Scripture Daily

Context No. 1599 of 4322 · Luke

Context · Reflection

Luke 12:41-48: in context

41Peter said to him, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everybody?” 42The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the right times? 43Blessed is that servant whom his lord will find doing so when he comes. 44Truly I tell you that he will set him over all that he has. 45But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My lord delays his coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink and to be drunken, 46then the lord of that servant will come in a day when he isn’t expecting him and in an hour that he doesn’t know, and will cut him in two, and place his portion with the unfaithful. 47That servant who knew his lord’s will, and didn’t prepare nor do what he wanted, will be beaten with many stripes, 48but he who didn’t know, and did things worthy of stripes, will be beaten with few stripes. To whomever much is given, of him will much be required; and to whom much was entrusted, of him more will be asked.

Jesus tells of a steward set over his master's household to give the servants their food at the proper time. Blessed is that servant, he says, whom the master finds faithfully doing so when he returns. But if that servant says in his heart, my master is delayed, and begins to beat the other servants and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master will come on a day he does not expect and cut him off. And Jesus adds a principle: the servant who knew his master's will and did not do it will be beaten with many blows; to whom much is given, much will be required.

The root of the wicked steward's fall is a single thought: my master is delayed. Because he assumed the reckoning was far off, that the master would not return for a long while, he grew careless and cruel, abusing his fellow servants and indulging himself, living as though he would never have to give account. The presumption on delay bred the unfaithfulness. And this is a common pattern in our own lives. When we assume the day of reckoning is distant, that God's return or our own accounting is far off and need not be reckoned with now, we grow lax; the sense that there is plenty of time before any account breeds carelessness about how we live. The faithful servant, by contrast, lived as though the master might return at any hour, and so kept faithfully at his task. Faithfulness is bound up with living in readiness, as though the reckoning could come at any time, rather than presuming on a delay that lets us grow careless. And Jesus attaches the sober principle: to whom much is given, much will be required. Those entrusted with more, more knowledge, more gifts, more responsibility, are accountable for more; the servant who knew the master's will and did not do it is judged more severely than the one who did not know. There is a double challenge here: to live faithfully in readiness, not presuming on any delay, and to recognize that the more we have been given and know, the greater our responsibility to be found faithful when the master comes.

Do I presume that the day of reckoning is far off, and so grow careless in how I live, or do I keep faithfully at my task as though the master might return at any hour, and do I recognize that to whom much is given, much will be required, so that the more I have been entrusted with, the more will be asked of me?

Sources