Servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 12:39-48.

Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.
You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come."
Then Peter said, "Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?"
And the Lord replied, "Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute (the) food allowance at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so.
Truly, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property.
But if that servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed in coming,' and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk,
then that servant's master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful.
That servant who knew his master's will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely;
and the servant who was ignorant of his master's will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.

Commentary of the day
Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe (467-532), Bishop in North Africa
Sermon 1 ; CCL 91A, 889

« Servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries » (1Cor 4,1)

Our Lord spoke these words, recorded by the Gospel, to clarify the function of the servants he had set at the head of his people: «Who is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so». Who is that steward, my friends? Undoubtedly, it is Christ, who said to his disciples: «You call me 'teacher' and 'master', and rightly so, for indeed I am» (Jn 13,13). And what is that master's household? Surely the one that our Lord himself redeemed from the hands of the enemy and took to himself. This household is the holy and universal Church, spreading with remarkable fecundity throughout the world and priding itself on having been redeemed at the price of his blood...

But who is the faithful and wise steward? The apostle Paul shows us when he says – speaking of himself and his companions – «One should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Now it is of course required of stewards that they be found trustworthy» (1Cor 4,1-2). And lest any of you should think that only the apostles became stewards or lest some lazy and unfaithful servant should abandon the spiritual combat and fall asleep, the holy apostle demonstrates that bishops are just as much stewards, too: «As God's steward», he says, «a bishop must be irreproachable» (Ti 1,7). Therefore we are servants of the householder, stewards of our Lord, and it is we who have received the measure of wheat to be distributed among you.