Luke 12:41-48
Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?” And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and prudent manager whom his master will put in charge of his slaves, to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions. But if that slave says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and if he begins to beat the other slaves, men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and put him with the unfaithful. That slave who knew what his master wanted, but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted, will receive a severe beating. But one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating. From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.
I’ll be honest, I don’t know what to do with this passage.
The reference to cutting the unfaithful servant into pieces, reminiscent of the barbaric end of the book of Judges (chs. 19-21), is difficult to read. And the distinction between the severe beating the slave who knew better got and the light beating of the slave who didn’t doesn’t make things much better. These don’t sound like the words my Lord would say, even should say.
I realize that I am reading this in light of my own experiences and worldview, but I’m not sure we can ever do otherwise.
And so I’m not sure what to do with this passage. I don’t really know what to make of it.
I do know, however, that this is a parable. And when it comes to parables it’s easy to misread them by a) taking them too literally – they are, after all, an exaggerated story; b) assuming we can easily fill in the corresponding characters as if parables are simple allegories; and c) construct an entire theology from a parable. Parables never intend to tell the whole story, but rather only a part of it, offering just a glimpse of the kingdom and telling the truth, as Emily Dickenson once put it, “slant,” thereby making us work for the sliver of insight we crave.
And so what is the slant truth or sliver of the kingdom this parable illustrates? I suppose it may be as simple as it is straightforward: our obedience to Jesus’ call – his call to care for each other as we would care for ourselves; to take care of the neighbor and receive the neighbor’s care in return; and to look for Jesus’ appearance now in the face of the need of those around us and to wait for his coming at the end of days – all of this is really, really important. So important that even the evangelist will mix threats and promises in order to draw our attention to our Lord’s command.
I know one more thing, too. Growing up, one of the most verses of Scripture that was most important to me comes at the end of this difficult, even violent passage: From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.
This verse, as much as any, has shaped my life in many and various ways, spurring me on in my work and career, pushing me to always ask more of myself, discover things about myself, and put them to work for neighbor and church. Truth be told, I don’t think I knew the larger context of this verse. But perhaps that’s all right. Indeed, perhaps part of what it means to read a book that is simultaneously a human book marked by the shortcomings of its authors and a divine book through which God achieves God’s holy intentions is to struggle to hear God’s divine voice whispering to us amid our human failings.
Prayer: Dear God, help us to sift and sometimes simply endure the more difficult parts of Scripture that we may hear your voice calling us to love you by loving our neighbor as ourselves. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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