Monday after the Ninth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 2, 2021 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 12:32-48 (NKJV)
12:32 “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
35 “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; 36 and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. 38 And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. 39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 40 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
41 Then Peter said to Him, “Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?”
42 And the Lord said, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? 43 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 44 Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has. 45 But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, 46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.
Devotion
“Do not fear, little flock.” Do not fear what? Do not fear that somehow you won’t have enough to live on, as if everything depended on you and your anxious toiling. There is no need to cling to your possessions and hoard them away. Your Father is pleased to give you His kingdom! So you are free to part with what you have and give it away, showing mercy toward others instead of worrying about yourself.
Do not let fear for earthly things cripple you, so that you waste your time worrying. Instead, focus on Christ’s return. He hasn’t put you in charge of fixing the world; He has given you a certain set of responsibilities, according to your vocations. Be about those responsibilities, so that Jesus finds you carrying them out when He returns to bring you into the heavenly kingdom your Father is so pleased to give.
Some have been given the vocation of the holy ministry, of the oversight of the household of God. They are charged with caring for souls, loving God’s people selflessly, preaching faithfully, warning earnestly, and comforting tenderly. Pastors are encouraged in today’s reading, but also warned. If they neglect their office, if they become worldly, if they mistreat their members or fellow pastors, if they fall into gross sin and vice, then they will be surprised by Jesus’ return and cast out of the kingdom. So pray for them, and encourage them in their service.
Prayer: Let Thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of Thy humble servants; and that they may obtain their petitions, make them to ask such things as shall please Thee; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
