My wife and I recently took a trip to Idaho. On that trip, there was a little glitch in the final flight. Before taking off, the pilot and the maintenance people were trying various things, and it didn’t seem like we were making much progress. They did take the plane back to the ramp a couple of times and open the door and let people know that they weren’t held hostage. The airline was just complying with the law. Anyone could legally get up and leave the plane if they wanted. Cynthia and I discussed it, but we were convinced that we didn’t have any good options if we walked off that plane. So we waited. Waiting was our best choice at the time, and so that is what we decided to do.
The waiting was painful, however, even if it was the best option. We did eventually take off and get to the destination airport. We landed about 2:15 a.m., and since the car-rental folks had gone home for the night, we had to find alternative travel to the hotel. Thankfully, we were able to catch an Uber to the hotel, since all the taxis were also gone for the night. By the time we were in the hotel and hitting the bed, it was 5:30 a.m. back home in Knoxville.
The word “wait” means that you’re doing something that you’d rather not do. You are doing something so that you can interact with either other people around you or the world around you. Otherwise, there is no purpose to just waiting. If someone gets a great joy out of waiting, it has to be that something else is going on alongside the waiting. It isn’t the waiting itself that is joyful. It costs us something to wait. We are sacrificing something when we wait. If we can find something else to do while we wait, then we’re trying to reduce the cost of waiting. But there will always be some kind of cost to waiting.
In Luke chapter 12, in the story of the servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding, Jesus tells us directly to be like those servants. And if the servant is still waiting in the second or third watch, their reward will be greater. Jesus is inviting us to sacrifice something. In this case, however, it isn’t only for the sake of Jesus. It is for our own sake. When we choose to do something that God tells us to do instead of doing what we want for ourselves, then we are literally conforming our will to God’s will. The practice of conforming our will to God’s will creates tremendous virtue in our soul.
When Adam sinned against God, he brought death into the world. Adam didn’t do any waiting. He didn’t do any sacrificing. He just took something that wasn’t his. His will was not aligned with God’s will. Adam’s lack of sacrifice is contrasted with Jesus’s total sacrifice. Jesus’s sacrifice brings life.
Here’s the thing that is so exciting about these readings. We have such a wonderful God that allows us to participate in bringing life. Not just in the ordinary way, where we are involved in the creation of new life through marriage. It’s not an accident that this Gospel reading refers to a wedding — something that is tangibly life-giving.
When we are following God — by doing not what we want for ourselves, but what God wills for us — we are participating in the work of bringing life to the Kingdom. That’s done through sacrifice. Any time you voluntarily sacrifice for the sake of another, and you give all of the pain, the difficulty, the loss to God, and unite it to Jesus, to his life-giving sacrifice, you are actively participating in the building of the Kingdom.
It gets hard. That is why Jesus asks us not to go to sleep. To stay awake, even to the third watch of the night. Now, awake means to stay awake in Jesus, not just physically not-sleeping. That would not be very useful. Just as Jesus says that those who do so will be rewarded, you can count on receiving your great reward at the great wedding feast in heaven. It’s going to be fantastic. Stay awake.
If you are stuck and asking whether walking off would at least be movement, start with the two lists we made on that plane. What happens if we wait. What happens if we leave. We did not have a good option if we walked off. Waiting was painful, and it was still the way home. Write both lists before you treat the urge to move as guidance.
Waiting will still cost. You do not have to call it joyful. Find one ordinary thing to do during the hour — a call, a page, a meal — so the cost is not the only thing in the hour. That does not erase the cost. It keeps you from inventing a third option that is not there.
If the thing you want to leave is actually dangerous, leave. This is not a reason to stay in harm. It is about the hour when leaving is only a way to feel less stuck. Stay if staying is how you get home. Ask God for the will you do not have yet. Then stay through the next watch, even if the door is open and movement looks like the better choice.
This is a pastoral reflection, not clinical care and not a substitute for it. If you or someone you love is in immediate danger, call 988 or local emergency services.Drawn from a homily first preached in 2019. 