<p>12:42 <i>And the Lord said: Who then is the faithful and wise steward- </i>See on :41 and 1 Tim. 3:15. One aspect of spirituality leads to another. Thus the Lord commends the one who is watching for His coming, and then speaks of how those who are to be accepted at His coming are those busy preparing spiritual food for their brethren (Lk. 12:39,42). The implication is that he who is watching, truly watching, for the return will be busy about the brotherhood&rsquo;s needs; and in caring for them is our own personal preparedness.&nbsp; &ldquo;Let patience have her perfect work... let brotherly love continue&quot; sounds as if we must allow the process of righteousness inspired by spiritual acts of love and patience. We can obstruct that process (James 1:4; Heb. 13:1).</p><p>The Lord is replying to Peter's question as to whether we the hearers and readers are to assume that it is our responsibility to feed others in the household. The answer seems to be that yes it is, because this is what is naturally elicited by watching and being alert for the Lord's return.</p><p>Our &lsquo;watching&rsquo; is to be expressed in terms of ensuring that all the household have their food at the appropriate time. In Mk. 13:34,35 the Lord expands on this parable in saying that each of the servants are given a different work, but He wants us to be like the doorkeeper AV &ldquo;porter&rdquo;, whose job it was to simply watch- and &ldquo;You, watch, therefore&rdquo;. Putting together the various images, we see that we are likened to the very master of the house; then to the chief steward who was to provide food for the household; and then to the lowest doorkeeper. We are thoroughly representative of the Lord Himself, the steward of the household, and the lowest servant, the doorkeeper. But throughout the analogies, we are to above all mirror the way in which they watched / looked out for the wellbeing of the household. Being occupied with this is what makes a person ready and watching for their Lord&rsquo;s return.</p><p>This is the &ldquo;good and faithful s.w. servant&rdquo; of Mt. 25:21,23 who is commended for trading his Lord&rsquo;s goods and making increase of them. Here, the duty of the faithful servant is to care for the household. These are different metaphors for the same reality- spiritual care for others is a way of increasing the overall wealth of the Lord and the progress of His household. We have been delegated a huge amount, and the Lord is &lsquo;absent&rsquo;, not in the sense that He is not spiritually with us, but in that He will not intervene in how we carry on His work. The salvation and spiritual prosperity of others is therefore in our hands. By laziness and unwise behaviour we can seriously damage them and limit the progress of the Lord&rsquo;s business; and He being &lsquo;absent&rsquo; will not forcibly intervene to stop us, in this life. The &ldquo;wise servant&rdquo; is likewise to be connected with the &ldquo;wise s.w. virgins&rdquo; (Mt. 25:2,4,8,9). The connection is, however, slightly odd. The wise servant is to provide food for the others in the household. The wise virgins were unable to provide oil for the weaker members of the household, because they were themselves weak and had fallen asleep when clearly they were intended to remain awake. If the connection with the next parable is indeed purposeful, then we are left with the picture of the wise virgins being wise only in that they&nbsp;<i>intended</i>&nbsp;to provide for others, although in reality they were too weak themselves to follow through with that intention in practice. But their intention to do so was counted to them as wisdom.</p><p><i>Whom his master shall set over his household to give them their portion of food in due season?</i>- The idea is surely that if we are doing that now, we shall do it eternally. If we are found &lsquo;doing&rsquo; care and provision for the household, then we shall be empowered to eternally do this in essence. The important thing is that when the Lord comes, He finds us engaged at least mentally with what we shall eternally be doing, living the essence of the Kingdom life now. We have been made ruler over the household now; we shall be set over it eternally if when the Lord comes He finds us doing what He has appointed us to do. When the Lord comes, He finds the servant either smiting the servants (Mt. 24:49), or feeding and caring for them (Mt. 24:45). Our attitude to our brethren in the moment of our Lord&rsquo;s coming will decide our eternal future. The structure of the parable allows of no half way position. The purpose of any authority given to any of us within the household is in order to feed others. If that, in the end, is not being done, then we are abusing the trust and authority given us by the Lord. The &ldquo;food&rdquo; is called their&nbsp;<i>sitometron&nbsp;</i>in Lk. 12:42, their &ldquo;portion of food&rdquo;, or ration. The impression is given of a steward providing the right food &lsquo;nourishment&rsquo; for the right persons at the right time. This is the essence of all care for others.&nbsp;<i>Kairos</i>, &ldquo;due season&rdquo;, means literally &lsquo;time&rsquo;, and is often used about &lsquo;the time&rsquo; of the Lord&rsquo;s return (Mt. 8:29; 13:30; 16:3; 21:34). Indeed it is used in the Olivet prophecy for this moment: &ldquo;You know not when the time is&rdquo; (Mk. 13:33). The idea seems to be that instead of worrying about calculating &ldquo;the time&rdquo; of the Lord&rsquo;s coming, we are instead to be concerned with feeding others in the household at that&nbsp;<i>kairos</i>&nbsp;or time. This is the sign of our preparedness and watchfulness, and not our apparent skill in matching world events to Bible prophecies.</p>