Wednesday of the 29th Week in Ordinary Time

Luke 12:39 - 48

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be sure of this:
if the master of the house had known the hour
when the thief was coming,
he would not have let his house be broken into.
You also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

Then Peter said,
“Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?”
And the Lord replied,
“Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward
whom the master will put in charge of his servants
to distribute the food allowance at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so.
Truly, I say to you, he will put him
in charge of all his property.
But if that servant says to himself,
‘My master is delayed in coming,’
and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants,
to eat and drink and get drunk,
then that servant’s master will come
on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour
and will punish the servant severely
and assign him a place with the unfaithful.
That servant who knew his master’s will
but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will
shall be beaten severely;
and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will
but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating
shall be beaten only lightly.
Much will be required of the person entrusted with much,
and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”

First of all, I want to say that my reflections are personal reflections:  I do not speak for the Catholic Church, or any other religious organization, only myself.  My hope is that this reflection will be of some help to anyone who chooses to read it.

There is much in this passage that is interesting, but I want to focus on two characters and their situations:  1) the servant who knew his master’s will, but did not do it; 2) the servant who did not know his master’s will and did not do it.

In the first case, it is not sufficient to say that the servant did not do his master’s will—he did worse than that.  Why?  He convinced himself that what was not true was actually the truth:  namely, that “My master is delayed in coming.” As such, he made himself the “master” and lorded his “authority” over his “subjects,” the other servants.  Without his true master’s presence, he turned to drunkenness and debauchery.

We do that as well, when we believe that God is not listening to us, when we “feel” that God is far away from us, when we forget what God has called us to do.  It is then that we can fall into the temptation to believe what is not true:  that God is delayed in coming or that God is not coming to be with us.  Believing this can lead us to be less vigilant, or, as in the case of the disobedient servant, to actually do harm to others and to ourselves.

By believing that the Master is not coming or is not already with us, we can fall into the temptation of making ourselves the Master, which will only lead us to sadness.  We must, therefore, be vigilant, like the good servant who believes that his master is coming, will come, and carries out the master’s wishes.  This will lead us to peace.

Finally, I would like to say a word about the servant who was ignorant of the master’s will and was not following the master’s will.  This servant was beaten “lightly,” because he was not disobeying the master, as he was not aware of the master’s will.  In this case, we see that the master lenient with those servants who act out of ignorance, and I believe that this is the case with many people. 

God knows us.  He knows our weaknesses and our strengths, and he knows when we are acting out of our weaknesses—our fears, needs, inadequacies, biases or past hurts—instead of our strengths.  I believe that in these moments, when we “forget” God’s will for us, God gives us a “light” chastisement, not a severe beating.  It may be a different matter for those, however, who believe that God is not with them and who knowingly plan to act in direct contradiction to God’s will.

Our goal, in all of this, is to be that “faithful and prudent steward” who knows God’s will and is vigilant about carrying it out.