This coming Sunday is the 19th Sunday, Year C. In the posts throughout this week Jesus is teaching his disciples to be ready to open to the Master “immediately when he comes.” The answer to Peter’s question (v. 41) directs the discourse toward the Christian leaders especially. The overriding image of authority in this text is one of service.  Something that Jesus applies in a special way to the Twelve as leaders of a restored Israel.  Where the servants are to stand in readiness for the return of the master, the stewards are responsible for their own work as well as that of the community as a whole.  The care of what has been entrusted foreshadows the parable of the sums of money (19:11–27). The sayings on the distribution of responsibilities or gifts in the concluding verse of the section are clearly pertinent for those in authority, but they have a wider application for all on whom spiritual and temporal gifts have been bestowed.

There is no inconsistency here among responsibility, mercy, and punishment. God’s mercy makes allowances for those who do not know what is expected of them. But the most severe punishment is reserved for persons who are entrusted with great responsibilities and who then high-handedly and irresponsibly mistreat others and fail the trust given to them by their Lord. In a time of permissiveness and daily reminders of the pervasiveness of immorality even within the church, these parables can still serve to remind, exhort, and warn Christians of the seriousness of their moral commitments. If much has changed since the first century, some things have changed hardly at all. [Culpepper, 265]

“Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.” (Luke 12:37)

But the message is not just for leadership. All disciples are urged  to remain watchful and faithful: lamps lit, loins girded, eyes alert—not with anxiety, but with readiness rooted in love and trust.

The core message is stewardship as all disciples are entrusted with the Lord’s household; our duty is not just to wait, but to actively care for what has been given to us. Jesus praises those whom the master finds “doing” — not merely believing, but living faithfully and responsibly.  In that we are accountable. Jesus cautions that those who know the master’s will and fail to act accordingly will be held to greater judgment. “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much” (v. 48). Our gifts, time, and opportunities are not solely for our benefit, but for the service of others and the glory of God. We are called to spiritual vigilance—not fear, but purposeful living. The Christian life is not passive waiting; it is daily discipleship, knowing that Christ may come at an unexpected hour.

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This coming Sunday is the 19th Sunday, Year C. In yesterday’s post Jesus highlighted the need for prudence and faithfulness. And now he follows that teaching with a variation on the basic parable. 

 ⁴⁵ But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, ⁴⁶ then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. 

Jesus rounds off this section with a warning of the certainty of punishment for those who fail to do their duty (v.47). Verse 45 turns to consider the punishment to come for those who are not “faithful and prudent” while the master is away. If the master’s absence tempts the servant to say in his heart, “My master is delayed in coming,” he will be punished severely. But we should recall that Luke has established repeatedly that Jesus knows what is in a person’s heart—2:35; 5:22; 7:39ff.; 9:47; 24:38; Acts 1:24). 

This coming Sunday is the 19th Sunday, Year C. In yesterday’s post there is a message about being prepared for when the master of the house returns. Peter engages Jesus: ⁴¹ Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?” Peter perhaps speaks for all the apostles when he asks about the parable. Peter’s question may be meant to raise the question of the privileges and responsibilities of the apostolate. It certainly has relevance to the work of the ministry, a topic that would have been important to Luke’s readers. Both the disciples and the crowd of thousands are introduced in 12:1. In 12:13–14 Jesus responds to a man from the crowd. The sayings introduced in v. 22 are directed to the disciples; therefore, Peter’s question in v. 41 asks for clarification regarding the intended audience, but Jesus answers with another parable. Jesus does not answer directly, but draws attention to the responsibility of all servants, stressing that the greater the privilege the greater the responsibility (v.48)

Green [503] notes: “Perhaps Peter will be as frustrated as the reader may be with Jesus’ answer in vv 42–48, for no direct answer is forthcoming. Instead, Peter’s question (1) draws attention to the universal relevance of Jesus’ message regarding alertness—equally applicable to Pharisees and scribes, the masses, and the disciples; (2) heightens, however, the responsibility of the disciples as people to whom the divine will has been disclosed… and, thus, (3) at least potentially captures the reader in the web of self-reflection: Is this instruction for us?

This coming Sunday is the 19th Sunday, Year C. In yesterday’s post we noted how Jesus points to the past (the Exodus) as a model of what it means to be prepared. Now, having taught about the right use of wealth (vv.22-34, our “missing” text), Jesus reinforces those teachings with the reminder that earthly things are transient at best, but the return of Jesus is certain. In our day, we immediately think in terms of the second coming. But for Jesus’ first century listeners that would be incomprehensible. What is more likely is these verses represent a warning for the impending crisis associated with the crucifixion.  While other meanings may accrue, there is a permanent application in that Jesus’ followers must always be ready to face the crises of life in the spirit of true discipleship. This of course only is the beginning of the meaning and in no way exhausts the richness for clearly there is a reference to the second coming. This passage also fits within a larger theme of watchfulness (12:1-13:9) that is connected not only in theme but in using “masters and servants” as a metaphor for learning and reflection.

“be like servants…ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks”

Be it crisis or second coming, central to the test of faith is the challenge of constant readiness for the Master’s return – either in the parousia or in the Spirit. In several ways Jesus emphasizes that the time of the return will be a surprise – the return of the master from a wedding and the coming of a thief whose arrival is not certain. The examples highlight a constant preparedness – even during the long watches of the night (v.38).

This coming Sunday is the 19th Sunday, Year C. In yesterday’s post we noted that there was a Lukan passage “skipped over” in the Sunday gospel readings. The passage formed a nice bridge between “what matters to God” and “readiness.” Our gospel text picks up the theme of “preparedness” as it is sounded from the beginning of the text: “Gird your loins and light your lamps” Here the motif is raised through the use of two metaphors for readiness. The first—literally, “let your loins be girded”—borrows language from instruction to Israel regarding the Passover (Exod 12:11); they were to eat with “loins girded”—that is, with their long robes belted up in order to free the feet for action.

One also wonders if we are to call to mind more details of the Passover reference. The Passover meal was prepared without any trace of leaven (e.g., Exod 12:8), suggesting a further connection with Jesus’ opening remarks in v 1 of this same chapter. There he instructed his disciples to watch out for the “leaven of the Pharisees.” As we have seen, this “leaven” is manifest in the Pharisees’ fundamental misunderstanding of God’s purpose, their incapacity to discern the authentic meaning of the Scriptures and, therefore, their inability to present anything other than the impression of piety. Continuing to use the Pharisees as a foil against which to sketch the nature of genuine faithfulness to God, Luke now adds that the Pharisaic mind-set that must be avoided is represented in a lack of vigilance and preparedness for the redemptive coming of God.

As Joel Green notes [560] “The second metaphor is also one of readiness, but draws more deeply on the imagery of light and darkness manifest in the Lukan narrative more pervasively. Accordingly, disciples are to identify with “the dawn from on high … [who] will give light to those who sit in darkness” (1:78–79), ready for service in the conquest of darkness, the power of Satan (Acts 26:18). The sort of alertness Jesus counsels is not understood best as a set of activities but rather as a state of mind and heart. Disciples are to be the kind of people who are always on the alert.”

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This coming Sunday in the 19th Sunday in Lectionary Cycle C. Our Sunday gospel follows after the Parable of the Rich Fool (18^th Sunday in Ordinary Time; Luke 12:13-21). Unfortunately, the passage in between (vv.22-34) is not used for a Sunday gospel – yet it carries an important context for our passage and serves as a bridge between the lesson of the rich fool and our text which seems to speak of the second coming of the Son of Man and the judgment that awaits.

²² He said to (his) disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life and what you will eat, or about your body and what you will wear. ²³ For life is more than food and the body more than clothing. ²⁴ Notice the ravens: they do not sow or reap; they have neither storehouse nor barn, yet God feeds them. How much more important are you than birds! ²⁵ Can any of you by worrying add a moment to your lifespan? ²⁶ If even the smallest things are beyond your control, why are you anxious about the rest? ²⁷ Notice how the flowers grow. They do not toil or spin. But I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of them. ²⁸ If God so clothes the grass in the field that grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? ²⁹ As for you, do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not worry anymore. ³⁰ All the nations of the world seek for these things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹ Instead, seek his kingdom, and these other things will be given you besides. ³² Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. ³³ 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. ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.  (Luke 12:22-24)