All this talk of beatings aside, I think the scariest words in today’s Gospel come right at the end of the reading: “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.” Think about how much we all have. Even in a tough economy, we have much more than most people in the world. That’s a wonderful blessing, but it does mean that so much will be demanded of us. Demanded. But then it can be demanded, because the blessings have been so freely given. We may feel inadequate to the task, we may shrink before the demands. But we have no reason to do so, because, as the Psalmist tells us, “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”