Luke 12c: HG Bishop Youssef

The Faithful Servant and the Evil Servant

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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.

• The Lord is still addressing the disciples and continuing to talk about greediness and covetousness and the love of money
  • As followers of Christ, we treat the accumulation of wealth and earthly goods with indifference because no man knows when the end of those things will come.
• Let your loins be girded and Let your lamps be burning
  • Since we don't know when we will leave this world, our hearts should be focused on something else. Be like servants waiting for their master - let your loins be girded
  • Men and women wore long flowing robe. When they worked or walked or ran, it was necessary to tie up the flowing robe with a belt around their waste or it would obstruct their work or walking or running.
  • Girding loins means to be ready, be active, be diligent. Be ready for the coming of the Lord!
  • Lamps burning (Psalm 119:105 - Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path).
  • If my waste is girded but the road is dark, I cannot run... I will stumble. I need a lamp to enlighten my way.
  • Girded waste is the inner willingness to serve the Lord and inner readiness for the coming of the Lord. The burning lamp is the external service - the outwardly service that will shine before men (let your light shine before men that they may see your good works) or the Word of God enlightening my way.
  • St Augustine: "What does it mean to be dressed and ready for action? To control our passions and be chaste. Lighting our lamps is to light them brightly with good deeds and righteous work (let your light shine before men)
• The master will gird Himself and make them sit down to eat and serve them.
  • I'm sure the disciples remembered these words on covenant Thursday
• If he shall come in the second or third watch
  • The Jews had three watches: 6-10pm, 10pm-2am, 2am-6am
  • The Romans had four watches: 6-9pm, 9-12am, 12-3am, 3-6am
    • This is what we follow in our Coptic Tradition
    • 6pm Compile (12th hour)
    • 9pm Veil
    • 12am 1st Watch
    • 3am 2nd Watch
    • 6am 3rd Watch
    • 7am 1st Hour
    • 9am 3rd Hour
    • 12pm 6th hour
    • 3pm 9th hour
    • 5pm 11th hour
    • 6pm 12th hour (Compline)
  • We read this gospel at the 3rd watch to remind ourselves to be ready - even at the 3rd watch
  • 2nd and 3rd watch are the weary hours of the night when it is difficult to watch and be ready
  • Church Fathers said:
    • 1st Watch: Childhood and Infancy
    • 2nd Watch: Youth
    • 3rd Watch: Adulthood
    • 4th Watch: Seniorhood
    • Watching is more important in the 2nd and 3rd watch when one is busy with work, studying, marriage, kids, etc. Children don't have accountability and we don't expect them to watch!
• A thief never announces his coming
  • The coming of the Lord will be at an unexpected hour
  • The way to be ready for a thief is to live in constant readiness
  • The way to be ready for the Lord is to live in constant readiness
• The Lord is coming
  • Some will be faithful and ready
  • Some will be unprepared and unaware... the people of the world
  • What of the delay in His coming?
    • An opportunity for repentance
    • A test for the loyalty of the faithful
• Peter asks if this parable is for the disciples or for all
  • The disciples are stewards of the Church and have a great responsibility in serving the Master
  • The multitude are stewards too! Each one for his own body and his soul, to preserve it and take care that he receives salvation
  • The parable is for every faithful and wise steward
• Faithfulness and Wisdom
  • An owner of a business who wants to hire a manager will look for someone who is faithful and wise.
    • Wise to make good decisions and make a profit.
    • Faithful means he won't steal that profit.
  • Faithful and wise stewards of God will use our talents to make a profit and render that profit to the Lord. (i.e. to give glory to God)
• Their portion of food in due season
  • Right food
  • Right amount
  • Right time
• Cut in two
  • The person who harms the glory of Christ, or dares to scorn the flock of Christ is no different from an unbeliever who does not love God and does not know God
  • To be entrusted to tend the flock of the Lord needs love in the heart
  • At ordination, when he enters into the altar, the Bishop tells him "enter into the joy of your Master" as if to say "you were faithful over little now you are entrusted with more"
• Degrees and Grades of Punishment... Degrees and Grades of Glory
  • He who is called to a service, God gives the ability to carry out this service... so there is no excuse tolerated in the end.
  • In heaven, there are different levels of glory and in hell, different levels of punishment

Christ Brings Division

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⁴⁹ “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! ⁵⁰ But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! ⁵¹ Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. ⁵² For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. ⁵³ Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

• Fire
  • Fire in the Old Testament
    • Purification
    • Discernment
    • Judgment
    • Presence of God
    • Holy Spirit
  • The Fire here is either the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost
  • Or the refining and purifying fire that the Lord will light in His Death and Resurrection that will transform the New Covenant people of God
  • "By this the Lord wanted to present to us a disciple full of blaze and fire ready to endure every risk"
• Baptism
  • The Baptism of pain, suffering, death - the passion of the Lord
  • He knew that it must be gone through to bring about the result which He left heaven and became Man for
  • These words express the distress and trouble that Christ was in because His humanity is perfect... he experienced everything as a perfect Human... Agony, pain, death
  • "By His baptism, He means His death in the flesh. By being constrained because of it, He means that He was saddened and troubled until it was accomplished." - St Cyril of Alexandria
• Division not Peace
  • The Lord is giving a warning that His gospel will not bring unification to the people, but it will be a source of conflict and division - even within families. This may be the price that one must pay to be a faithful and wise steward of Christ
• House of Five
  • 2 are the Jews and Gentiles; 3 are Christians who believe in the Holy Trinity
    • Father against son: the devil who set himself as father to the nonbelievers. When Satan finds his son renouncing him and accepting Christ, to be son of the heavenly Father, then Satan will rise against his children who will leave him
    • Mother against daughter: the Jewish synagogue who attacked the Jewish Christians (like the man-born blind who was cast out)
    • Mother-in-law against daughter-in-law: the Jewish synagogue who attached the Gentile Church who accepted being united with the Bridegroom
    • The early church (i.e. the Jewish and Gentile Christians... the daughter and daughter-in-law) rejected the literal deeds of the Old Covenant
  • (Ambrose) 5 is the five senses
    • 2 are the hearing and the vision... if you isolate these two and make them totally sanctified, you see and hear what is pure and holy, then it will resist the wrongful physical pleasure which comes through taste, touch, smell
    • The 2 are against the 3

Discern the Time

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⁵⁴ Then He also said to the multitudes, “Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming’; and so it is. ⁵⁵ And when you see the south wind blow, you say, ‘There will be hot weather’; and there is. ⁵⁶ Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?

• The Lord now turns His attention to the crowds and rebukes them for not discerning the time
  • This time is the time of the revelation of the Messiah... humanity waited 5000 years for Him and now He's in your midst and you cannot discern Him
  • You know the signs in the sky and can predict the weather, but you don't know the signs written in the Scriptures?
  • You should have recognized the signs and realized that judgment is near

Make Peace with Your Adversary

52:59

⁵⁷ “Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right? ⁵⁸ When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. ⁵⁹ I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite.”

• It's not that they didn't know what was right... but they did not act on their knowledge of what is right.
  • They were passing unrighteous judgment on the preacher of repentance
  • They accused John the Baptist of having a demon
  • Accusing the Lord Jesus that He is a drunkard
  • They heard the truth but did not act on it
• If you wait until you stand before the throne of God, the Judge, it will be too late for you
  • There is urgency to get right with God now
  • Readiness
  • Watchfulness
  • Anticipation of the Return of Christ
• St Augustine says that your adversary is the Word of God
  • When you sin, the word of God tells you not to do that
  • If you like to get drunk, it says to you "do not do that"
  • If you like to commit adultery, it says to you "do not do that"
  • If you like to go to clubs, it says to you "do not do that"
  • In whatever sins you wish to follow your own will, it says to you "Do not do that" 
  • It is the enemy of your will until it becomes the assurance of your salvation. Oh, what an honest and helpful enemy!