Luke 12:42 — Community Reflections

LUKE 12:42 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“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?”

If it bears fruit next year, fine; if not, then cut it down — the gardener's intercession introduces a mercy that extends but does not eliminate the deadline. The fig tree is not given permanent clemency but temporary mercy: the one year represents the final period of opportunity before judgment, and the parable ends without telling the outcome — the outcome is determined by the hearer's response, not the story's conclusion.

Church Fathers on Luke 12:42

Peter, to whom the Church had already been committed, as having the care of all things, inquires whether our Lord put forth this parable to all. As it follows, Then Peter said to him, Lord, speak you this parable to us, or to all?
Theophylact · 11th century

Our Lord had taught two things in the preceding parable to all, even that He would come suddenly, and that they ought to be ready and waiting for Him. But it is not very plain concerning which of these, or whether both, Peter asked the question, or whom he compared to himself and his companions, when he said’ Speak you to us, or to all? Yet in truth by these words, us and all, he must be supposed to mean none other than the Apostles, and those like to the Apostles, and all…
Bede · 8th century

Now to the courageous rightly belong the great and difficult of God’s holy commandments, but to those who have not yet attained to such virtue, belong those things from which all difficulty is excluded. Our Lord therefore uses a very obvious example, to show that the above-mentioned command is suited to those who have been admitted into the rank of disciples, for it follows, And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful steward?
Cyril of Alexandria · 5th century

Read all 20 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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