SolLuna, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

12/15

Matthew 24:45-51

"Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their allowance of food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives."

"Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions."

"But if that wicked slave says to himself, 'My master is delayed,' and he begins to beat his fellow slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know. He will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Again, in a parable, Jesus targets people in spiritual and political leadership.

One kind of leader takes care of his or her fellow servants. That leader provides adequate wages, food, and fair treatment.

The other leader serves only self and mistreats the other servants.

The parable begs a question: How does a human, earthly master respond to such a situation? He rewards the fair and faithful and punishes the other.

He cuts them up and throws them out. They end up on the outside with weeping and teeth grinding pain and anguish.

One gets left with the impression that some of the present insiders will find themselves as outsiders because they aligned themselves with the wrong values. Those who place their own comforts and pleasures over the will of God and well-being of God's people never really were on the inside.

The people in the story are all employees. There are two kinds of leaders who are both entrusted with the business owners responsibility and possessions. One treats what the master owns as his or her own. The other recognizes that human leaders are merely stewards and treats all that belong to the Master with dignity, respect, and integrity.

In this Advent which points to a final Advent, we are reminded that our calling as earth-citizens and Kingdom citizens is to be wise and faithful stewards of God's people and God's stuff.

In His coming, Jesus gives us a visual representation of some of what that looks like and calls us to participate and be real insiders.

Enjoy some unrelated music.