35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” 41 Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?” 42 The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. 44 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. 47 “The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows.
The parable of the good steward really tells us how we need to act in this life. He frames it in the guise of a servant waiting for his master to return from a wedding banquet. In that time, a wedding banquet could run for a few days up to a month. So if we put ourselves in the mindset of the servant, when the master leaves, the servant has no idea when the master will return. No cell phones or email in those days. The carriage leaves and could return at any time.
So, the servant is tasked with a choice: how do I choose to conduct myself during the master’s absence? Of course, this is the choice we as human beings have in the face of our eternity. Jesus, the master, will one day return. Or we will die before that time. How are we to act in the space of that time? Like the good steward, who keeps the windows clean, the house sparkling, the animals fed, the staff working? Or like the bad steward, who uses the time to indulge in his own selfish acts?
For either choice, there are consequences. For the steward who prepares for the masters return, the scripture tells us there will be rewards: the master will serve the steward and put the steward in charge of all of his possessions. For the bad steward, he will be punished and considered an unbeliever.
So, as Christians, it is imperative that we prepare, during all of the small moments of our life. In other words, preparing for eternity is an everyday event. Just like the good steward in the story, he is prepared, watching from the window and keeping his light burning, well aware the master could return any moment. It hints that we are to make the most of our opportunities, approach life with an eternal outlook, and be prepared, so that when the master returns, or life ends, eternity is at the side of Abraham.