Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household to distribute to them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so. 47 Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. 48 But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is long delayed,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with drunkards, 50 the servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour 51 and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
This is a parable about man’s ultimate destiny and how we are to prepare for it. The parable could be teaching about two servants, one wise and faithful and the other wicked and irresponsible, or one slave behaving in two different ways. The master put the slave in charge of his household (v. 45). This has been interpreted as Matthew speaking to the leaders of the early Church. The leaders have been entrusted with the care of the believers and must act wisely and faithfully while awaiting the Parousia. Church leaders will be ‘wise and faithful’ if they do good works, persevere, and wait on the Lord. They will be greatly rewarded (v. 47).
Church leaders will be ‘wicked servants’ if they do not show charity, responsibility, and self-restraint. The ‘wicked servant’ was presumptuous in assuming that he would know when his Master was going to return, but the master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and he will be greatly punished (v. 51). Irresponsible and unfaithful church leaders will suffer the same fate as the unbelieving Jewish leaders (v. 51).
Almighty Father, look not upon the sins of your servants but grant your repentant believers the gift of faith so that we can fulfill your will and persevere in good works during our earthly pilgrimage. May your righteous light shine through our darkness and illuminate the paths to everlasting life. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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