Temptations to Trustworthiness!

Wednesday, October 21, 2026

Eph 3: 2-12; Lk 12: 39-48

Today’s Gospel highlights the temptations to trustworthiness in those who are called to be faithful and prudent.

Jesus speaks of a master who entrusts his household to a servant while he is away. The servant is expected to remain faithful and vigilant. However, when the master’s return is delayed, the real test of trustworthiness begins. Here, Jesus lets us understand that trustworthiness is about being faithful in the absence of the master, and, therefore, it essentially reveals the state or condition of our hearts. 

We may cite three temptations that threaten our trustworthiness.

1. A Taken-for-Granted Attitude: The servant begins to think that the master’s return will be delayed and behaves with a taken-for-granted attitude. This attitude points to a spiritual obstacle. God’s patience is not a license to irresponsibility but an extended opportunity for conversion and reconciliation. 

2. A Carefree and Violent Lifestyle: The carefree attitude of the servant results in his negligence towards his duties and embrace of an abusive and indulgent lifestyle. This again points to another spiritual obstacle. Jesus helps us realize that we have freedom to love and do what is right, and it should never become a gift that we can abuse at will. 

3. Defying What Is Good: The third temptation in the servant is the wilful negligence of what is good. This spiritual obstacle pertains to the deliberate disregard of the servant, though he was aware of what his master expected of him. Sometimes, the problem is not that we do not know but that we refuse to do what we know to be good and true. 

Jesus teaches us that trustworthiness calls for aligning our actions with our words. 

Let us pray that we may be faithful to what God has entrusted us with. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar