Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not be afraid any longer, little flock,
for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.
Sell your belongings and give alms.
Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out,
an inexhaustible treasure in heaven
that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
“Gird your loins and light your lamps
and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding,
ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.
Blessed are those servants
whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.
Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself,
have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.
And should he come in the second or third watch
and find them prepared in this way,
blessed are those servants.
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, the master will put the servant
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.”
This gospel today definitely has a message for us all, but when Peter asks “is this for everyone, or just us?” Jesus responds directly to Peter and the apostles, with a stern warning to be vigilant. The servants in this parable are the bishops and priests distributing the eucharist, and watching over His flock. The good servant is the one that obeys the law, is vigilant of the masters return and takes care of the flock, the wicked servant is the one that uses his position as steward to take advantage of those put in his charge, and to aggrandize himself.
For a little context on how to better understand this reading we need to go back to the prophet Isaiah, who gives us a wonderful explanation of the role of the steward in chapter 22 of his prophecy. He says the steward held the keys to the kingdom, he could bind and loose, and only the king had more power in the kingdom than the steward. But most importantly for the context of the reading today, the steward was left in charge of the whole kingdom when the king was away, and the steward would be held responsible for what happened to the king’s people and his kingdom during his absence.
And this is the primary message of today’s gospel. Jesus is speaking to the people that He left in charge of His church after He rose into heaven…, He is warning them that they will be judged more severely than the rest of us, because they were left in charge to lead and guide us while He was away. I truly wish, that when the liberal “anything-goes” catholic priests read this gospel at mass today, would hear Jesus speaking directly to them, and change their ways, and convert their hearts to being good disciples of the Lord.
We live in a world with many bad shepherds, and they are unfortunately very empowered and encouraged by the secular world and sadly from the leadership in the Vatican. These wicked servants will have to stand before Jesus at their judgement, and they will have to account for their actions. I would not want to be them on that day, and I hope that they will read this gospel, and take heed. While they still have blood pumping in their veins they have time to repent. I pray that they take the opportunity that God is gracing them with today, and move to conversion.
We the members of the masters flock have a part to play in this reading today too. You have the grace of being given a choice as to which servant you are to follow. Are you going to follow the James Martin’s or the Joe Biden’s of the world, that pick and choose what parts of the church’s teachings that they are going to follow? or are we going to follow the good stewards, the Bishop Strickland’s, or Father Altman’s of the world, that teach the truth and hold us to the master’s standard.
It is easy to follow the wicked servant, because he lets you get away with being wicked, but in truth he is spirtually abusing you. It is much harder to follow the good steward, because it requires discipline, and fasting, and faithfulness, but the promise of heaven is awaiting you. I pray that we all can find the good steward, that will shepherd us straight to heaven, and that the wicked steward will realize the error of his ways, before it is too late.
