Alive to the Unexpected: Seeing Ourselves as Servants

 

“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Luke 12:35-40)

Jesus tell this rather short but remarkable parable: The master has left to go to a wedding banquet and there is no way for the servants of that master to know when he will return. It could be that very night. It could be the next. It could be three days before he returns home, because weddings in Jewish culture were week-long events, one never knew how long the stay. If the wine held out and the celebration was lively enough, he could be there all week. But the servants are not privy to the master’s plans. They are simply to be ready when he knocks on the door.

On the surface, this is a routine story. Everyone listening would have understood the word picture that Jesus told. But there is a remarkable twist at the end. It involves a role reversal. Jesus says, “It will be good for those servants who are watching to meet their master at the door.” That makes sense. The master will have certain needs that must be met when he arrives. They must feed him if he is hungry. They must help him unpack. They must give him an accounting of what they have done since he has been gone. That makes sense but this is not how the story ends. It is not the servants who wait on the master. It is the master who waits on the servants. Isn’t that odd? It will be good for those servants who are ready for the master not because there is the threat of punishment for un-alert behavior but because there is the promise of a lavish master who upon his return graciously gives to his servants. Sets them down and serves them! This is quite a different picture of a master and a servant, one where the rewards are beyond measure and grace abundant. That’s the kind of promise that our Lord has given us upon his return. He will sit us down at his banquet table, and satisfy the needs of us—his servants.

Donald Trump is perhaps a household name. There is a touching story about Trump’s generosity with a stranger. It is said that Trump’s limousine broke down on the Garden State Parkway on the way home from Atlantic City during a weekend excursion. An unemployed auto mechanic stopped to help, succeeded in getting the limo running and then refused to accept any payment for his services. Trump was so impressed that the next day he sent flowers to the mechanic’s wife and a certified letter stating that the man’s mortgage had been paid in full. Trump was asked about the incident and refused to confirm or deny the story or say exactly what he did for the Good Samaritan mechanic. “I don’t do those kinds of things for publicity,” he said.

 

What a deal it would be to have someone really rich taking care of you. If you knew that with their vast wealth they would gladly help you, you could be free from many a worry. You would have financial security. How good it will be, when, out of the vast wealth of our Father’s grace, the Lord returns and we his servants are asked to sit down and be served by the master.

People get ready—there’s a train, a comin

You don’t need no baggage—

you just get on board

All you need is faith—

to hear the diesels hummin’

Don’t need no ticket—

you just thank the Lord

 

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley