We do not know how the administrator in the gospel parable was failing to perform his duty for his master. Perhaps he had gotten lazy or had gotten complacent and had stopped giving his best effort and so was merely negligent or perhaps was actually even incompetent. Whatever he had done or had failed to do, it cost him his job. He does not seem surprised that his poor performance has merited his termination. The really sad part is that it is his notice of termination that prompts him to be creative, to be astute and to finally get to work. If he had been this creative and diligent all along, he probably would not have lost his job.

The scriptures this weekend call us to not get lazy or complacent. All of us have a task to do, a part to contribute towards the coming of God's reign and this work is ongoing throughout the whole of our lives. With Saint Paul we are called to model our lives on Christ with our focus not on earthly things but on our true citizenship in heaven and thus conduct ourselves as ambassadors of Christ, making good use of the things of this world and interacting with worldly people but not becoming distracted or misled by them.