The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, October 7th: Habakkuk 1:2-3, 2:2-4; 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14; Luke 17:5-10)

SERVANT SHOULD HAVE ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

In this week’s gospel reading Jesus asked His disciples some rhetorical questions. He said, “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’?

“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’?

“Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?”

The way Jesus phrased these rhetorical questions makes it clear that His disciples knew the answers: Of course it would be foolish for a master to invite a servant to dine with him. The servant’s job was to serve the master. Once he completed all his duties and obligations, then the servant could get something to eat (most likely back in the servant’s quarters). And certainly the master would not be grateful to the servant just because the servant did his duty.

The answers to these rhetorical questions might not be so obvious to us here in the 21st century. The institution of slavery has been abolished, thankfully, and so we don’t easily relate to a situation where one human being considers another human being as simply a piece of property. Back then masters never dined with servants, and they didn’t want to dine with the masters anyway, as it probably would make the servant extremely uncomfortable.

If Jesus were to ask these rhetorical questions in our day and age, He probably would use a corporate setting, and ask whether a worker in, say, the Scranton branch office would expect an invitation from the company CEO in New York City to join him on vacation in the Bahamas, just because the Scranton guy did his job. Both parties understand the arrangement: the worker in Scranton receives his paycheck and benefits each week for doing his job, and the CEO in New York, if he even knows who the Scranton worker is, has no intentions of becoming buddy-buddy with him. Besides, traveling to the Bahamas with the CEO probably would make the Scranton guy extremely uncomfortable.

Jesus summarized this story be telling His disciples: “So it should 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.’”

The main focus of this story is the servant/Scranton worker character, who represents us as followers of Christ. When we put our faith in the Lord, we assume certain spiritual obligations and duties. When we fulfill those duties, we should not expect God to be grateful and thankful toward us. As Jesus noted, our attitude should be: “We have done what we were obliged to do.”

Sometimes we feel that if we do all the correct religious things, then God owes us. We sometimes think that we’re doing God a favor by putting our faith in Him, so in return He had better be grateful and give us special rewards.

Faith and salvation are not like that at all. We are not the buyers and God is not the seller, desperately begging us to try His product. In reality, we are more like starving beggars, and God comes to rescue us and give us bread. The attitude of gratitude and thanksgiving should be entirely on our part, directed from us toward God, not the other way around.

Also, it’s important not to get too hung up on the way the master/CEO character is portrayed in this story. He represents God. We know that slave masters were often cruel and heartless, and come to think of it, corporate CEOs can be pretty rotten, too. God is not like that, of course, so we shouldn’t think of God as an indifferent master who doesn’t even know our name, and who forces us to labor all day long and then throws some scraps for food in our direction at the end of the day.

In reality, God does treat us in ways the master/CEO never would. God invites us to His heavenly banquet. He has prepared special mansions for us (much nicer than the most expensive resort in the Bahamas), and He wants us to spend eternity in His glorious presence.

The important thing is our attitude. Even though God loves us personally and individually, with a love never offered by any master to a slave or any CEO to a worker, we can’t take it for granted. We can’t begin to think that God owes us. We owe Him—everything!

We really do not deserve any of the awesome blessings God gives to us. And as long as we keep the attitude of a servant, as long as we remain humble and grateful and thankful, we will receive an abundance of blessings. We will dine with the master. We will vacation with the CEO. We will live forever in heavenly joy.

©2007