Free and vigilant
In the Gospel, Luke speaks of the vigilance of Christians and their leaders. They are responsible for the grace and talents God has given them. And, says Jesus, the more has been given to us, the more is expected of us, the more we have to be responsible for those entrusted to us.
Persons who have been set free from the slavery of sin, says Paul, should live in the grace of God as free persons. They can only serve what is right and good. They should live as a free and responsible Christians.
Reading: Romans 6:12-18
That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day. Don’t even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you’ve been raised from the dead!—into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that old tyranny any longer. You’re living in the freedom of God.
So, since we’re out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we’re free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it’s your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you’ve let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you’ve started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!
Gospel: Luke 12:39-48
“You know that if the house owner had known what night the burglar was coming, he wouldn’t have stayed out late and left the place unlocked. So don’t you be slovenly and careless. Just when you don’t expect him, the Son of Man will show up.”
Peter said, “Master, are you telling this story just for us? Or is it for everybody?”
The Master said, “Let me ask you: Who is the dependable manager, full of common sense, that the master puts in charge of his staff to feed them well and on time? He is a blessed man if when the master shows up he’s doing his job. But if he says to himself, ‘The master is certainly taking his time,’ begins maltreating the servants and maids, throws parties for his friends, and gets drunk, the master will walk in when he least expects it, give him the thrashing of his life, and put him back in the kitchen peeling potatoes.
“The servant who knows what his master wants and ignores it, or insolently does whatever he pleases, will be thoroughly thrashed. But if he does a poor job through ignorance, he’ll get off with a slap on the hand. Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts, greater responsibilities!
Prayer
Our God and Father,
in the generosity of your creative imagination,
you distribute among people
a variety of gifts and talents
of mind and heart and grace.
Convince us Lord, that what we have received,
we have received for others,
that if we have been given more,
we are not greater or better,
only responsible for more.
Help us to use what we are and have
in the service of others.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.