Gospel (Lk 12:39-48)

At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: But know this, that if the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

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 say to 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.”

Commentary

Today's gospel, in continuity with yesterday's, includes two more parables exhorting us to be vigilant. Jesus teaches his disciples to care for the people of God entrusted to them. He asks them to live with an attitude of love, concern, tenderness and vigilance.

Every Christian is a steward of God’s mysteries: of the divine life he has given us, of the intra-trinitarian love in which we live, as children of God the Father in the Son through the Holy Spirit; and also of the talents and abilities he has bestowed on us, of the people he has entrusted to us. And no one can replace us in this task.

When we forget that all these goods have been entrusted to us, when we think that we deserve them and we fail to realize where they come from, we end up closed in on ourselves, filled with our pride, our envy, our resentment, our critical judgments. And then, not only do we not care for them, but we end up mistreating others, unable to see them with Christ’s eyes.

As Benedict XVI said, this vigilance means “that man does not lock himself into the here and now and concern himself only with tangible things, but that he raises his eyes above the present moment and its immediate urgencies. Keeping one’s eyes fixed upon God in order to receive from him the criterion of right action and the capacity for it – that is what matters. Vigilance means first of all openness to the good, to truth, to God, in the midst of a world that is often inexplicable and harassed by the power of evil. It means that man strives with all his strength and with great earnestness to do what is right, not living according to his own wishes, but according to the signpost of faith.”^[1]

Jesus wants our life to be fruitful, that we not let our guard down, in order to receive with gratitude and wonder all the treasures of his heart. He wants us to be vigilant in order to put at the service of others our talents and abilities, our smile, our forgiveness, our daily work, our life of faith, hope and love.

Christ presents our life to us as a mission. We have been “set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time.” Our life is a mission. We are here on earth for something, or rather, for someone: for our families, our friends, our co-workers, our neighbors. The eternal happiness of these people depends, to a large extent, on our care for them.

^[1] Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth II. From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, p. 287-288.