Theological Tuesday

Parables of Jesus 26: The Faithful and Wise Slave (Matthew 24:45-51, Luke 12:42-48)

Luke 12:35-48

35"Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit.

36"Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks.

37"Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them.

38"Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the ^]third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

39"But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

40"You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect."

41Peter said, "Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?"

42And the Lord said, "Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time?

43"Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.

44"Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

45"But if that slave says in his heart, 'My master will be a long time in coming,' and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk;

46the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

47"And that slave who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes,

48but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

Matthew 24:42-51

42"Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

43"But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

44"For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

45"Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time?

46"Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.

47"Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

48"But if that evil slave says in his heart, 'My master is not coming for a long time,'

49and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards;

50the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know,

51and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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Show notes

Placement in the book of Luke
o Luke 11
§ Lord’s prayer
§ Parable of the friend at midnight
§ Ask, seek, knock
§ Parable of the Father’s Good Gifts
§ Pharisees’ blasphemy
§ Sign of Jonah
§ Woes upon the Pharisees
o Luke 12
§ God knows and cares
§ Don’t be afraid
§ Covetousness denounced
§ Parable of the rich fool (building barn)
§ Do not worry (Matthew 6)
§ Sell and give, treasure in heaven
§ Parable of the waiting slaves
§ Parable of the wise and foolish slave
§ Christ divides men
§ Judge the times
§ Make peace with people

Placement in the book of Matthew
o Matthew 24
§ Signs of Christ’s return (Mount of Olive’s Discourse)
§ Perilous times
§ The glorious return
§ Parable of the fig tree
§ Be ready for His coming
§ Parable of the wise and faithful slave
o Matthew 25
§ Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids
§ Parable of the Talents
§ Parable of the Judgment

To whom is it addressed, how does this matter?
o Matthew and Luke have it to the disciples.
o Matthew places it in eschatological discourse only to disciples.
o Luke has it to Peter, but crowds are there also (12:1, 13)
§ Peter even asks whether it’s to just them or everyone.
§ But Jesus, in typical style, doesn’t directly answer his question.
o But it would have made sense to the religious leaders, His opponents.

What is the story a response to?
o Matthew 24:1-3 and then the Olivet Discourse two chapters long.
§ 1Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him.
§ 2And He said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down."
§ 3As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"
§ Theme of the answer: Don’t worry about when so much as what you’re doing meantime.
o Luke 12
§ Peter’s question about whether the prior parable (Waiting Slaves) was addressed to only the disciples or everyone.
§ Jesus says, der, here’s what YOU should be doing.
§ There’s something powerful missed here in that it isn’t until the Gospel of John is written much later that we have the story of Jesus three times telling Peter to feed or tend my sheep.

Is there a sequence here?
o Yes, but it seems to be quite different in Matthew and in Luke

Observations and thoughts
o Purpose
§ To give them their food at the proper time.
§ Position of leader is for serving the subordinates
o Wise slave
§ A slave’s job is to do his master’s will
§ Mentor/master distinction (Sorcerer’s Apprentice)
§ There’s plenty for him and them, if only he does what’s right.
§ Reward for doling out what was the Master’s according to the Master’s will is to rule over everything.
o Wicked slave
§ Beat his fellow slaves
· Abusing his position of authority.
· Not only refusing to feed them, but actually abusing them.
§ Wastes money on himself
§ Greed, wanting more than master gave for him
§ Mismanages the accounts, the trust (TRUST!)
§ Parties
§ Place among hypocrites
· Non-believers who claimed to be loyal to the master
· Traitors in reality.
o Key to his misbehavior
§ Opportunity (time)
§ A wicked heart
§ What was really going on in the wicked slave’s mind?
· The idea that he would get everything in order later just in time
· Planning for an 11th hour conversion
· Perhaps he believes his master would simply be forgiving.
· This is how all the other servants behave, after all
§ Does he love the master or only seek the master’s rewards?
o Contrast between the two
§ We tend to think there’s a long continuum between these two.
§ Jesus seems to think there’s only the endpoints, and the idea that you’re “not as bad as” the worst one is a great self-deception.
§ Jesus is in the habit of disabusing us of our “slightly-off-but-still-okay-ism.”

Notes
o The term for slave could also be for servant.
o Luke mentions men and women being beaten.
§ What a terrible person.
§ But this also fits Luke’s general emphasis on deliberately including women into the ministry of Jesus. They, too, are His disciples. And the beating of them is just as grievous to Him as that of the men.
o Matthew has him hanging out with other drunks, Luke only mentions that he gets drunk.
§ Matthew’s version would imply that the person who is supposed to be feeding the church is actually in league with the anti-Christians, finding, perhaps, their way of life more appealing and enticing.
§ Perhaps getting drunk isn’t so much about alcohol as about the world’s ways of enticing us and getting us into their system
· Money
· Political power
· Fame
· Simply accommodating the culture in whatever way is deemed necessary (accepting moral compromises, such as sexual ones, e.g.)
o The master comes at a surprising time to both servants.
o Clearly eschatological in the short and long terms
§ Jesus will be leaving Earth soon and leaving the ministry in the hands of His slaves, the apostles and disciples.
§ Will they handle themselves according to His wishes?
§ But Jesus, though delayed in returning enough to provoke the false into wicked behavior, will not delay forever. And when He returns, judgment will be most severe for those who, in His Name (you evil- doers, I never knew you) did these horrible acts of neglect and abuse.

General questions
o What’s with the thief references?
§ Is Jesus saying He’s like this or decidedly not like this?
§ When the wicked servant hears a knock at the door and thinks it might be the master, he panics because he thinks of Jesus as if He were a thief and a robber come to take what he’s entitled to.
§ When the good servant hears the same knock, he gets excited because his Beloved has finally come home.
§ Were you to wake up in the night at a strange sound and suddenly discover your best friend in the living room, your dread would be turned into compound joy at the bad thing turning out to be such a great blessing.
o Is this a governmental question?
§ Is this talking about state welfare, church activity, or individual generosity?
§ Is the man in the story a man or a metaphor for the entity represented: church, government, etc.
§ Is this about Jewish leaders or about Christian ones! Since it’s about the return of Christ, it must be the latter, not the former.
§ “This set of standards which is condemning the Pharisees won’t suddenly be put aside when I come back for you, My Church!”
§ Future tenses in Luke support this as well.
o If the man is not a man, necessarily, is the food and the household not each literally?
§ Food for Jesus is not the main goal, but spiritual formation and the bread of God’s Word and the meat of doing His Will.
§ Household would seem to be the people of God, the congregations.
§ Proper care of the flock includes feeding them the word of God regularly and in the appointed times. (Sundays, e.g.)
o Why does Jesus delay in coming back to reckon accounts and judge?
§ To give the wicked time to prove themselves
§ To give the righteous time to prove themselves also.
§ Delay causes uncertainty gives room for faith.
§ If you’re always overseeing subordinates (children), you never can find out where their heart truly is.
§ And they never enjoy the feeling of knowing they are serving for the love of their parents, e.g.
· Me asking the students about homework.
o Should we continually teach people to be in the process of doing so that you don’t get caught slacking?
§ Doesn’t that teach salvation constantly in jeopardy?
§ Doesn’t that also teach that we save ourselves?
§ Doesn’t that also only help those who are doing it out of fear of being caught, since those who do it by love will do it regardless?
§ Is this prophetic or motivational?
§ Or evaluative? What’s my own heart disposition? Do I tend to think like the wise or like the foolish slave? And if so, what does that mean about me?
§ This is part of a long line of passages intended to provoke you to ask whether you are in the good or the bad category, not so that you can perform harder toward the good, but so you can fall to your knees in sorrow and plead with God to have mercy on you for not being in right relation to Him.
§ The idea that you’d say, “Well, I need to do more of that,” like the Rich Young Ruler, is just more proof of your wicked self-sufficient heart attitude.

Observations
Are there any parts of this story that don’t make sense to you?
§ Why He tells it?
How would you have written it differently?
§ Do we have a salvation theory that invalidates the obvious lesson of this parable?
What is so scandalous about this story?
§ The ending, probably. So harsh.

Other related passages.
o Parable of the waiting slaves (Mark 13:34-37, Luke 12:35-38)
o Parable of the Talents
o Parable of the workers in the vineyard
o Parable of the Ten virgins
o Parable of the Two Sons
o Doorkeeper (Mark 13:34-36)
o Workers in the field, who’s taken.
o Wise and foolish builders (sudden calamity)
o Wheat and tares
§ There are so many parables again and again and again distinguishing true from false servants of God that it’s a wonder people have trouble believing and accepting the idea of hell or that some people are the enemies of God.
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Interpretation/Application
o Purpose of the story
§ Those who know the Will of God and do not do it are going to receive the harshest punishment.
§ Don’t be too eager to know more about God unless you’re willing to embrace the sterner punishment that goes with it.
§ Knowing more about God only INCREASES your culpability rather than diminishing it.
§ Also, don’t begrudge judging other Christian leaders who do not do what they’re supposed to (wheat and tares). God will find them unexpectedly and they will get what they deserve.

o Be prepared for a delay in my return
§ The foolishness of the Five Virgins who don’t realize I’m going to be awhile delayed.
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Modern retellings
o Wise and foolish babysitter told that the parents won’t be home until late.
o Wise and foolish teenager left home alone for the weekend.