Watching. Waiting. Preparedness. Servanthood. These are key words that appear in Jesus' teachings and parables in the Gospel accounts. We are told by advertising experts that a product name must be repeated several times before people remember and can identify it. Either Jesus repeated the message frequently so people would remember it, or it was a constant theme which he used in many different ways and on different occasions. In any event it is a theme that occurs so often in the Gospels that it must be an authentic memory of his teachings.

The parable which is central to the pericope for today sounds again the theme of watchful waiting for the Lord to come. The parable is connected to a note of the coming's occurring in an unexpected way. Unless people are constantly prepared for the in…