Chain of Custody
His job was ending, and the books finally had to balance. What he did next decided the kind of steward he'd been all along. A reflection on Luke 16:1-13.
Luke 16:1-13
Phrases that spoke to me today:
• prepare a full account of your stewardship
• the person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones
• no servant can serve two masters
Applying the Word to My Life:
Imagine being responsible for a warehouse. You know what came in, what went out, what was damaged, what was lost, and what's supposed to be sitting on every shelf. There might be millions of dollars of property under your control, but none of it actually belongs to you.
That's the situation Jesus gives us today. A steward has badly mismanaged what was entrusted to him, and suddenly the owner wants an accounting. His time is almost up, and for perhaps the first time he sees the situation clearly: everything in his hands belongs to someone else, and what he does with it before his stewardship ends matters.
That same idea has been running quietly through the lives of the saints we've spent the last several weeks with. Jerome had manuscripts and languages. Vincent de Paul had a dying servant who needed a priest. Cosmas and Damian had medical skill. Thérèse had a convent, ordinary chores, difficult people, and a desire to love God completely. Lorenzo Ruiz had one terrible moment when all he could really decide was whether he would remain faithful.
None of them owned those gifts, moments, or opportunities. They'd been entrusted with them.
That's stewardship. God gives us a life, certain abilities, certain people, money, opportunities, time, and a thousand small chances to love. We hold all of it for a while. Then, sooner or later, our stewardship ends.
Jesus tells us that whoever is faithful in very small matters will also be faithful in great ones. The saints usually didn't begin with enormous assignments. They became saints by being faithful with whatever God had already placed in front of them, and the great things often came later—sometimes much later, sometimes after they were dead.
We keep waiting for God to give us something important to do. The saints learned that the important thing is usually whatever is already in our hands.
Most of those choices won't feel heroic. They look like doing the job well when nobody notices, being patient with someone who is getting on our nerves, praying when we're tired, apologizing when pride would rather stay quiet, or helping when it would be easier to assume somebody else will.
Saints are ordinary people who keep giving back to God what He entrusted to them. God decides how large the fruit becomes.
Someday our stewardship ends too. The question is what we'll have done with what was placed in our hands.
My Response for Today:
Today I'll use one thing God has entrusted to me for someone else's good.