URC Daily Devotion Tuesday, 10 March 2026

St Matthew 24: 45 – 51

‘Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves 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 wicked slave says to himself, “My master is delayed”, and he begins to beat his fellow-slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards, 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. He will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Reflection

“I’m tired of all these young interviewees telling me they want a job with responsibility.  They don’t.  Responsibility is power with accountability, and they only want the power.”  That’s what a sceptical (or cynical) colleague from the HR department once told me.  How well do you use power, especially when the one who gives it to you is not around to hold you to account?  A householder appoints one of his slaves as steward over the household.  This even includes being responsible for food distribution, which gives him godlike power over the others, able to give or withhold from them their “daily bread.”

In Jesus’s cartoon like parable a wicked steward misuses his master’s power to beat up others, then indulge himself in drinking bouts, presumably financed with his master’s money.  He has power, but the moment of accountability is coming.  The householder returns and metes out severe punishment, though the fact that in this story someone can be both cut into pieces, and at the same time sent to be with the hypocrites,  should caution us against reading it in too literal a fashion.

Yet the question remains: in the light of this parable, how will we use the power that God grants us?  Jesus suggests that it’s not enough for us just to sit quietly whilst we await the arrival of the perfect day.  Here and now, today, we’re expected to act, and to do so responsibly.  We’re to treat the rest of the household well, not just indulge ourselves.  And remember, around here, God’s whole household includes not only the other people, but also the other creatures, and the fabric of the earth itself as well.

So, please act responsibly, and do so today.

Prayer

Generous God,
thank you for the responsibility you have granted me 
in how I can relate to others, whoever or whatever they might be.
May I always act justly and kindly.
May you ever find me at work for you.
Amen.