O, Say, Can You See?
During an interview, a job applicant was asked, “Do you regard yourself as a responsible person?” He replied, “Yes, indeed. My last boss said I was responsible for many things that happened in the office.”
The humor of this rib-tickler is based on paradoxically opposite meanings of responsibility. The more proper meaning is reliability, or synonymously, trustworthiness.
If you are searching for a good doctor, lawyer, financial broker, counselor, psychiatrist, or confessor, what is the premiere quality that you look for in such a person? I’m sure your unhesitating answer is “trustworthiness.” If it that quality were missing, you would soon find yourself in great distress. To phrase it in the quaint words of Solomon, “Like a bad tooth or a lame foot is trust in a faithless [untrustworthy] person in time of trouble” (Prv 25:19).
On the other hand, “A faithful envoy brings healing” (Prv 13:17). That’s why God entrusted his suffering people to Moses’ guidance (see Nm 12:7). Jesus held in high esteem his trustworthy followers: “You have been trustworthy in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things” (Mt 25:21). "Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much” (Lk 16:10). (By “much” he was probably alluding to the special need for reliable persons in the end times that will require a “faithful and prudent manager . . . in charge of his servants, to give them their allowance of food at the proper time” (Lk.12:42).
For anyone who seeks to be an envoy of the Lord, reliability is an absolute requirement. “Think of us . . . as stewards of God's mysteries,” declared Paul. “It is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy” (1 Cor 4:1-2, emphasis mine).
What is especially noteworthy in Paul in this regard is his unique insight about this virtue; he always saw God as its source. His inspiring and constant dependence on God for this characteristic is remarkable: “In Christ we speak as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God and standing in his presence” (2 Cor 2:17, emphasis mine). He reaffirmed this in reference to his own trustworthiness (see 2 Cor 4:2 and 1 Cor 7:25), and also in referring to his fellow “trustees,” whom he complimented for this attribute: “Epaphras . . . a faithful minister of Christ” (Col 1:7, emphasis mine); “Tychicus . . . a faithful minister, a fellow servant in the Lord” (Col 4:7, emphasis mine); “Timothy . . . my beloved and trustworthy child in the Lord” (1 Cor 4:17, emphasis mine). Even their work he saw as an entrustment from the Lord: “Say to Archippus, ‘See that you complete the task that you have received in the Lord’” (Col 4:17, emphasis mine).
Reliability, according to some psychologists, is on a par with the attribute of lovability in eliciting the esteem of others. As a criterion for a happy marriage, for instance, reliability is, in the mind of many a spouse, the very touchstone of lovability. From God’s point of view, at least, the two traits cannot be separated. Trust the Lord to make you trustworthy, and then enjoy the good opinion of both God and man.
This excerpt is from the book Pathways of Trust, by John H. Hampsch,C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/visual materials can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408.