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Today's Gospel
Which Servant Will You Be?
5 min
Gospel
Lk 12:39-48
But know this, that if the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would have been awake and would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing. Truly, I tell you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will punish him, and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master’s will, but did not make ready or act according to his will, shall receive a severe beating. But he who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating. Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of him to whom men commit much they will demand the more.
Readings are from Dynamic Catholic’s New Testament Bible: RSV Catholic Edition
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Transcript
Which Servant Will You Be?
What is it that jumps out at you today? Is there a word, a phrase, an idea? Jesus is speaking about servants, masters, servants given missions by masters and masters coming back and finding those missions well-tended, well executed, faithfully taken care of, masters coming back and finding things are not in order. And I think for me, one of the biggest challenges in reading the gospel and reading it over and over again is to learn to see myself in each and every single person in the gospel.
I think it's easy for us to think, "Okay, yeah, we'd be like the good-- we'd be like the good servant." It's easier for us to think that way, or it's easy for us to beat up on ourselves and like, "Ah, my life isn't in order. My spirituality isn't in order. I'm like the bad servant," and it's easy to woe is me and put that upon ourselves, and neither of those are the fullness of what God wants us to experience in the gospel. I think he wants us to be able to see ourselves in the good servant because there are many holy moments in our lives. We are striving to live the gospel, to walk with God, and so there are inevitably many holy moments in our lives.
There are many moments where we are the good servant, but there are still moments where we do fail, where we get distracted, where we get lazy, we get tired, and we do end up like the slothful servant. And to be honest with ourselves, the gospel seeks a rigorous honesty in us, honesty about ourselves, to be honest with ourselves about, "Okay, I am capable of both of those realities. I have participated in both of those realities, and going forward, I have a new awareness that will allow me to see when I'm slipping down that unfaithful path, allow me to pull myself back to be that good and faithful servant of the Lord." Have a great day, and remember, Be Bold. Be Catholic.
