Faithful Servants

Westhill Community Church

Sunday 27^th August

Faithful Servants

Reading: Luke 12: 35-48

This passage tells of parables Jesus spoke to the people and to his disciples that focus particularly on the extent to which God’s servants are faithful to him, and the fact that one day there will be a day of reckoning when God will assess the actions of each of his servants. Jesus first describes a scenario in which the head of a large household is away at a celebratory event, a wedding. Jesus doesn’t say it was the master’s own wedding, so we assume he was an invited guest at someone else’s. And as was the nature of such celebrations it was not easy to predict just when the master would return – early evening, late night, or even in the small hours of the morning. But the important thing, said Jesus, was for the household servants to be ready to respond whatever time their master returned. They had to be ready to spring into action, and in particular to have lamps ready to welcome their master when he arrived, and to guide him safely into the house (there being no street lamps in those days). And the lesson Jesus wants his listeners to learn is that they too must be equally prepared and ready for action, because he, the Son of Man, would one day return, and none of us knows when that will be. And then he introduced an aspect of the story that must have been as strange and puzzling to the people then as it is to us. You see we expect him to say maybe that the master sat down, told his servants to bring him something to eat and drink, perhaps caught up on the news of the day, and then eventually made his way off to bed; at which point the servants themselves could also thankfully retire for the rest of the night. But instead Jesus said that the master himself put on an apron, invited his servants to sit down and relax, actually made them sit down and relax, and then took their orders for food and drink, serving them devotedly until they were satisfied. “What?” the people must have said, “are you pulling our leg? No head of house would behave in that way when returning from a night out celebrating.” But Jesus said, there’s one who will behave like that and it is me, the Son of Man. When I return that will be how I will treat my faithful servants.

Many, many times Jesus had emphasised to his disciples that he had come not to be served but to serve. How often had he taught his disciples “Whoever wants to be great amongst you must be your servant. And now here he was telling them that this is not just a temporary measure to achieve a short-term goal. This is a fundamental principle of his kingdom, and when Jesus returns he will have the same approach to leadership as he did during his first coming. He washed his disciples feet before he left this earth; he will serve has people at the banquet table when he returns. And of course, that’s how he requires us to behave towards one another.

Now if the people were taken aback by this aspect of the story Jesus was telling, the next bit may well have confused them even more. For Jesus suddenly changed the whole scenario. Instead of servants waiting in the house for their master it was now the owner of the house watching out for an unwelcome visitor. And instead of a master returning to his own property it was now a thief looking for an opportune time to break into the house and steal its contents. But Jesus emphasises exactly the same lesson from both scenarios – keep alert, keep focused, be ready, no matter how long the delay in his return.

Now it was at this point during Jesus’ teaching that the apostle Peter interjected. “Lord,” he said, “who are you talking to – us, your disciples, or all the rest of the people?” You see at the start of the chapter the writer Luke tells us that a crowd of many thousands had gathered, but that some of the time Jesus spoke specifically to his disciples. And at this point in the proceedings Peter was unsure – unsure what the parables meant certainly, but also unsure who they referred to. Almost always Jesus spoke to the crowd using parables; was this one such occasion? What Jesus had to say was very similar to another parable he told, about a vineyard owner who went abroad, having first placed the vineyard in the care of tenant farmers. But when the tenants treated the vineyard as their own and rejected the owner’s approaches, the owner returned full of wrath to dispense appropriate justice. Luke says of that parable that the Jewish religious leaders knew Jesus was speaking directly about them (Luke 20: 19). Was this another such occasion, Peter was maybe wondering?

Well it is interesting that Jesus didn’t answer Peter’s question. In fact he asked much the same question in return rhetorically as he continued speaking: “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants?” Who is it that I am talking about Jesus asks, and then doesn’t himself give an answer. And this tells me two things. The first thing is that Jesus wants everyone to consider that question for themselves. Is he talking about me, to me? And if so, what is he calling me to do? You see, if I’m convinced that Jesus is speaking about someone else, and not about me at all, then the likelihood is that I’ll ignore what he says. Oh, that was just for the Pharisees; very interesting: and then we just forget it. And the second thing it tells me is that if we consider things carefully we will discover ourselves in one or other of these scenarios that Jesus paints. Something Jesus had to say does indeed apply directly to me, and he doesn’t want me to miss it.

When Jesus echoed Peter’s question, and asked rhetorically who he was speaking about, he proceeded to repaint the scenario once again. Instead of the master going off for an evening’s celebration, now the master is going away on business. Instead of the focus being on those servants responsible for serving the master when he returns, the focus is now on the manager that the master leaves in charge while he is away, and his responsibilities regarding the rest of the household. And if a person in that position fails to deliver then one day they are going to be held to account.

In the final analysis these two main parables have one particular theme in common – God’s justice: ultimately we will all be held to account, and receive a just recompense for our actions. The Bible repeatedly reminds us that God is a just God. Psalm 89: 14 says, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.” Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne, the very bedrock of all God’s purposes and deeds. The Song of Moses recorded in Deut 32 says of God, “His works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.”

It should be no surprise to us that the scriptures describe God as righteous and just, and that there will inevitably be consequences for whatever we choose to do. The physical creation around us is built on the principle of cause and effect, action and consequence. Most of the time we operate within it without giving it much thought. We experience the powerful force of gravity every time we lie down, rise up and move about. We act appropriately within its powerful embrace. But if for one instant we forget to act appropriately then we may live to regret it. Just one false step on the stairs may result in bruised limbs, broken bones or worse. We expect our actions to have a consequence in God’s physical world, so it should not surprise us that the same is true in God’s moral world. Actually the desire for justice is one of the strongest longings that humans experience, and in this we give credence to the fact that we are created in the image of God. When we see atrocities committed by evil doers, abusive behaviour, indifference to the well-being of others, gratuitous violence and murder, then righteous indignation springs up from deep within. We cannot stand the thought that evil doers might get away with it without paying the price for their misdeeds. Except, except of course when we are the ones committing the offences. Then so often we try to convince ourselves that if we keep quiet about it and hide what we’ve done then we will get away with it. And in these parables Jesus is telling us quite plainly: we won’t.

And notice how he says that God’s just judgements, the consequences that God delivers for our actions, whether good or bad, are totally fair and proportionate to what we have done. In the final two verses of our reading Jesus said, “The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows.” And elsewhere Jesus said, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matt 12: 36-37).

In this passage essentially there were two parable that Jesus told to the people and his disciples. In the first the servants of the household – the butler, the footmen, the cooks, and the waiters – are staying awake, keeping everything prepared, waiting for the head of house to return. They are diligent and watchful, and then suddenly without warning, in the early hours of the morning, the master returns. And lo and behold, instead of requiring their services he bids them recline at table and he himself serves them a meal. I imagine they had been feeling increasingly tired and weary. No doubt they had worked hard all day, and now through the evening and night they had to still keep themselves ready for action. But now the master’s love and devotion is poured out upon them. Instead of treating them as servants he treats them as friends and honoured guests. He bids them relax and enjoy his bounty. It will be good for these servants, said Jesus.

So there will be those at the time of Jesus’ return to earth, when he comes to judge the world with righteousness, there will be those for whom that day will be good. There will be those who will receive blessing and rich reward, those who will experience joy and gladness, not sadness and regret. Those who will be treated as close friends and welcome guests. Who will those people be? Those who serve him, said Jesus, those who are ready and watching, those who are waiting expectantly, longing for his return. So how come these servants are not treated like those Jesus mentions later on, those who are beaten with many blows or with just a few blows? Is it because they have been perfect servants, not putting a foot wrong or uttering a foolish word? No, that cannot be, because God’s word says quite clearly and unequivocally that every single one of us has become corrupt.

“The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 14: 2,3)

So what is the answer? The answer is not that these servants had not in their time done something worthy of punishment, but that the punishment they had rightly earned had been born by another. They did indeed deserve many blows, but the blows had been taken by another in their place, in fact by the master that they now served so faithfully. This is how the prophet Isaiah put it: “The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53: 5).

Jesus suffered the blows that we deserve when he went to the cross for us. Those who put their faith in Jesus, trusting that through his death on the cross he paid the price for all their wrongdoings and shortcomings, now eagerly await his return. For them he does not come to deliver judgement but salvation. “I will come back,” he said, “and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14: 3). And he bids us to keep dressed for service, to keep our lamps burning for him, to keep watching and waiting. Though we become tired and weary our one desire is to be able to finally pray as Jesus did – “I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4).

In the second parable Jesus describes a manager who is put in charge of a property and the servants who serve in it whilst the owner is abroad on business. And when the owner’s return is delayed the manager begins to abuse his position, mistreating the servants and indulging himself, acting as though the property were his own, and he could do whatever he liked. When the owner suddenly returns and discovers what is happening the manager is quite rightly severely punished.

In the final analysis, Jesus said, the question will be who have you been serving? Is it God, who created you, who placed you where you are, who provided you with all the provisions and resources that you have, who bids you carry out his will and serve his purposes? Or is the person you are serving you, yourself, seeing your person, your time, your possessions, your opportunities, your choices, as yours alone, to manage as you wish? If you are that person then you will not be watching and waiting for your master’s return, keeping yourself dressed for service and keeping your lamps burning in anticipation. Instead you will be hoping he never returns; indeed you may have convinced yourself that it will never happen, that you and all that you have are yours to do with as you like, that however you behave and act there will be no day of reckoning.

But in these and so many other parables Jesus tells us that this is not the case. He tells us repeatedly, and the prophets and apostles echo his words, that it is the fate of us human beings once to die, and after that to face judgement, to answer for all our deeds. And the very fact the Jesus gave himself to death on the cross for our sake tells us that it is indeed true, for what would be the purpose of taking our punishment upon himself if there is indeed no punishment awaiting us?

John tells us that Jesus

“Came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1: 11-12).

Ultimately all people fall into one of two categories, said John: those who do not receive Jesus, who reject him, who say “no” to him; and those who receive Jesus and believe in him. In other parables Jesus described these two categories as tares and wheat, or as goats and sheep. It’s not that the second group are better than or more worthy than the first. It is that the second group have put the trust and confidence fully in the one who created them, who provides for them, and who died in their place. And that is why they wait so longingly and eagerly for him to return. If you are not part of that second group then you can be today, for the Bible says that all who receive him, who believe in his name, he welcomes into his family.