Podcast: (Luke 12:35-48)

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the Sunday Sit down

and here I'm here with Pastor Grant and we are going to be

diving a little deeper into passage from Luke chapter 12

Luke 12 · chapter mention

that it's a little bit odd. I mean, we've had some odd

passages. This one is like the the

parables are, are just they're a little bit less obvious than

some of the others, it feels like.

And so I know we all had some lingering questions coming out

of yesterday, but, you know, I think it's worth just looking a

little deeper at a couple of these things.

And so I don't know if there's anything you wanted to say

following up from yesterday before we before we dive in,

but. Yeah, I think, I think the main

thing to remember is that Jesus is teaching in parables.

And so we're going to get more into that obviously in in our

conversation today. And what, what you don't always

have time for in a sermon when you're trying to preach, when

that's reasonably lengthed, like, like it's not, you know,

not into the 50, whatever, 6 minute, the time frame.

You can't do everything. Yeah.

So one of the things that that we had played with, like an idea

that we had played with for the sermon on Sunday was how much,

how much teaching about parables should we do at this point?

We're going to go into more parables in Luke.

Luke, we're into a section really that in the Gospel of

Matthew, a lot of this is included in the Sermon on the

Mount section. And so Jesus is teaching in

parables. He's using parables to teach

about what? The Kingdom of heaven is like,

so the Kingdom of heaven is like a is language that's more

commonly found in Matthew, right?

So he says the Kingdom of heaven is like in this parable case,

like a master who went away to a wedding feast and then when he

returned. So Jesus is trying to give us

snippets or like a vision of what the Kingdom of heaven is

like by using for his day modern day analogies, modern day

stories, modern day examples that everybody would be familiar

with. Yeah, so I think that's a

helpful place to start, just to say that Jesus is not, he's not

drawing like literal 1 to one connections all the time with

his parables. In fact, you kind of have to

zoom out and try to take like there's a nugget of truth here.

There's something very profoundly true about the

Kingdom that Jesus is trying to communicate.

But if you get too into the weeds on each parable and each

person and how do they line up, it can be really complicated or

really difficult, I should say, to then walk away with what

actually is that nugget of truth about the Kingdom.

So one really good example of that is you have this opening

parable where Jesus says, you know, be dressed and ready for

service, keep your lamps burning.

We talked about the imagery there calling back to Israel and

God's command to keep your loins girded about like your, your

cloak kind of wrapped up around your waist, tied in a belt,

ready to run, ready for action. Because then he says, because

the master is returning to the house at an unknown hour, like

that's, that's the, the So what the why.

And and so he's saying, OK, be like a servant who's ready for

his master to return in the night so that you servant can

open the door. O in that in that parable, are

we to think, OK, is Jesus, Jesus is the master, right?

And well, like the answer is yes and no.

Like Jesus is not a master of slaves in exactly A1 to 1 way

that the people would have been thinking.

But they can picture him though. So the reason I start off by

saying that is then if you hop down a bit, then it that it

turns and says, well, you know, if the master knew that what

hour at what hour the thief was coming, then he wouldn't have

left his house unguarded. So is Jesus the thief like other

verses talk about you, what Jesus is like, you know, deep in

the thief in the night. Yeah.

So like, what's going on? Is Jesus the master?

Is he the thief? Is he makes he metaphors?

Yes. So, so no, no.

And the answer is yes and no, right?

Because what he's trying to communicate is that they're So

what is certain that Jesus is returning, the Kingdom is

coming, right? That that the Son of Man is

arriving, that that is a already and not yet reality.

That's there's certainty. Jesus wants us to think, OK,

there's certainty to the fact that he is arriving, that the

Kingdom is coming, that the Son of Man is here and will yet also

come. But there's also uncertainty.

There's not uncertainty whether or not it will happen, but only

about the time. And, and, and Christians, I

would say, especially modern Christians can tend to fixate on

some of those things. Not, not all branches of

Christianity. I think there are some branches

that perhaps focus a little bit more than others, but fixate

perhaps even in an unhealthy way.

And, you know, it's a little bit more of a caricature, but you

even think about like that this past fall, we had a incorrect

rapture prediction yet again, you know, and but people get

really like, you know, I think there was like a book in like

the 80s was like 88 reasons why Jesus will return in 1988, you

know, like, and it was like they continued, right?

And people have been been like obsessed with this for decades,

centuries. And yet, like when even when you

go back into the Scriptures, there there is at least some

theories from from biblical scholars that like Paul, thought

that the the return of Christ was imminent in in his.

Day in his. Life in his lifetime, right?

And, and so like that is very, you know, like we here we are

2000 years later, right? And it's, it's just, um, we can

lose, we can lose the, the broader point, which things were

trying to say is like we can lose the broader point of what

Jesus is trying to say by fixating on one aspect or one

small portion. Yeah, so if you zoom too far in,

like too close to a parable, it starts to fall apart just like

any, like any metaphor, any analogy stretched beyond its

capacity is going to break. And so, yeah, I think really

what Jesus is trying to do is communicate truths about the

Kingdom using modern day to the to them, you know, modern day

stories and examples that people go, Oh yeah, OK, we know what

that's like. Alright.

He's saying there's there's it's this is important.

There's something important for us to do.

There's urgency here, right? OK, we don't know.

Like a servant wouldn't know exactly when the master was

coming back, but that kind of that adds to the urgency of it.

Yeah, right. Do your job.

Like do the right thing. Do the thing that, you know, to

be the good and right thing inside of the ecosystem.

And I think that one of the harder things to tease out is

and you will be rewarded. Like there's, there's some

measure of reward and punishment we can get to that, you know, a

little later. On and we will.

Yeah, but the, you know, I, I do think that this is a, a good

pause to remind ourselves that parables aren't meant to teach

us everything about the Kingdom, but they are meant to teach us

profound truths about the Kingdom and about our place

within it and role and responsibility about who God is

and how God is acting in the world.

But again, like, if you zoom too close in, you can start to go,

OK, well, what's like, is he, is he the master?

Is he the thief? Yes.

OK, what's that like? Can it be both?

Sure. All right.

But it's only both if you really kind of zoom out and go, yeah,

what's really what is Jesus trying to communicate here?

And I know for me, one of the, one of the tensions that I felt

as we were running through this text was even the, the imagery

of, of the master and slave, right?

Because a servant is in, in other translation translations,

it will say slave, right, which is a servant was a slave, right?

And, and, and I think that servants you can have a picture

of, I think what we talked about, we talked about like you

could have you have the picture potentially of like a, a Butler

or a house servant of some kind who's like a it was not that,

right? Yeah.

This was the, it was the institution of slavery that was

normative in Jesus's day. That was an assumed reality.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, with with the caveat and

not not to explain it away or just say, well, it's fine, but

with the caveat that it looks or looked very different than what

we tend to picture as slavery in like the post transatlantic

slave trade era, right. So indentured servitude,

elective servitude, um, all of those were different options

within. I think the thing that is

important to notice about the way the household was viewed in

Jesus's day. And again, not to say this is

right or wrong, but to say that servants were considered part of

the same household as their master.

So yes, and, and it's important to remember, yes, they were

polar opposites, yeah, of that household, but they were

considered part of the household and part of its management and

part of its proper management was to take care of these

people. So no, yeah, we, we have a, we

have a really hard time with, with like the master and slave

language and tend to either like hyper spiritualize it or throw

it out. And it's like, well, you just

have to, you've got to face it. And again, I do think there's a

similar to the parables realize that Jesus is trying to

communicate something truer than even the the household.

Like Jesus topples a lot of the household norms in in his day

without actually going in and like wiping it all out and

saying like abandon all these things.

But he does like that. I think the most important line

is that the master dresses himself as a servant and serves

the servants like So what Jesus does is he acknowledge like he

uses this institution, this household imagery.

He acknowledges the polar opposite ends that a master and

servant would be on. And they were, and for very real

and, and complicated reasons. But then he flips it.

Yeah. And he says, actually, at the

end of the day, what the Kingdom does is flip.

This flips this entire thing on its head so that the master is

the one who serves and the servant is the one who is placed

at the table and who reclines at the table.

Like that's the language. So I think the challenge for us,

and I just want to name this, I get the temptation to either

like hyper spiritualize it and and also the temptation to throw

it out. I think the you don't fully.

We can't comprehend that flip of like the master taking the role

of the servant without embracing the hard reality of the master

and servant power dynamic that existed.

And just leaning into that rather than rather than shying

away. And that's what I'm, I'm trying

to sort of like become better at.

That's just personally, I'm like, you know what?

There's a part of me that really does not like when we start

talking about those difficult institutions like slavery and

whatnot. And, and so I, I contend to want

to shy away from them and, and, and, but I think that we can

miss out. I can miss out on the beauty of

the flip of that image if I don't feel the the weight of of

the of the of the inverse, right?

Yeah, right. Yeah.

And and what it like what a way to say so for, you know, I don't

know if this is I don't think this is that, you know, happy

podcast feels on a Monday morning.

But like the reality is that the and and I don't have stats

immediately in front of me, but I believe it's true and we can

Fact Check this and put it in the edit if it's not.

But there are more people in slavery today then have been not

cumulatively throughout human history, but more today than

than many other generations previously.

And I almost want to say more period than there has been

again, not cumulatively over the years, but in each kind of era.

We just slavery looks very different now and it is masked

and hidden and, you know, hidden, hidden behind supply

chain management and a whole lot of different economic and I'm

using air quotes here like economic realities that we would

say, well, you know, do we know where our clothing comes from?

Do we know where our goods and services come from?

Coffee, the coffee that we drink, chocolate.

So, so two of the most unethically produced and traded

goods in the world right now are coffee and chocolate.

And I eat that pretty much every day.

So, you know, I think that what a beautiful way to be able to

say definitively no Christian follower of Jesus.

You need to live your way, your life in a way that pushes

against and firmly, like renounces any institution of

slavery, modern or ancient like that.

That is the reality. So to read this and to go, yeah,

well, there there was a there was a slave master relationship.

And that's just the way it was. That's not to condone slavery.

No. No, that's not to done the

relationship. It's to acknowledge the hard

truth that this is the way it was.

And here's the beauty like the beautiful turn that Jesus makes

is that the master will serve will take the place of a

servant. So how like how else are we

supposed to live now as followers of Jesus other than to

say those institutions categorically wrong?

We need to live our lives in a way that flips them on their

head in that, you know, if you've got power and authority

and you do feel like if you're listening to this podcast, you

have a level of, of power and authority, like of authority or

ability of financial ability would do something proactive

with your money. Yeah.

Yeah. So how are you living in a way

that works to flip the current institutions of slavery on its

head? So one of the changes that we

made at the church, and this is like a very simple change and

it's like. We could do so much.

More, we could do a whole lot more, but a very simple thing

that we did was we said, hey, we are going to be very intentional

about where we're sourcing our coffee from because we know that

this is one of the worst traded goods in the world right now.

So we are going to go direct trade through a a Christian

organization that works directly with the farmers, that elevates

women to the level of like ownership of coffee farming and

we buy from ironically Justin. Different.

Buffet coffee. Justin has been to many of the

farms where we source our coffee beans from and that has just

been a really cool part of the last year that I think is a

simple for us, very simple. Yes, we can do more, but it is a

definitive like line in the sand or saying, OK, we know these

things to be true. We're going to work our hardest

to make sure that we are doing this in as ethical and

responsible a way as possible. And so I, I just think that it's

a good opportunity to say that as well.

That's great. And it also, I think when when

you look at, you know, Jesus flipping the script on, on the

power dynamic of of master and slave and as we seek to lean

into greater Christ likeness that we thought to use whatever,

yeah, whatever power we have, whatever authority we have to do

the same, right? I often just go, I go back to

Philippians 2 all the time where where it talks about Jesus

emptying his, his authority and power and and it's like, how can

we do the same? And I mean, there are other

great organizations that are not just doing, not just doing

things like creating, you know, sustainable coffee streams, but

also like, you know, like, I think of international justice

mission and like the work that they do to literally release

slaves, slavery and like wonderful Christian people that

do that, that good work. And, and so like, there's there,

there are indirect things and then like there are direct paths

toward that sort of thing as well.

I know we're slightly on a tangent here, but it's, it's

good. It's.

Yeah, but but I do think just to say I get so yes, tangent, but

this is part of part of what we're naming is I think for many

people would be the difficulty in this language.

Like. Stumbling block.

It can be a barrier, right? It's instantly you read it and

you're like, well, I'm out, I'm out.

Like I'm let's skip this part. Yeah.

Well, and, and equally as we get further into this passage, like

the language gets difficult again.

And, and and so, you know, Peter asks, he kind of leans in.

He's like, Lord, are you telling this parable to us or to

everyone? And Jesus kind of side skirts it

and and goes, goes with a different, you know, kind of a

different parable in some ways and toward the end.

So I'm just trying to pull this up here.

So if we go to like verse 45. But suppose the service has to

itself. My master is taking a long time

in coming. And then he begins to beat the

other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and

get drunk. So obviously not, you know,

exercising the authority that's been bestowed to him.

Very well. And then the master of the

servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and add

an hour he is not aware of, and he will cut him to pieces and

assign him a place with the unbelievers.

So it's like who like very intense, and I mean not like,

not dissimilar from some of Jesus's other parables, like,

you know, you think about like the, the like Lazarus and the

rich man and like some of these like that have very intense,

very harsh imagery. And this one in particular, he

will cut him to pieces. And and you made a couple

linguistic discoveries as you were looking, you know, at

commentaries and and and. Yeah.

Yeah, again, like this doesn't make the sermon.

Not necessarily right. Because it would it would be a

distraction. I think yeah, yeah, I think so.

OK, I think it's helpful to back up.

So Jesus starts by saying a faithful and sensible servant is

1 whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his

other household servants. So here's the one who has put in

charge. So so it's it's the master

elevates one again, this is household.

The role of household manager would be the language and yes

would be a servant, but would be in charge of all of the other

servants. Now, like Joseph from, yeah,

from the, you know, when he's put into slavery in Egypt.

And yes, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's that's a really

good example. So he, you know, the the servant

is put in charge. He's the one responsible for,

and I think this is important, the daily provision of food for

for the other servants like so his responsibility is actually

the well-being of the other service.

Not so again, like it yes, it's, it's a level of authority, but

what Jesus constantly does is challenge the idea of authority

and elevate it beyond just power and influence over people, but

responsibility for their care. And so that's the piece that is

so I, I think it's easy for us to jump to the punishment piece,

but we have to realize that what Jesus is saying here in some way

is that this is not, you know, this isn't, this isn't the

punishment for the servant who fell asleep.

And I was like, oh, buddy fell asleep, couldn't stay awake.

Yeah. And the master came home and had

to, you know, knock on the door and extra three times and the

serum woke up. Like it's not, that's not the,

the the part of the parable that we're at.

We're at a very different part where which is, no, I am as a

like I'm giving you authority. I'm giving you responsibility to

take care of these people. And this that serving goes out

and does the exact literal opposite.

Instead of taking care of them and their needs, he indulges in

his own like desires and over and like over indulges.

So he eats extra portions. That's the implication here.

He gets drunk. So he takes what was.

Here's here's the way I read this.

He takes what was intended for others well-being and uses it

for his own personal overindulgence.

Yeah, yeah. And so that's not only is he not

taking care of the people who have been placed in his charge,

but he is living in a way that actually is selfish and

self-serving to their detriment. Is the way I read this not only

just to their like, OK, all forgetfulness.

I'm going to go over here like I'm gonna go off into town and

do my thing and you guys still have what you need.

It's like the the implication here is that he's doing it.

What it what he is doing is actually harming those other

servants, not just neglecting them, like not just forgetting

about them I should say. Actively.

Actively hurting, yeah. So that is what Jesus commenting

on when then he comes back and says no, that that servant who

was given responsibility and trust over these people, the

punishment for that servant will be greater than for others who

just didn't do what was right because they didn't know.

Hmm. Or who, you know, we're trying

to do the right thing and like, no, if you willfully harm other

people, Jesus saying like that, that that is to an extra

measure, not the way of the Kingdom of God.

And there will be a reckoning for that now.

OK, what is that reckoning? So Jesus uses language that was

very common in the day. And here's the like, so we go,

oh, cut up into pieces. Like, I don't know if you

watched Dexter, but like, it's like don't, don't watch Dexter.

But like, that's like, like that's the kind of thing that

make documentaries about. Right.

Yeah, right. Curbing, I mean, yeah, my, my

mind went to, I think it's like toward the end of the book of

Judges and that, that, that that awful, awful story where like

the, the body gets cut up into multiple pieces.

And now that we're in like PG13 territory for this podcast,

yeah. And and gets like sense to the

12 tribes of Israel and like it. It was like, I don't know, it's

just it's gruesome. However you cut.

It so? So is it literal?

Is it? Is it not it?

Yes and no, right? Here's another example where I

think if you zoom too far in, you go, well, like what?

Like really? Like he's gonna, who's gonna get

caught up? Like that's brutal.

What does Jesus mean? Well, for starters, he says cut

up or cut to pieces and given a place with the unbelievers.

So that's a qualifying statement and given a place with the

unbelievers is qualifying what it means to be cut up or cut to

pieces. When you look a little

different, look like a little deeper in that to that like the

Greek word cut to pieces. What we translate cut to pieces,

it literally means bisect, cut off or cut away.

And so, you know, there is, this is still harsh language.

Yeah. I think about somebody who has

surgery to remove a tumor. You wanna cut off that dead like

tumor, cancerous cell mass so that everything else can live,

which is I don't think what Jesus is saying is that, hey,

you got to be worried that, you know, if you don't exercise your

authority properly, like when the Son of Man returns, he's

going to cut you up into little pieces in like 30 in a ditch.

That's not, that's not literally what he's saying.

Actually, I think what he's saying is a, in some ways a

harsher punishment, which is what Jesus is saying is, you

know, that that servant ought to be cut out of the household

entirely and banished, cut out and removed for the sake of

everybody else, for the sake of the other servants and their

well-being, for the sake of that household management.

You need to cut that one manager off and away so that they like,

for their protection. And so it's it's, it's cut off,

cut away, remove, bisect. But it's really this implication

of, you know, that that one will be cut away and removed for the

health of these other individuals.

So you think about it more holistically as opposed to like

the human being, like the single human being being the whole

thing about the household as being the whole.

So that household gets cut to pieces, right?

Right. And certainly, yeah, it

certainly makes it less gruesome, but obviously the the

reality is still harsh. And that the, the thing that I'm

thinking about, because this is a person who has abused what

authority they've been given and they have, they've harmed people

in their household. They've neglected their, their

responsibilities and duties. I, I think about, you know, and

I think we can look at our profession as, as pastors and,

and we all know stories. You don't have to look very hard

to see them whether they're in the news or whether they are,

you know, just anecdotes that you are aware of, like of people

who have pastors who have abused their authority in, in some.

Way. And then the question is always

what do you do with what do you do?

Like, should you throw out all the books that they wrote?

Should you like, yeah, should you continue reading them?

Like she listened to sermons? Like should we remove all the

sermons from a website? Can they be brought back into

ministry? Like, we wrestle all this stuff

out, like, in real time. Yeah.

And you don't need to look beyond, like, a month ago in the

news, yeah, to start to see some of these things.

Hmm. But the thing that I I'm

thinking about is that Jesus certainly seems to have a

there's an intensity toward the, the person who has been given

that responsibility, which you know, which lines up with for

everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it is proportionate to

your authority. Yeah.

And responsibility. Yeah, which is why it feels so

heinous when when someone who has been given this great deal

of authority and responsibility, when they when they abuse that

in in a profound. Way yeah.

So I like I do think that this is an extra warning to leaders

and especially leaders within the church.

So I, I like, I, I do also think that this is universally

applicable to all followers of Jesus.

So it, it can be both of those. I think this is an extra warning

to those of us who are in ministry and who have a level of

responsibility for a group of people like within the church.

I think this is an extra measure call to us.

I also think that you can say to yourself, who have I been placed

in authority over? I think this is parents to your

children. Yeah, I think this is

grandparents to your children and grandchildren.

Like I I do think that this is, you know, if you're a manager at

work, if you are in any type of leadership authority and I I

would almost argue that everybody has influence over or

towards influence over. Somebody maybe has some

challenging dynamics to it, but everybody has influence in their

life and I think any type of authority or influence that you

have, this is a warning for you. Yeah, well, and you could even

maybe this is a little silly, but like, even if you are

someone who you may not have authority in a, in a job or in

your household, but like, goodness, if you have a, if you

have a cat, like like if you, if, if all that you've got is a

cat, like how are you exerting your authority kindly over that

little creature that you know, is dependent on you?

You know, like that's silly. But I think that like just to

say like it can go from all the way from that to the the CEO of

an organization. Right, right.

And I mean also think that it has in some way something to say

to the way you lead yourself. Yeah, right.

The way you are toward yourself, hand toward, um, your own, your

own person. And, you know, we all know that

we can get into horribly negative cycles of like self

talk. So I think if, if yeah, if all

you have is authority over your own self, this, this is a

warning to you. I do think, and I wanna circle

back to this. I do think that it is an extra

warning to those of us in leadership within the church

specifically. And that is something that I

think you and I have talked about and like wrestle out every

single time you see somebody within the church either make a

confession about something or have charges brought up against

them for some abuse of authority and power.

But we all know, like the, the abuse of authority and power is

one of the like gravest, um, harms that one person can

exercise over another. So an extra warning, an extra

somber warning probably to those who have institutional power.

Yeah, over, yeah, people. Yeah.

So whether that's within the church, whether that's within

politics, whether that's within a school system, whether that's

within, you know, medical systems, any type of

institutional power where like an organization has given you

authority and power, this is this is a warning for you, for

us. Yeah.

So that feels like a bad place to end.

Sure. Here's one of the questions that

I think you could have. Yeah, reading this this parable.

Does that mean that if you mess up Justin that not you if you

mess up, but if if listener messes up?

You could ask me, it's fine. That that you are cut off from

the Kingdom of God, That this is salvation at stake that Jesus is

talking about? Because I think that's a logical

fear, which might not also be a great place to end.

But you know, is is Jesus, is Jesus saying that if you are in

leadership and exercise your power poorly to the extent of

abusing and harming others, that your salvation is at stake?

It it, I mean, it it what's hard is that it does say assign him a

place with the unbelievers, right?

Yeah, Like that's that's a hard one, right?

But but I have to, I have to imagine it, you know, again,

this is where you can go too far down the weeds of exploring

everything because it's really gotta be about, you know, is, is

the person repentant? Is the person going to going to

seek reconciliation as the person?

Like there's, there are so many questions we ought to ask in in

each scenario as it comes up. I I, I think in general, though,

like, I think one thing I would feel comfortable inferring from

this is that like, hey, that person that, that the, the

servant leader, whatever we want to call them, they're not gonna

be in that servant leader role again, even if they've reformed.

Yeah. Like that, that master is not

going to put them in that role. Yeah.

And to me, that is, you know, a sober warning for those of us in

leadership where, where if we have abused that authority, we

should never presume that we are going to be put in a position of

that authority again. Right.

And I've often that, you know, when I've been unpacking

certain, you know, like clergy abuse situations with people and

and someone will say, well, where's the grace?

Where is the great. Like there grace abounds.

There is grace, there is forgiveness, there is grace,

there is reconciliation. All of those things are true.

And I, I can feel myself getting very passionate about this.

This is something I feel very strongly about.

Yeah. Like all of those things are

true, and yet there is no reason why that person, if they feel

still called to ministry in some way, they can get a job at an

Amazon factory, an Amazon warehouse and they can and they

can, you know, minister to his coworkers or whomever.

You know. Like, there are so many ways in

which someone may be called to be participants in the Kingdom

after they've fallen as a leader in some way, but they're

probably not going to be in vocational, They ought not to be

in vocational ministry again. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I, I think it's about leadership and authority, yeah.

So I would say, and I, I, I this didn't make the sermon because

again, you, you gotta go too far down a rabbit hole to even make

the point. And then sometimes making the

point leaves people more at like a place of unease or disease

then then just not making it. I don't think it's about

salvation. Even though Jesus has a place

with the unbelievers. I think he's using very harsh

language to show just how egregious the the the authority

and abuse of is. So I I think he is Jesus is

using language that shows very clearly just how far removed

this makes you or this sort of just how far the division is

that this servant manager has created with his actions.

But just like unbelievers for whom the door of salvation is

open constantly, it's not a salvation thing.

It's it's a, it's an authority thing.

So that's good. I yeah, I don't think that's

somebody needs to live in fear of if I mess up, does that mean

that I'm gonna lose my salvation?

Like, I don't think that's what Jesus is talking about here.

I think what he is talking about specifically is no.

For those of you who have been placed in authority, more will

be demanded of you. More accountability will be

demanded of you because you were given more authority.

And the, the one to whom more responsibility is given, the

more is asked of you. And, you know, I think everybody

feels that, you know, you know, the weight of, of, of

responsibility, right? The weight of be like everybody

who's yeah. And and, you know, I know this

touches on nerves, but everybody who's brought a child home from

the hospital knows like. You, you sit there.

Just. Like, like, Oh my gosh.

I remember being in the. Hospital for this child now.

Absolutely. I remember being in the elevator

in the hospital. It was me and it was one of our

kids. It was our first kid, but it was

me and one of our kids. And like I had her in the thing

and I'm like, and is anybody going to check this seat belt?

Like right. Like you who put me in charge.

Are you going to leave me alone with like?

Are you certain that I can like, walk, just walk her out to the

parking lot? Like this feels like stealing.

Is nobody paying attention to what's happening right now?

But you grow into that responsibility.

I think you feel everybody can feel that weight of

responsibility. And I think what Jesus is saying

is, hey, take that seriously, take the weight of

responsibility seriously. And so you follower of Jesus,

you have responsibility inside the Kingdom.

And what Jesus is saying is take it seriously, like be like that

dad in the elevator who's like, actually, I feel a little, you

know, over my head here, right? I'm, I'm a little bit off into

the deep end like that level of, of, of thoughtfulness or pause I

think is healthy. Yeah.

To go ohk OK, yeah, there's something significant here.

I've been entrusted with some. Big deal.

Let me take it seriously. Let me.

Yeah. So Jesus is saying, hey, take

the Kingdom seriously, take your place within the Kingdom

seriously. You've been given responsibility

regardless of the level of responsibility that is.

Do the thing that you've been called to do and, and take that

seriously and then enjoy it. Find life in it, give life

through it. Don't take life from others.

Yeah, be one who pours life into people.

So I think for all of our roundabout conversation today,

like that's that's what I want people walking away with is not

fear, but this this deep sort of challenge to take it seriously

in a way that breathes life into other people.

That feels like a better place to end.

Agree. That's good.

Well, if you are, if you are joining us over these weeks, we

hope that you'll continue to check us out on Sundays and also

the podcast as we go a little deeper into some of the things

we couldn't get to that were left off the the cutting floor,

so to speak, no pun intended from the actual passage.

But we hope that you'll continue to lean into some of the

challenges and joys that we find in these passages.

And so we'll catch you next time.