32nd Week in Ord. Time, Tuesday – 12th November 2024 – Titus 2,1-8.11-14; Luke 17,7-10
Masters or Slaves
In the Gospel, Jesus invites his apostles to ponder their role as leaders: Should they act as masters or as servants? In the beginning, Jesus invites them to contemplate how they, if they were masters, would treat their servants. If their servants just came from plowing their fields or tending their sheep, would they, as masters, expect their servants to sit down, eat a good meal and take a good test or to continue working and wait on them? Naturally they would expect the continuous service of their servants. However, at the end of the parable, Jesus turns the tables and invites his apostles to identify themselves not with a master but with the servants. Just as a servant should not expect their master to be exuberant and grateful when they have only done what they have been commanded to do, so also the apostles should be humble in their service to their God and Lord. Lord Jesus is the servant par excellence. He is the Lord who stoops down, casts off his garment, and washes the feet of his servants to cleanse them from their sin.