New Thoughts (05/28/10-05/30/10)
This passage divides up nicely into three distinct parables, which I shall endeavor to consider in order. Whether or not I have good reason to have drawn them into the current context is a bigger question. Matthew sets what is clearly the same parable we have in the third portion much later in the narrative. However, there is at least a tentative connection in that slaves are the vehicles by which the disciple’s role gets depicted.
So, to the first parable. The setting is a household whose master has gone off to a wedding banquet. Our modern standards don’t allow a real appreciation of this scene. It’s not that he’s gone off for a night of dinner and dancing, from which his servants can reasonably set their expectations as to his return. These things could go on for days, and it was not a set number of days. His return could be anytime, any day, and these servants wouldn’t know until he did just when it would be.
At the same time, it is in the nature of the servant’s service that he shall be found on station and instant in response when the time comes. That takes us to the core of the message Jesus is delivering here: Remain alert. You don’t know the timing, nor shall you. These are factors that He reinforces on several occasions. However often these guys asked Him for the timetable, He refused. It’s not for Him to say, and certainly not for us to know. But this takes us more into the second parable. Let’s stay with the first for the moment.
Remain alert, remain ready. You may not know when the master is coming, but this you do know: He is coming. This, however, remains almost in the background, for the focus is wholly upon what happens when he arrives. At that point, those among his servants who are found to be on station and prompt are going to be blessed beyond all reasonable expectation. This isn’t simply a ‘well done’ pat on the back kind of blessed. Look at what is going to happen! The master will become the menial, and do so of his own accord. He will cause his servants to be at table, and he will serve them! Such a thing was unthinkable, outside the fantasies of a servant’s imagination.
The key point being made, though, is that all this constant readiness is not just workaday drudgery. It is not going to go without reward, but shall indeed be rewarded almost in excess. Our Master is not a tyrant and He is not unreasonable. He understands us, and He will not ask us to labor all our days without anything to show for it. No. He gives us the certain hope that only He can give, that when the time comes we shall not only have our pay such as we have earned, but we shall be feted, given treatment such as a king might reasonably expect, but not a servant.
This is a most wonderful incentive, to be sure! Yet, the focus, as Jesus makes clear by the brief second parable that He adds to this, is to remain alert given that we don’t know the timing. It’s truly amazing to consider how often this point is made in the course of the Scriptures. Jesus Himself is constantly repeating this admonition: “Be alert! Remain alert! Prepare! Get ready!” Likewise, the apostles echo that same message of preparedness. Wherever we see discussion of girding oneself, it’s a matter of preparation, being dressed for events to come, prepared for things to come. So, we find Paul telling us to be girded with truth and righteousness (Eph 6:14). What are these but the uniform of the kingdom! Peter advises us to gird our minds for action (1Pe 1:13). How are we to do this? By maintaining a sober spirit, not joyless, not devoid of all humor, but sober. This same spirit is filled with hope, a hope fully established upon the grace we have obtained in Jesus Christ. In other words, it is not the flighty hope of the wishful thinker but the stone-solid certainty of the believer.
You see, these are the characteristics of readiness for the kingdom. Truthful, pursuing righteousness, buoyed by a firm and certain hope in God’s grace. The very brief parable that Jesus appends to this first one makes things abundantly clear. If you knew the timing, of course you’d be prepared. Of course, you’d also procrastinate and wait until it was absolutely necessary. If you’ve got the thief’s timetable before you, there’s no cause for a sleepless night. Just set the alarm, and you can grab your gun as he’s coming in and greet him. But, it won’t be that way. That’s the problem. Thieves don’t send out invitations, don’t announce their schedules. Neither does God. You don’t know when He’s coming, and His promise is that whenever it is that He returns, it’s not going to be when you expect it.
Isn’t that something? It would be tempting to suppose, then, that the more hue and cry there is that He must be coming very soon, that we are very clearly right up against the final hour, the less likely it is that He is coming. Tempting, yes, but dangerous. Far better that we take this as a more personal timetable. After all, it is clearly going to be a very small minority amongst God’s children who are to be present and breathing upon the earth at the moment of His triumphal return. By far, the majority of us will meet Him one on one at an earlier date. For most, the moment of death can be taken as the hour of His return. At that point our final status is determined, any further opportunities for repentance gone. So, we might simply look at this as presenting the question, when death comes knocking will you be ready? Not ready for death. No one ever is, I don’t suppose. But, ready to come before that Judge who holds the future. Were you found prepared, of sober spirit, wrapped about in truth and in the very righteousness of Christ who shall judge?
You know, right up to the end of the text, the warning repeats. “If you don’t wake up, you will find I have come like a thief. You won’t know the hour” (Rev 3:3). What’s the point? Recall what you have received and repent! This is a constant need for us because we are by nature forgetful of God. This is a large part of why we are admonished to meditate day and night upon the Word, to keep it ever before our eyes. Because, the moment our eyes are off the Word, we will forget all about it, and slide back to old and sinful habits. Repent! You don’t know if there’s going to be time to do it tomorrow. You oughtn’t dare to put it off, because you don’t know the hour.
God does. While I shouldn’t wish anybody to take that as an excuse for delay, it is certainly a comfort. He Who controls the timetable also knows us, knows whom He has predestined. It is He who began the work, and He will make certain that work is completed. Until it is, I am certain we can know that He will not suffer that hour to come our way. But, oh! How ill it will go for that one who presumes upon the mercy He shows us in this truth.
When it comes to this brief parable, I find I am really taken with the wording used by The Living Bible. It’s just so straightforward and to the point. “Everyone would be ready for him if they knew the exact hour of his return-just as they would be ready for a thief if they knew when he was coming.” So, as Wuest has it, “be becoming those who are always ready.” You know, if you were only prepared in that one moment that you knew it mattered, there would be no value to it. That’s what I take away from this. It would be empty, because it would not be character. It would simply be pragmatism.
It’s of a piece with the discussions of love. If you only love those who are loving towards you, what is that? Even the worst of the worst do that much. Merit? Hah! But, if you show that same love towards your enemies, towards even those who do you great harm? Well, that’s something unusual isn’t it? That’s something that’s going to be noticed. No, don’t you go doing it just so you can be noticed, you twit. That would suck the value right back out of it. But, when that’s just who you are? This is the stuff that renders a man noteworthy. When it’s just who you are.
That’s the call here. Don’t just prepare for that crisis moment. Be this way. Don’t be man pleasers. Be men of character. Don’t be those who do their best to look busy when the boss comes by. Be those who are busy whether the boss comes by or not. Whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord! Ho! Could we but keep ourselves convinced that He is ever present, then the one would be as the other, for the Boss really is forever coming by. He’s there over your shoulder right now, watching what you are doing. No, He’s not playing a game of gotcha. He’s as a teacher, watching his pupil that he might better know how to present the next lesson. He’s evaluating progress, determining where He needs to focus His efforts next. Of course, this is but another analogy and must fail if pressed, but the idea is there.
For our part, the message remains. Be ready at all times, in season and out. Remain spiritually awake and alert. Remain spiritually prepared, ready for action and ready to respond. Be in training! Train yourself in the ways of the royal servant. We’ve seen this before. That servant who is really pursuing his calling will be constantly attentive upon the master, looking for the least sign of his desires, so as to be ready with what is desired, if possible, even as the request goes forth. The good servant has made a study of his master, that he might come to the place of being able to foresee his master’s actions in any given situation.
This is where we are supposed to be. This is what God is looking for. A people who have made themselves so familiar with His ways that they know how He would respond. They don’t have to ask any longer what Jesus would do, because they already know. It is ingrained in them, written on their hearts, so that their own natural response is to do as Jesus would have it done. Be thus ready for the Son. Be found in this place. Sure, and it’s only going to happen as He is working and willing within you, renewing you and refashioning you in the original intended form. But, you are not to be satisfied with idling away the hours, of leaving it wholly to Him as if you were some passive media with no moral involvement. No! Work out your salvation! Strive for the goal! With all that is in you, seek to be free of all that entangles, all that hinders. Sure, and He’s got to do the work, but He’s calling you to work and work hard. You resist the devil. You gird yourself in righteousness and truth. You put away the things of darkness and pursue the Light. Be becoming those who are ready, always ready!
Now we arrive at Peter’s question. Is this just for us or is this for everyone? Where, then, is his answer in the reply Jesus gives? It could be that we hear His answer right there in the opening question of His response. If I were to hear Peter’s question as, “Who is this for”, then the question Jesus poses in response already gives us the answer. “Who is it that the master puts in charge of his servants and their care?” This one, it’s worth noting, has his blessing in the same manner as those of the first parable: because he is found doing what he was supposed to do, and his faithful service leads the master to increase his responsibility and therefore his honor.
It is worthwhile to stop and consider the description Jesus gives of those He puts in charge. They are faithful and sensible, or as other translations have it, wise. Here, we must think of faithful as meaning something other than ‘full of faith’. It’s not that they believe and believe firmly. It’s really the other way round. It’s that they can be believed in. They are reliable. If they said they would do something, then only God’s will is going to prevent them from doing it. Their yes is yes and their no is no, and they are going to do as they have indicated whether any is there to observe or not. In this, we might note, they are the polar opposite of the hypocrite who acts solely to be seen.
The faithful worker may not be a behind the scenes worker, but I dare say the behind the scenes worker will be found to be faithful. We are talking about those who can be trusted. They can be trusted to do as they were instructed and they can be trusted to do it to the best of their ability.
Then we come to sensible and wise. We are not talking about educated. We are not talking of those with a fine head for the theoretical. We are talking practical, applied knowledge. They not only know what to do, but are wise enough to actually do so. Thayer offers the idea of one who is mindful of his interests. It would be tempting, with that, to suggest pragmatic as a synonym, but I don’t wish to do so. To be wise is superior to pragmatism. There is mindfulness of one’s interests, but not a willingness to break faith in pursuit of those interests. Wisdom keeps to Truth in its interests.
How well these two concepts combine to describe the ideal for God’s shepherds: reliable and mindful of their charge. Such a shepherd is not stuck with the bare letter of his command. He is able to assess such needs as may come up and understand how his master would have those needs addressed, even if the fundamental instructions don’t mention the case. Take this in our setting: The Bible, we are told, is fit to address every situation in life, and this is certainly the case. Yet, there are a myriad different situations that one is not going to find mentioned explicitly. After all, much of what we take for granted was not even conceivable at the time it was written.
Yet, given the bare bones guidance of that text, the faithful and sensible servant of God can happily deduce the proper action to take in any given circumstance. “If any of you lacks wisdom, ask it of God and it will be given” (Jas 1:5). God is Wisdom. It stands to reason that He desires His earthly representatives to manifest wisdom. If the understanding isn’t there, to know how Scripture ought to be applied to a given situation, we are blessed to have the ever-present Holy Spirit as our teacher, willing and able to clarify for us what still seems grey. We have but to ask.
As Jesus continues the message He is delivering, He turns to those who fail of their instructions, the unreliable and the foolish. These He divides into three basic groups. Least offensive to Him among these are those who effectively didn’t know better. The master’s will had not been explicitly taught them, and this might be seen as a mitigating factor in their sins. No, they remain without excuse, yet the Judge is not without mercy. Though their deeds done in ignorance may prove to have been worthy of severest punishment, yet He shall see their punishment reduced. Not eliminated, no, but reduced. Paul looks to this with great relief as he considers his own past, noting that God did not destroy him for his efforts in crushing Christianity because it was done in ignorance (1Ti 1:13).
The danger here is that we will look at that period of ignorance when once we have come to Christ, and suppose that we can simply forget it ever happened. No consequences and no responsibility. This is not supportable, though so many take it to heart. No, even here, we find Jesus saying there will be consequences. Ignorance is not an excuse. Indeed, as Paul also makes painfully clear in Romans 1:19-20, it’s not even a believable excuse. One might reasonably plead a poor understanding of what was plainly before his eyes, but not unawareness.
The second group of sinners Jesus describes are those who know God’s will but don’t do it, nor do they prepare. This would seem to describe those sins we speak of as sins of omission. You see, it’s not sufficient for the believer to avoid doing those things covered by ‘Thou shalt not’. This, by the by, is something that the authors of the Westminster Confession fully understood. No, as they rightfully advocate, wherever one thing is forbidden in Scripture, we must understand that its opposite is likewise commanded. It is not sufficient, for example, to avoid murdering your brother, or even to uphold the higher standard of not so much as speaking derisively of him. Real compliance with the will of God requires we go further and actively seek to be of help to that same brother, to do what we can to promote his well being. To not do so, then, becomes a sin of omission. You may not have done what you ought not do, but you have not done what you ought.
This group, were I to attempt a general application, might be construed as those who come to church of a Sunday, hear the message, nod in all the right places, offer the occasional ‘amen’ and whatnot, but go home unmoved and unchanged. We could attempt to make excuses for such as these, I suppose, especially as we might easily count ourselves among their number. But, it’s not enough to suggest that the service simply isn’t moving enough. It’s not enough to explain that the word of man is not binding upon my conscience. That’s all well and good, but it’s no excuse. We’re talking about the Word of God, here!
If all you’re getting from the pulpit is man’s opinion, then you have a responsibility to find better teaching. If you have not done so, there’s only one to blame. If you are getting more than man’s opinion, then why are you not applying it? Or have you set yourself as the arbiter of what is true and what is not? We all of us have a terrible and terrifying habit of looking at our faith life as a menu from which we may pick and choose which aspects we wish to heed and which we shall leave for others. But, that just sets us firmly in this second camp. We know God’s will, but we have decided it’s not for us and we’re not going to do it. The warning of this passage ought to chill us to the bone! No, we have not cast our salvation in peril, for that was not built upon our sinless nature in the first place. How could it be built on what doesn’t exist? Salvation remains in Christ alone. But, salvation does not remove responsibility. Salvation by grace alone does not mean that we can go out and sin without fear of reprisal.
Look at what we are being told here: When He returns, those who have failed to give due heed to His will shall be punished with many lashes. Given the comparison being made with those unfaithful leaders who Jesus says will be counted as unbelievers, I have to suppose that the group before us now are still counted as believers. It’s not that they have rejected Christ outright and gone off in their paganism. They are still in the house, and still counted as members of the house. But, they are disobedient members and they shall find justice served. “I will give each one of you according to your deeds” (Rev 2:23). Cuts both ways, doesn’t it?
I cannot speak for all, I know, but I can certainly speak for myself. I know there are many times when I have known what to do but have refused to do it. I dare say, any time I have fallen into sin this has been the case, particularly when I stupidly return to sins of long standing. I have been freed from the chains that bound me to these behaviors, and yet I go back to them. If I had any hope of pleading ignorance at the start, that hope is gone. I know better. And yet, I do. I know what to do and yet I don’t. Yes, I know I shall have much to answer for when I stand before my King. My hope remains, though. For, though I must bear such punishment as is my just due, yet I know that His promise remains. Yet I know that He shall bring me through to a place without sin, not in me and not around me.
What remains of the categories Jesus has laid out is that of the faithless leader, and such woe they may expect from the Master’s hand! These shall not merely be punished, but destroyed from out of heaven. It occurs to me that in this we are seeing what is that sin which leads to death (1Jn 5:17), and this I find to be wholly in keeping with the prophetic writings. Ever and always, God has had a special ire reserved for those shepherds who do harm to their flocks rather than care for them. It’s there in the Old Testament prophecies. It’s here, as Jesus looks at what the Sanhedrin and the Pharisees have made of religion. Can we really suppose that it’s not also here in our own day?
Look around! Hear the stuff that has spewed from the pulpits of the West with claims of Christ’s backing! Yet, it is so patently at odds with the revealed Wisdom of Scripture that only the most determined of sinners could accept it as right. Look at the many who have, like the temple hierarchy of Jesus’ own time, looked at religion as a means of earthly wealth rather than the path to eternal life. How many take to the airwaves daily in hopes of convincing the gullible to send them money? How many are more interested in their personal jets and limousines than in the spiritual health of any one of their charges, or even their own?
Woe to these false teachers, one and all! They abuse those they should be caring for. They take no least interest in the well-being of their charges, but seek rather their own evil pleasures, and to teach those who will listen to be as themselves. God is love, after all! How could He hate our sins? He loves everything! Such is the foolish and deadly wisdom of these false ones. Yet, in spite of their treachery, they are still to be counted as ‘those whom the master put in charge,’ if only for the measure of their punishment. And what punishment awaits, when God’s wrath is exposed as the backside of His love! They shall be cut in pieces and thrown out with the unbelievers, for such they were, for all their religiosity.
This brings us to the culminating point Jesus makes, and they are indeed words to take fully to heart. “From everyone who has been given much shall much be required. To whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.” Let me give you the simple, to the point phrasing of the Message on this one: “Great gifts mean great responsibilities.” Yes, that sounds rather like Spiderman, doesn’t it? Or, would it not be more appropriate to say that Spiderman’s understanding echoes Scripture, however unconsciously.
See it as you may, it is certainly the reality for the Christian. It must be said that every Christian has great gifts given to Him by God. After all, there is a minimum gift of eternal life, and that spent in God’s own household! What could be greater? Responsibility, then? Count on it. Still, I will add to that. Peter, for starters, notes that each of us has received a gift from God which is to be employed in serving one another “as good stewards of God’s grace” (1Pe 4:10). Not one among us is permitted to be satisfied in working out our own salvation. We are all called to serve one another in that very pursuit, to use such gifts as we are given to promote the spiritual well-being of those others with whom we are associated.
And still, I would carry it farther. We, particularly in this day and age, have the wealth of ages. We have access to tools that promote our faith such as no other has ever known. We are granted the great privilege of not only having access to the wisdom of two millennia of Christian study, but having it at our fingertips all but free of charge! You don’t have to be a rich man to build up a solid Christian library. You don’t have to set aside roomfuls of bookshelves to hold it. It’s there, free of charge, on the web, with search facilities such as our forebears never even dreamed of! Much indeed is given when even the most casual student of Scripture has such tools to hand. Do you not suppose, then, that we have a certain responsibility to avail ourselves of these tools? To apply ourselves to that study of Scripture which is enjoined upon us? Study to show yourselves approved. We know the passage. I’ll not bother with a reference at this stage. Go find it for yourself.
Oh! But let us take this responsibility to heart, to seek a true knowledge of the Wisdom revealed to us in these pages. Let us not be as those who seek only confirmation of their own opinions therein. Let us seek to our uttermost to hear from Scripture what it truly wishes to speak to us. Let us avail ourselves of the efforts of greater minds than our own. Let us be corrected in our opinions as God speaks, rather than looking to correct Him. Let us be convicted of the Truth of God and no other thing, and let conviction lead to action.
