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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.
Faith is what plays out during the time when the servants await the master's return. Some remember that he has said he will come back and are eager for his return. They aren't lulled into forgetfulness and don't lapse into vice. They remain motivated by his promises, eager for the reward he will give when he returns. They do not make the mistake of trying to find treasure in his absence, by drunkenness and debauchery, or by beating the menservants and the maidservants. If they did not believe that the master would really return they might seek alternative means of satisfying their desires. Even if they did believe it at first they might eventually forget when the wait became unbearably long. But faith kept the future reality of the return of the master in the present in such a way as to provide perpetual motivation until that time. This faith was the means by which they attained the realization of that for which they hoped. The evidence or assurance of things not seen came on the basis of the the certainty of the truthfulness of the one master who made the promises.
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.
When we live by faith we live differently. We don't have to be afraid in the way of that people who believe that some continuation of reality in its present form is all that they can expect, who have placed their hope in this world only. To them, lose and pain and death are the greatest evils imaginable. But people of faith can cling to the things of this world loosely, using the good things it offers for the sake of others, making this world as much like their desired world to come as possible. If they neglected this world it would be evidence that they didn't truly care about the good. But if they sought the good in this world only they would quickly realize the futility of such an endeavor. But since they sought treasure in heaven they were also able to do the greatest possible good here on earth.
Much will be required of the person entrusted with much,
and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.
We have been told what the master requires of us while we await his return. It is not necessarily dramatically heroic, but is more precisely to be found in the humble repetition of obedient fidelity. The important part is not to deviate from this path, not seek to supplant it with ill-gotten gains and illegitimate pleasures when we find it unfulfilling. Even those who did do great and dramatic things for God did so by living their faith one day at a time, taking first one step, then another, trusting in his promise.
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (see Micah 6:8).
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