Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

“Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?” And the Lord replied, “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. Truly, I say to you, the master will put the servant in charge of all his property. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish the servant severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.” (Luke 12:32-48)

Just a few years ago, around the time COVID was happening and there was a lot of unrest, I thought about this parable a lot. I took it to mean that I should live and even think as if Jesus was coming back tomorrow. It was very easy for me to live without imagining a future for myself, and I thought that this was the faithful way to live.

Looking back at Genesis, God speaks to Abram, promising him hope and a future. Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness. Abram is promised hope for his own future, as well as the future beyond him and the world that he lives in.

The truth is, we do not know what the LORD plans for us. When I was younger, it was easy for me to assume that I had no future just because God had not told me the path He had laid out for me to walk. Faith is certainly not knowing how things will happen, and often it is not even knowing what will happen. When the word of the LORD came to him, Abram did not know how he would have descendants. In fact, not believing that she could have a son, Sarah tried to take the means by which Abraham would have descendants into her own hands and gave her servant Hagar to Abraham to have a child. But God did eventually fulfill the promise he had given to Abraham, and it was through Sarah, who did not believe.

Abraham and Sarah had to wait for the LORD to fulfill His promise. As Christians today, we must wait for the LORD as well. Jesus’s parable explains how we should wait, faithful to our relationship with Him and ready to serve when He calls. Let us not be reckless, impatient, or easily frustrated, though He has grace for this too. Let us live in righteousness, praying we would believe the words of God, and not live in sin which blinds and distracts us.

Even now, sometimes when I read this parable I get uneasy. I think it is helpful for me to read it within the context, reminding myself of the earlier verse: “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the Kingdom.” All we must do is share what we have- storing treasures in heaven- and wait faithfully knowing that Christ could come any day, hoping for whatever He has in our futures. We do not know how, or when, or even what will happen to us, but we can hope in God, and He will always be faithful to us. Amen.

Trusting Christ as We Wait For His Return: Jamie Palmer

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