This coming Sunday is the 19th Sunday, Year C. In yesterday’s post we noted that there was a Lukan passage “skipped over” in the Sunday gospel readings. The passage formed a nice bridge between “what matters to God” and “readiness.” Our gospel text picks up the theme of “preparedness” as it is sounded from the beginning of the text: “Gird your loins and light your lamps” Here the motif is raised through the use of two metaphors for readiness. The first—literally, “let your loins be girded”—borrows language from instruction to Israel regarding the Passover (Exod 12:11); they were to eat with “loins girded”—that is, with their long robes belted up in order to free the feet for action.

One also wonders if we are to call to mind more details of the Passover reference. The Passover meal was prepared without any trace of leaven (e.g., Exod 12:8), suggesting a further connection with Jesus’ opening remarks in v 1 of this same chapter. There he instructed his disciples to watch out for the “leaven of the Pharisees.” As we have seen, this “leaven” is manifest in the Pharisees’ fundamental misunderstanding of God’s purpose, their incapacity to discern the authentic meaning of the Scriptures and, therefore, their inability to present anything other than the impression of piety. Continuing to use the Pharisees as a foil against which to sketch the nature of genuine faithfulness to God, Luke now adds that the Pharisaic mind-set that must be avoided is represented in a lack of vigilance and preparedness for the redemptive coming of God.

As Joel Green notes [560] “The second metaphor is also one of readiness, but draws more deeply on the imagery of light and darkness manifest in the Lukan narrative more pervasively. Accordingly, disciples are to identify with “the dawn from on high … [who] will give light to those who sit in darkness” (1:78–79), ready for service in the conquest of darkness, the power of Satan (Acts 26:18). The sort of alertness Jesus counsels is not understood best as a set of activities but rather as a state of mind and heart. Disciples are to be the kind of people who are always on the alert.”

Image credit: G Corrigan | CANVA | CC-0