Our parable takes place in Galilee, in a world of absentee landlords and servants who are left on their own for years at a time. “You do not know when the time will come,” says Jesus. “It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work.”

Here is a parable about masters and servants, employers and employees, about those who have and those who don’t have, and those who work for those who have.

You know where our sympathies lie. In stories, we are always for the little guy, the have-nots. Our sympathies are not with absentee landlord, but rather with his servants. Where was the master going on a journey? It was December, the days were getting short and cold. Each day it was a longer walk to the barn to feed the livestock as wind swep…