A younger brother borrowed $500 from his older brother who lived in a distant city. At the end of each month the younger brother sent a check for $50 accompanied by a note reporting what was going on in his life. Shortly after submitting the final payment, the younger brother received a letter from his brother. In it was a check for another $500 with a note that said, “I want to lend you more money, because I so enjoyed receiving your monthly notes.”
“Obligation” is an unwelcomed word in our culture. We want to be free from tax obligations, monthly bills, and even paying routine visits to the sick. Yet, the fact is, our lives will always have their share of obligations. The attitude of the younger brother in the story is one we might want to adopt.
Jesus spoke to his Apostles about their obligations (Luke 17:7-10).
“Who among you would say to your servants who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table?’ Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished’?”
Servants know their roles. When they finish outside duties, they come in and begin their inside ones. No servant expects his master to trade roles with him. The work of his master precedes his own need for comfort.
“Is he (the master) grateful to that servant because he did what he was commanded? So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’”
Unprofitable servants do not expect bonus checks or special fanfares for the work they do. They do what they are obliged to do.
We wonder why Jesus interjected this strange teaching. Note that it was spoken to the Apostles—not to the larger group of disciples or the crowds. Knowing that they were hand-picked by Jesus, these men probably entertained dreams of glory. They anticipated days when they would be regarded as “Masters” and receive the kind of applauds that Jesus received. It was time for their “glory bubbles” to be burst. Carrying their crosses each day and following Jesus would bring suffering, rejection, and even humiliation at times. Their joy would come in pleasing Jesus not in absorbing the approval of the world. Their satisfaction would come in knowing that they were obedient servants doing what God expected of them.
Jesus emptied himself of his divine status and became as a slave to honor the will of his heavenly Father. He pleased his Father by being “obedient even unto death, death upon a cross” (see Philippians 2). Only later would he take his seat at the right hand of God, and have every knee bow down to him –in heaven, on earth and underneath the earth. Though he deserved all the honor due him as God’s Son, Jesus accepted the role of a servant, even a condemned criminal, that we might be saved.
Being part of a consumer society, we think in terms of “what’s in it for me.” It goes against our grain to think “what’s in it for God.” Great saints were content to be “bit players,” doing ordinary tasks, out of love for the Master. Humility is what we prize.
“As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself” (Wisdom 3:5).
