This parable continues directly from the fig tree in the Olivet Discourse, and it applies the lesson of watchfulness to a specific office. Having told His disciples that nobody would know the day or the hour, Christ turns from the household in general to the servant left in charge of it, and asks what that servant's conduct during the interval reveals about him. Luke records that Peter asked at exactly this point whether the warning was meant for the twelve alone or for everyone within hearing. "Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?"1 Christ does not answer the question directly. He answers it by describing an office that any one of His hearers might hold, in a family, a congregation, or any place where one man has been given charge of what belongs to another.
The Faithful and Wise Servant
"Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods."2 Wealthy households in that world commonly employed a steward, an oikonomos, who managed the estate, supervised the other servants, and distributed provisions on the master's behalf. The office carried real authority and real exposure, since the steward acted in the master's name whether the master was present to observe him or not. Two qualities are named together, faithful and wise, character and competence, and neither substitutes for the other. "So doing" describes a man found in the middle of his ordinary duty rather than a man caught preparing for an inspection, and the reward for that kind of faithfulness is greater responsibility, rule over all the lord's goods rather than merely his household, and not rest at all.
The Evil Servant’s Presumption
"But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken."3 The corruption begins before any visible act, in a private judgment about how much time remains. Once the servant has persuaded himself of the delay, the abuse follows directly: he strikes the very fellow servants he was set over the household to feed, and he spends on his own appetite what was entrusted to him for others. Nothing here is a sudden collapse of character. It is what an unwatched heart does when it decides it will not be examined for a while yet, and the offense is compounded because the man doing it holds a position of trust rather than none at all.
The Lord’s Return and the Servant’s Portion
"The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."4 The timing is stated plainly. This parable stands inside the Olivet Discourse, immediately after the sign of the fig tree, and the lord's return here is the same coming of the Son of man that governs the whole passage, arriving at the point the discourse has already fixed rather than at some private hour known only to this one household. The servant's own presumption about delay is answered by the fact that the lord returns at precisely the hour the servant had decided was safe to disregard.
The portion given is with the hypocrites, and the result is weeping and gnashing of teeth, in the words Christ Himself used and in no others. What the servant's case shows is narrower than his final sentence: his own account of his master, spoken in his heart, was false. He said his lord delayed, and his lord did not delay. The parable reports that failure of judgment and its consequence, the false word spoken in the servant's own heart answered by the lord's arrival at the very hour that word denied.
Degrees of Accountability
Luke records a further principle in the same setting, one that qualifies the parable rather than softening it. "And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."5 Knowledge increases the weight of an account rather than excusing the one who holds it. James states the same principle as a warning to any man who would take up a teaching office lightly: "My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation."6 The evil servant in this parable held both position and knowledge, having been made ruler over the household by the very lord whose return he presumed to predict, which places his case at the higher end of the standard Luke describes rather than the lower.
Stewards, Not Owners
Paul describes the same office in the same terms Christ uses in the parable. "Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful."7 A steward manages what belongs to another, and faithfulness, not ownership, is the entire measure of the office. Peter addresses the elders of the churches with the same charge the faithful servant in the parable fulfills: "Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."8 The reward held out is the same shape as the reward in the parable, given at the master's appearing rather than claimed beforehand by the one who holds the office in His absence. The writer to the Hebrews states the same accountability from the side of those under a steward's care: "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you."9 The account is owed in both directions, by the steward for his household and, in a smaller way, by the household for the steward set over it. Faithfulness in either place is not measured by the size of the trust but by what is done with whatever portion of it has been given. "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much."10 The two servants in the parable were entrusted with the same household and the same interval of waiting. What separated them was not the size of the trust but what each one did with it while the lord was away.
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