Faithful And Wise Servant

Luke 12:42-48 - Faithful and Wise Servant

⁴² The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? ⁴³ It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. ⁴⁴ Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁵ But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. ⁴⁶ The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

⁴⁷ “The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. ⁴⁸ But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

Like the master in the parable, Jesus has departed from earth and entrusted His work to us. But also like the master in the parable, Jesus will return someday to judge how well we have performed our duties.

The lesson is that Christ will judge us for what we have done or not done with the abilities and wealth we have been given. It is not sufficient for us to merely live without sinning. We must actively use the gifts we have been given to serve God and to serve other people. Each of us must honestly evaluate our gifts and prayerfully decide how they can be put to the best use. Some of us have been given small gifts and some great gifts, but we must all do our best with what we have:

... From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded. (NRSV, Luke 12:48)

Each of us has something to give. We can give our money and our time to charity, be a friend to someone who is sick or lonely, do volunteer work, or be a peacemaker, teacher or minister. We may give unselfishly of our time to our spouse, children or parents. We may choose a service-oriented occupation, or we may just do our everyday jobs with integrity and respect for others.