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A Glass of Cold Water in Your Face: The Parable of the Unfaithful Servant; Reflections on Luke 17:1-10

A Glass of Cold Water in Your Face: The Parable of the Unfaithful Servant; Reflections on Luke 17:1-10

Last updated on: September 26, 2010 at 7:30 pm by Alyce McKenzie

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A Glass of Cold Water in Your Face: The Parable of the Unfaithful Servant; Reflections on Luke 17:1-10 2010-09-26T19:30:43+00:00 Alyce McKenzie

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Some sayings of Jesus

Ten years ago our family moved from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Dallas, Texas. When the moving trucks showed up, I still hadn’t packed the small items in two of the downstairs rooms. In a panic, I started tossing things together in boxes with no particular reason except they were close at hand. At least I labeled the boxes, as ridiculous as the labels later seemed as I unpacked them in the new house in the new town: Underwear, lamp, 1 men’s glove, cookie sheets. Now we all know that each of the 4 evangelists was a literary artist who crafted his life of Jesus to portray Jesus’ identity in such a way as to shape the identity of his particular community. So I’m probably not supposed to wonder if any of them ever got to the point where they started tossing bits of tradition that were closest at hand into their boxes. The heading of 17:1-4 supports my irreverent theory when it calls these verses “Some sayings of Jesus.”

Yes, these are some sayings that we find in 17:1-10, if you’ll pardon the play on words. 17:1-4 consists of a string of teachings on

not causing little ones to stumble (17:2),
rebuking those who sin, (17:3)
forgiving those who repent, and (17:4)
the disciples’ request for more faith (17:5)

These are followed by this very odd little parable about the unfaithful servant, one that most scholars agree only occurs in Luke.

God Knows Our Hearts

To preach on this parable, I would need to go back to 16:14 where Jesus tells us that “God knows our hearts.” (16:15) God knows that some of the Pharisees’ hearts are full of the love of money. God knows that the rich man’s heart in the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (16:19-31) is filled with love of material comfort and a confidence that his wealth is a sign of God’s approval. God knows that some people’s hearts are filled with unforgiveness toward others (17:1-4) that can be a stumbling block to their growth toward God.

Who can blame the apostles, after hearing about all these things that God knows are in our hearts, for saying to themselves, “My God, I need more faith to deal with all of this!” and then turning to Jesus and saying in 17: 5 “Increase our faith!”

Target Hearts (The Pharisees and the Apostles)

There were two hearts (besides our own) that Jesus, as Luke portrays him, was targeting in teaching this parable.

Jesus targets the Pharisees’ hearts. A desire for reward resides in their hearts- it is their motive for good works. In their hearts resides a conviction that the performance of good works puts God in their debt. Jesus counters this attitude with this parable. We cannot put God in our debt. We and they need to make sure we perform good works as an expression of our gratitude and love for God, not an attempt to gain God’s gratitude and love for ourselves.

The second group of hearts targeted by this parable are those of the apostles. In Luke this parable is addressed to the disciples. It speaks to the hearts of church leaders in Luke’s community whose hearts are full of pride, prestige, and an expectation of reward for their service. In the parable, we are to picture a small farmer who has only one slave to take care of the outside work, tend his flock and prepare meals. Church leaders need to carry out their tasks without expecting that they thereby place others or God under obligation (I. Howard Marshall, New International Greek Testament Commentary on Luke, 645-7).

Have some faith

In response to the apostles’ plea “Increase our faith!” Jesus says, in effect, “Why do you always think more and bigger is better?” “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

In response, the apostles (and we 21st century followers of Jesus) are to think, “But wait, we do have that much faith.”

If that is the case, Jesus is implying, and then offer such faith as you have to God, confident that God will sustain you so that you are equal to any godly task. Claim your identity: you are a servant who knows what your job is and who does it. This weird little parable places us in the role of the servants. What motives are in our hearts as we do our job as disciples? God should reward me? Others should recognize, honor and serve me? I should be upgraded to first class and receive free breakfast vouchers, a Christmas bonus, and a plaque on the wall at the entrance with my picture and “Employee of the Month” as the caption?

A servant is a servant, not the one who is to be served up a platter of rewards and recognition. Servants shouldn’t expect to be praised just for doing their job.

Do Your Job

The rabbis of the first century whose writings are collected in Pirke Aboth (Sayings of the Fathers) make this comment: “If thou hast learnt much Torah do not claim credit unto thyself, because for such purpose wast thou created” (Aboth 2:8)

I have a friend who is a deacon in the United Methodist Church. She is the music director at her church in Virginia and has recently agreed to lead the music portion of a weekly worship service in a nearby women’s prison. She says, “It’s not in my job description at the church, but it is my duty as a deacon. “ My friend knows she is a servant. It is in the servant’s job description to serve.

I knew a man in a church I served years ago who gave money for new choir robes. In talking with me about it, he said, “There is just one condition. I don’t want to be recognized by the congregation or the community or the staff or anybody. If you ever thank me publicly I’ll come and get the robes and take them away.

I nodded in agreement, but I was thinking, “Well, that’s a little extreme.”

“Maybe you think that’s a little extreme,” he said. (Isn’t it disconcerting when someone reads our mind?) “But I want to keep clear in my mind what my motives are. As soon as I get thanked and that starts feeling good to me, my motives get corrupted. When a person has money and can give choir robes, it‘s what they should do. It’s not something they should be thanked for as if it’s any big deal.” He paused and concluded, “You thank me, the robes disappear. You stay quiet, the robes stay. “

It was the oddest threat I’d ever received in ministry.

In this odd little parable (though aren’t they all pretty odd?) Jesus says to us “Do your job as one who calls yourself my disciple.”

What is the disciple’s job, according to Luke’s gospel, and according to chapters 16 and 17 that form the immediate context for this week’s parable of the unfaithful servant?

Our job is to see the needs of those who are suffering around us and to do what we can to help them. (Rich Man and Lazarus parable 16:19-31)

Our job is to freely forgive those who wrong us. (17:3, 4)

Our job is to use our gifts and our presence to encourage others’ faith rather than be a stumbling block to them. (17:1, 2)

No reward at all?

Children have tantrums from time to time. I read somewhere that there was a Native American tribe whose disciplinary strategy, when a child was having a tantrum, was to throw a cup of cold water in their face. That’s how I experience this parable. Do your job. Don’t expect any thanks or recognition.

But isn’t there some reward for the sacrifices and hard work of our job as disciples? Doesn’t Luke 12:37-38 indicate God’s gratitude and blessing of faithful servants? Don’t disciples have a right to say, with Peter, “Look, we have left everything and followed you….. ” (Mark 10:28) Jesus interrupts him before he can go on, but I think Peter might have been going to say something like “What is our reward?”

Our former pastor at First United Methodist Church in Allen, Texas, Rev. Milton Gutierrez, once told a story about a woman who came to him with a faith question. “Pastor Milton,” she said, “I want to know ‘What is the reward for the life of faith?’”

Being a very wise man, he said, “Let me think about that and I’ll give you an answer next week.”

She didn’t forget. The next week she came to him with an expectant expression on her face.

“Pastor Milton, what is the reward for the life of faith?”

To which he replied, “The reward for the life of faith is the life of faith.”

Alyce McKenzie is Professor of Homiletics at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. Visit her Patheos Experts page here.

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