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.
It isn't meant to be the case that we behave well only in specific moments where it matters especially much. Rather, the Gospel is meant to define our entire life. We may sometimes find Jesus's concern with a moral lives to be intrusive, since it is meant to extend to every moment. To this extent it will also be unpredictable. We will be preoccupied with ourselves most of the time, and occasionally notice him apparently interfering in our business. If he isn't welcome all the time we will not welcome him when we occasionally notice his presence. It is different if we are trying to live the Gospel and welcome the constant involvement of Jesus in our lives. Then his coming is less no longer like that of a thief. Though still surprising, it is the welcome surprise of the return of the master from a wedding.
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?
Though this passage applies in a special way to clergy, we are all meant to be faithful and prudent stewards of the gifts with which we have been entrusted. Priests have to make the celebration of the sacred liturgy a priority, since, in doing so, they give us the food allowance of the Eucharistic bread at the proper time. But we too have been entrusted with specific and unique gifts that are meant to play a part in the physical and spiritual nourishing of the world. The challenge for all of us is whether we will selfishly exploit the gifts we have been given, and the positions of authority with which we have been entrusted, or whether we will instead use them with reference to the master's will, to his reasons for giving them to us in the first place.
But if that servant says to himself,
'My master is delayed in coming,'
Perhaps it is possible to start out by desiring the return of the master, but letting our all too human sense of absence and delay lead us to eventual disappointment and discouragement. At such times we may decide that he is not, after all, worth the wait. The experience of his absence leads quite naturally to doubts about whether he really loves us as much as we thought or if he can really deliver on the promises he made. And if we decide that he can't, we have no recourse but to take matters into our own hands. The further our hearts are from Jesus at his return the more unwelcome we will find it.
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.
We can maintain a good disposition toward Jesus even during his physical absence because we can know his will for us during this time. Not only do the parables about remaining alert and persevering help us remain grounded when Jesus feels distant, but, at such times, we still have access to a dynamic knowledge of how to live moment to moment through the gift of his Spirit. He may not be walking this earth with us right now but he did not leave us as orphans. Nor even did he merely leave some lifeless text explaining and justifying the situation. The Spirit animates the Scriptures, making them come alive for us, and providing encounters with the risen Lord himself, even across the divide of earth and heaven. The gifts of the Spirit include the prudence, wisdom, and knowledge we need to live well during this period of history. It is a period not so much defined by the fact that Jesus is ascended and visibly removed as it is defined by the superabundant presence of his Spirit here with us. This is the much with which we have been entrusted. It is a gift we must not take for granted.
Phil Wickham - House Of the Lord
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