Luke 12:32-48
Jesus said to his disciples: “What I’m trying to do
here is get you to relax, not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond
to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these
things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep yourself in God-reality,
God-initiative, God-provisions. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns
will be met. Don’t be afraid of missing out. You’re my dearest friends! The
Father wants to give you the very kingdom itself.
“Be generous. Give to the poor. Get yourselves a
bank that can’t go bankrupt, a bank in heaven far from bankrobbers, safe from
embezzlers, a bank you can bank on. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where
your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.
“Keep your shirts on; keep the lights on! Be like
house servants waiting for their master to come back from his honeymoon, awake
and ready to open the door when he arrives and knocks. Lucky the servants whom
the master finds on watch! He’ll put on an apron, sit them at the table, and
serve them a meal, sharing his wedding feast with them. It doesn’t matter what
time of the night he arrives; they’re awake—and so blessed!
“You know that if the house owner had known what
night the burglar was coming, he wouldn’t have stayed out late and left the
place unlocked. So don’t you be slovenly and careless. Just when you don’t
expect him, the Son of Man will show up.”
Peter said, “Master, are you telling this story
just for us? Or is it for everybody?”
The Master said, “Let me ask you: Who is the
dependable manager, full of common sense, that the master puts in charge of his
staff to feed them well and on time? He is a blessed man if when the master
shows up he’s doing his job. But if he says to himself, ‘The master is
certainly taking his time,’ begins maltreating the servants and maids, throws
parties for his friends, and gets drunk, the master will walk in when he least
expects it, give him the thrashing of his life, and put him back in the kitchen
peeling potatoes.
“The servant who knows what his master wants and
ignores it, or insolently does whatever he pleases, will be thoroughly
thrashed. But if he does a poor job through ignorance, he’ll get off with a
slap on the hand. Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts,
greater responsibilities!
Food for Thought:
This passage has two senses. In its narrower sense
it refers to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ; in its wider sense it is a call
for every living person to prepare for the meeting of God. In either case,
there is praise for the servant who is ready. None of us can tell the day or
the hour when eternity will invade his or her time and summons will come. How,
then, would we like God to find us?
(i) We would like him to find us with our work
completed. Life for so many of us is filled with loose ends. There are things
undone and things half done; things put off and things not even attempted. Many
of us are servants of procrastination. Let us be like Jesus, who said, "I
have accomplished the work which thou gavest me to do" (Jn.17:4). As a
rule, we should never lightly leave undone a task we ought to have finished,
before night falls.
(ii) We would like God to find us at peace with our
fellowmen. It would be a haunting thing to pass from this world at bitterness
with a fellow. No man should let the sun go down on his anger (Eph.4:26), least
of all the last sun of his life. As we don't know which sun will our last, we
do well to live each day as if it is the last day, the only day we have.
(iii) We should like God to find us at peace with
himself. One day, aw we lay dying, it will make all the difference to know that
we are going out to a stranger or an enemy, or going to a loving God. Make
every going to bed at night a rehearsal of death, and when the real death
comes, you will have practiced enough. Remember, Practice makes perfect!
Jesus draws a picture of the wise and the unwise
steward. The unwise steward made two mistakes.
(i) He said, I will do what I like while my master
is away; he forgot that the day of reckoning must come. We have a habit of
dividing life into compartments. There is a part in which we remember that God
is present; and there is a part in which we never think of him at all. We tend
to draw a line between sacred and secular; between Sunday and the rest of the
week; between holy places and secular places. But if we really knew what
Christianity means we would know that there is no part of life when the master
is away. We are working and living forever in our great task-master's eye.
(ii) He said, I have plenty of time to put things
right before the master comes. There is nothing so fatal as to feel that we
have plenty of time. Jesus said, "We must work the works of him who sent
me while it is day; night comes when no one can work" (Jn.9:4). One of the
most dangerous days in a man's life is when he discovers the word
"tomorrow." Tomorrow never comes; yesterday never comes back; only
today matters. Live it well.
The passage finishes with the warning that
knowledge and privilege always bring responsibility; our privileges, our
opportunities, our riches, our money, all is responsibility. To whom much is
given, much is demanded of him. Sin is doubly sinful to the person who knew
better; failure is doubly blameworthy in the person who had every chance to do
well.
Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater
gifts, greater responsibilities!
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