows what is within, so “no one comprehends what is truly God's except the Spirit of God.” And “we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.” The unspiritual person finds God's gifts foolish; the spiritual person discerns. Vigilance is not anxious clock-watching. It is a heart taught by the Spirit to recognise the Lord when he knocks: in prayer, in the poor at the gate, in the events of a new year. “You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
Theme: “You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
The Spirit gives discernment; the servant keeps the lamp lit.
“The human spirit is the lamp of the LORD, searching every inmost part.” Proverbs 20:27
“Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.” 1 Corinthians 2:12
Apply: Begin each day this week with the prayer: Come, Holy Spirit.
“Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil;” 1 Kings 3:9
“Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else's scrutiny.” 1 Corinthians 2:15
Apply: Bring one decision of this new year to prayer before you make it.
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105
“Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them.” Luke 12:37
Apply: Examine your conscience briefly every night this week.
The Spirit opens our eyes; the lamp keeps them open.
The one we wait for comes to serve us.
Take-home resolution: Keep a short nightly examination of conscience all through January.
Dear friends, on this Saturday at the close of the Nativity season Jesus puts a lamp into our hands. Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit, he says, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, ready to open the door as soon as he knocks (Luke 12:35–36).
Then he says something astonishing. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds alert: he will fasten his belt, have them sit down to eat, and come and serve them (Luke 12:37). Masters do not serve servants. This Master does. We have just seen him lying in a manger; we will see him kneeling to wash feet. The one we wait for is the one who serves.
How do we stay awake? St Paul says we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts God gives us (1 Corinthians 2:12). The Spirit teaches us to discern: to recognise the Lord's knock in a word of Scripture, in a poor person at the gate, in the quiet voice of conscience.
A new year has just begun. We do not know at what hour the Lord will come, to the world or to each of us. You also must be ready, Jesus says (Luke 12:40). Let us keep our lamps lit with prayer and good works, so that whenever he knocks, we may open at once. Amen.
Children, Jesus told a story about servants who stayed awake at night with their lamps lit, waiting for their master. When he came, he served them dinner! Let us keep the lamp of our love for Jesus burning every day by praying and being kind.
Lord Jesus, you came among us as one who serves, and you will come again at an hour we do not know. Pour your Spirit into my heart, that I may discern what is from God, keep my lamp burning, and open the door to you whenever you knock. Amen.
Paul says that the things of God can be known only through God’s own Spirit; Jesus tells his disciples to stay awake for a master who will surprise them. Both readings are about being able to recognise the Lord. The Child of Bethlehem was seen by many and recognised by few, and the same is true when he comes again.
Setting.
Paul founded the church in Corinth (Acts 18) and writes to it, probably from Ephesus (16:8), about its divisions. Some of the Corinthians prized eloquence and “wisdom”. Paul has answered with the cross. Now he explains how anyone can grasp a wisdom like that: only by the Spirit.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God.” (2:11)
The comparison runs from the human to the divine: no one can see into my heart from outside. Still less can anyone see into God from outside, unless God gives his own Spirit.
“Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.” (2:12)
The Spirit is given so that we may recognise what we have already been given.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes v. 11 in teaching that only the Spirit knows the things of God (CCC 687), and it says that no one can confess Jesus as Lord except by the Holy Spirit (CCC 683). This gift belongs to all the faithful, who have received the Spirit’s anointing (CCC 91). So v. 15 does not put an individual above the Church’s teaching: Paul writes these words while correcting the very people who thought themselves spiritual.
Setting.
Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem (9:51). He has just told the disciples not to worry about possessions (12:22–34). He now turns to how they must live while they wait for him.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit;” (12:35)
“Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them.” (12:37)
No master in that world did this. The roles are reversed, and we see it happen at the Supper: “I am among you as one who serves” (22:27). The one we wait for comes to wait on us.
“You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” (12:40)
The early Church often used the image of the thief (1 Thessalonians 5:2; Revelation 3:3). It is about the timing and nothing else: he comes as a surprise. It says nothing about his character.
How the Church reads it.
St Gregory the Great, preaching on this Gospel, reads the girded loins as self-control and the burning lamps as good works that give light to others (in substance). The Catechism connects watchfulness with prayer: the disciple keeps watch, remembering the first coming in lowliness and hoping for the second in glory (CCC 2612). At this time of the year the Church holds both comings together.