Thursday 26 August 2010

Background

Set in the midst of a series of scenarios around watching andwaiting, and being prepared for Christ's coming, Jesus sets thisparable (a story with a meaning) in the home. This enables thelisteners to feel more comfortable with the warnings and difficulttheme Jesus wished to convey.

The passage begins with being watchful against the possible arrivalof a thief, for if the owner of the house knew when the thief wascoming he would not have let his house be broken into. Jesus thentells another parable which reveals that a good servant will do allhis tasks as if the master is about to return, and will be rewardedfor being responsible, but if another servant takes advantage ofthe master's absence, abusing his fellow servants and ignoring hisresponsibilities, he will be cruelly killed.

So the challenge is always to be ready, to do good always, to be atpeace with oneself so that we are prepared. Changing what we havedone at the last minute to make things right with our maker (whenactually it is too late) is of no use to us.

To Ponder

It is all too easy to slip into a morecomfortable, less pressured way of living, hoping there will betime to adjust things later. Can you recall a time when you werenot prepared? How costly was it? What did you need to do to makethings better?

How do you remindyourself now that it is better to do allyou can, when you can, however you can, than leave things untillater?