Building the Faith Community!

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Eph 3:2-12; Lk 12:39-48

Today’s Gospel continues the servant imagery from yesterday. 

In Luke’s writings, the words ‘servants’ and ‘stewards’ refer to those who give service to the Christian community. 

Hence, Luke implies that those who have a responsibility towards the community are expected to be faithful to their roles and not cause any internal problems that would cause discord among the members. 

While treating the servant imagery, we cannot overlook the fact that Luke shows Jesus himself as the servant in 22: 24-27 and as the Suffering Servant in 23:6-25. 

In essence, Luke presents Jesus as the yardstick for other servants who are charged with serving the community. 

Walking in the footsteps of Jesus, the ideal servant of God would then mean that the servants must imitate him in selflessness because Jesus built the community by shedding his blood and sacrificing his life. 

In this regard, Winston Churchill’s famous words, ‘blood, toil, tears, and sweat’ would offer a helpful paraphrase of Jesus’ self-sacrifice. 

The role reversal in which the master serves his servants denotes God’s absolute gratuity to those faithful servants who, like His Son, proved altruistic and self-effacing in rendering their service. 

Those who follow Jesus can only build communities and not put them asunder. 

Let us pray for the grace to build our faith communities through generous love and sacrifice like our Master. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar