The Parable Of The Master And The Servant

Luke 17:7-10:

⁷ “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? ⁸ Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? ⁹ Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

In Jesus' day, a servant did not have the rights of an owner, an heir, or a citizen. A servant had to do what pleased his or her master regardless of thanks or praise. A servant had no right to expect approval or commendation. When a servant worked hard and completed a long list of demands, there was no expectation of praise; that servant only did what was expected. Jesus is Lord, Master, and Savior. He has called us to follow and serve him. Of course the incredible blessing is that when we come to him as a servant, he welcomes us as a sister or brother and friend.

In the parable the slave put his master before himself even when most likely he didn't feel like it. He served the master. He obeyed the master. That is the nature of the master/slave relationship. And that's the nature of a disciple's relationship with God, because God is the master and we are the slave.

 In the context, all the things which are commanded would include the instructions from the first part of chapter 17, but it would also include all of the instructions that we have been commanded as followers of Christ. And when we do all that we have been commanded our attitude is simply to be that we have done only what we ought to have done.

When we have done all that is commanded, we should not think, "I've done something exceptional and now God is obligated to bless me." Or, "God is going to answer my prayer in the way I want Him to because of all that I've done for him." We should not think like this, but rather, as Jesus says, we need to say, "we need to say, " We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done."

 

By our obedience we have no special claim upon God. We have simply done what we

should have done. We have given God what He deserves - our complete obedience.