Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready. I’m not sure when and where I first heard that phrase, but it has always stuck with me. Perhaps it was on the playground during a game of dodgeball. It may have been a line from a popular song or movie from my childhood. Regardless of its origins, it is a quote I think about often when I revisit today’s passage from Luke 12.

The scripture finds Jesus among the multitudes using his favorite teaching tool, a parable, to offer guidance about how to prepare for the coming of the “Son of Man.” Jesus uses the example of slaves (some translations say “servants”) preparing for their master to return from a wedding banquet not knowing when he will return. Those who stay up and keep watch will be rewarded for their diligence.

I find this passage challenging. I am the direct descendant of enslaved peoples who came to the United States as part of the transatlantic slave trade. Any talk of the master-slave dynamic immediately makes me uncomfortable as I consider the unspeakable horrors my family was subjected to under the system of chattel slavery. Yet, I also believe that we are called, like Jacob, to wrestle with God as we make meaning of the biblical narrative and let it speak to us.

So what does this parable have to say to those of us sacrificing certainty today? Jesus’ instructions provide us with a blueprint for action. While we patiently wait for God’s revelation, our task is to go about the work of serving others with gratitude. The best way to prepare for the in-breaking of the kingdom of God is to practice by building the Beloved Community with one another right now.