Whether working in the field or in the house our priority is meant to be on the service of our master. We are privileged to work in his field, plowing or tending sheep. We are even more privileged if we are the ones called to prepare his meals and to wait on him at table. It is not the case the by being laborers in his field we put the master in our debt. But don't we sometimes think as though this were true?
"Who among you would say to your servant
who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field,
'Come here immediately and take your place at table'?
Aren't many of us likely to think something like, 'That was hard, and I did it, so now I deserve this'? The 'this' in such scenarios varies. Sometimes we bargain with God, telling ourselves that if we do something for him he must then reciprocate with something we want. And sometimes 'this' is something sinful and indulgent to which we feel entitled as a kind of payment for what we endured. There is a range of possibility. But the point of this short parable is that it is silly to imagine that we somehow put God in our debt. In our delusions of grandeur we imagine that we play some irreplaceable role on which even God himself depends. But we forget that it is God himself giving us existence and strength for anything we accomplish.
LORD, you will decree peace for us, for you have accomplished all we have done (see Isaiah 26:12).
for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (see Philippians 2:13).
This parable isn't so much reflective of God's attitude toward us, as though he is a strict and task master who is largely indifferent toward our concerns. It is rather more about our attitude toward him, warning us never to slip into notions of earning or deserving. This attitude is summed up in the saying, "We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do". It becomes all the more essential that this be emphasized and maintained the higher one is called in terms of responsibility in the Church. It is defense against becoming like the religious elite in the time of Jesus who really did seem to feel entitled to status and privilege because of their roles. They were meant to be at the service of those around them but instead seemed to do the equivalent of sitting at table and demanding service from them instead.
As far as God's attitude toward his faithful servants is concerned, we see it better reflected earlier in Luke.
Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them (see Luke 12:37).
These servants, because they never assumed they deserved anything, would be able to receive this service by the Lord with genuine surprise and thanksgiving, not as a thing owed, but as grace. The more we are able to focus on the task at hand, the work set for us by the Lord, without making demands, the more the Lord himself will delight to surprise us with unexpected gifts of grace.
Why, we might ask, does God, who doesn't need servants, still ask of them their service? We see his intent in the passage from wisdom:
Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed,
because God tried them
and found them worthy of himself.
As gold in the furnace, he proved them,
and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.
No comments:
Post a Comment