First reading: Wis. 18:6–9

The night of the passover was known beforehand to our fathers, that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith, they might have courage. Your people awaited the salvation of the just and the destruction of their foes. For when you punished our adversaries, in this you glorified us whom you had summoned. For in secret the holy children of the good were offering sacrifice and putting into effect with one accord the divine institution.

Second reading: Heb. 11:1–2, 8–19

Brothers and sisters: Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. Because of it the ancients were well attested.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was to go. By faith he sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise; for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God. By faith he received power to generate, even though he was past the normal age—and Sarah herself was sterile—for he thought that the one who had made the promise was trustworthy. So it was that there came forth from one man, himself as good as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sands on the seashore.

All these died in faith. They did not receive what had been promised but saw it and greeted it from afar and acknowledged themselves to be strangers and aliens on earth, for those who speak thus show that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land from which they had come, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better homeland, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac descendants shall bear your name.” He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a symbol.

Gospel: Lk. 12:32–48

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

“Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?” And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so. Truly, I say to you, the master will put the servant in charge of all his property. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish the servant severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”

In other words

by Fr. Dionisio Miranda, SVD (Divine Word School of Theology, Tagaytay City)

Regarded poorly as an uneducated rabbi, Jesus astounded his contemporaries with his insight into human nature and society. From their own work, today’s managers will spot similarities in how Jesus planned, organized, staffed, directed and controlled his disciples. If the main goal is improved workplace performance, then management must pay attention to issues like structure, loyalty, communication, efficiency, advancement, guidance, and leadership. Alternatively they may approach their task thematically through division of work, authority and responsibility with accountability, unity of command through centralized decision making, discipline and unity, subordination of individual to collective interests, order and initiative, tenure and stability, esprit de corps, recognition and remuneration. Comb through his teachings and you will find Jesus attending to them all. His planning was both strategic and tactical, he staffed on his own terms or criteria of discipleship, he directed but also led by example, his communicating, motivating, supervising and so on were constant and unrelenting.

And yet he was a manager like no other; he spoke with an authority not found among leaders or peers of his time. He laid the foundations for what would be a movement across history beyond the organization it would eventually structure into. He focused less on the goals of effectiveness and efficiency of organizations and more on the morale and ethics of a communal movement. He consciously dissociated the dynamics of his following from those of similar schemes of his time. Morale-wise, he critiqued and alerted his disciples against certain ideologies and attitudes.

Israel was a theocracy, ruled de facto by a religious class composed of Pharisees, Sanhedrin, and scholars of the Law. Such was its cohesion that it seamlessly fused moral, civil and religious laws with each other. Comprising of 613 commandments, 365 prohibitions and 248 injunctions, this Law represented a flawed tradition which Jesus committed to affirm, purify and redirect to its original intent. The moral had to be distinguished from the civil, because moral integrity had to be fused with the religious. While each had its proper domain, compass, hierarchy, and priorities, ultimately all had to serve the reign of his Father, reflect his will, and hallow his name. 

In the Jewish ethos, the culture of “law” was both clear and confused, strong and fragile, yet not uniquely so, because our culture of law is similarly flawed. Ordinary Filipinos do not always distinguish moral law enough from civil law, or sort out clearly the ideals of the former from the limitations of the latter. Worse, the ruling elite have learned all too lawyerly how to manipulate those cultural flaws in sophisticated ways to suit their interests. In contrast observe how Jesus notes the self-image, ethos and performance of two servant types: one a dutiful officer, the other a rogue official, so unlike each other in terms of loyalty, discipline and accountability. A general lesson in civics and morals meant as well for every religious disciple of Christ.

But Jesus had an extra lesson for his inner circle of apostles, beginning with Peter. Beyond the civics and morals of servants everywhere, Jesus was asking them to frame their service within the paradigm of building the Kingdom, which demands that it be seen as stewardship, or better, servant-leadership. Following Christ begins with affirmation of valid secular norms; it rises beyond those to personal moral values and principles; it finds its religious completion in explicitly embracing the ideals and the beatitudes of God’s Rule over all. Further, not unlike the random management audit, God will visit at unexpected times, for which the best preparation is to anticipate the Master’s wishes, and stand on the ready every single day.

In his hierarchy of values Jesus’ message to the Jews then as now, is that those who live by the religious values of the Kingdom will also be fulfilling the moral law, and therewith discover the moral freedom from the cares of this world. How can a Father-God who has given life not also sustain it? If he could care so much for lesser creatures like lilies and sparrows, how much more for his own adopted children? Jesus demands absolute trust when he invites, “Seek first the Kingdom, and all these things shall be added to you.” God will provide for his own—provided they make themselves God’s own as well first.