What’s the Question?

Sometimes a simple question does not get a simple answer. I don’t know how many times I have been at meetings during which the entire room moved so far away from the original question that eventually someone felt the need to ask timidly, “I’m sorry, but what was the question?” So it is with Jesus in this passage. If we listen and repeat his initial question, we can get the gist of his frustration: Who is the faithful and prudent manager who gives the slaves their food?

It is obvious that the answer is that there isn’t one. Whether people know or don’t know exactly what they should do, whether they beat people when they are drunk or sober, whether they know or not when the master is coming home, whether they should or should not be punished, the fact is that there is a household of people who need food, and there is no one providing it.

How many times in our world are we in the same situation, lost in theories, while people are hungry or homeless? In the end, our master, Christ, is the one to be trusted. But in the meantime, perhaps we should ask for the question to be repeated and put the soup on.

Lord, cut through our confusion and help us give your children the food they need. Amen. — VF