Some of my favorite moments as a parent are when I spot one of my children doing what they know they are supposed to do at times when they don’t realize I’ve seen them. Perhaps it’s cleaning their room or taking their backpack out of the car after school or, even better, extending a kindness to a friend. It gives me hope that, as they grow, they will have the confidence to do the right thing in difficult moments, ones I may never get to glimpse.
My mother sometimes used to say to us the old phrase: “You are who you are when no one is watching.” I think these words get at the message of today’s Gospel in which servants are tasked with work to be completed unsupervised, while they await their master’s return.
Jesus asks: “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? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so.”
This Gospel can be hard to process, because there is a threat hanging over the servants. The return of the master comes with violence and punishment for those who have failed to follow his will, which can make the whole parable feel more ominous than encouraging. But I think for us today, at its core there is a more hopeful message: He is coming. The one who has asked us to do his work. The one who has given us great responsibility. And in the meantime, it is our job to get to work. Feed the hungry. Give drink to the thirsty. Clothe the naked. Do these things not because we seek praise but because we seek to do God’s will.
In these troubling times in our country and our world, it is understandable that we might feel like it’s easier to give up, to give in to the anger and the hate and despair that feel so prevalent and pervasive. But the Gospel also reminds us: “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.” If we desire a world of peace, of love, there is much work to be done. And it is our job as servants of God to do it, not because we seek power or glory but because it is the right thing to do.
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