What Does God Owe You?
Fourteenth after Trinity
Collect of the Day Almighty and everlasting God, give unto us the increase of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain that which thou dost promise, make us to love that which thou dost command; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Homily Text Luke 17:7-10 (KJ21)
7 But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by when he is come from the field, ‘Go and sit down to meat’?
8 But will you not rather say unto him, ‘Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself and serve me until I have eaten and drunk, and afterward thou shalt eat and drink’?
9 Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not!
10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our duty to do.’”
“Please go clean up your room, Johnny.”
“Will you pay me if I do?”
“No, It’s one of your jobs.”
“That’s not fair!”
Unfortunately it’s not just kids who complain that they are not treated fairly. Many have a sense of aggrievement and entitlement. A great number of people complain that they don’t get a fair shake, that they are owed more than they receive, that they don’t get the appreciation and rewards they deserve. People may make such complaints not only against employers, the government, and family members. Sometimes they also complain that God owes them more than they receive.
The story or parable we read from St. Luke’s Gospel should come with a warning: “Trigger alert. This story might offend you.”
1. The Parable
1.1. Jesus told a story that is set in a very different world from ours. There is a household that consists of a master and a slave. The master was well off enough to have a slave, but not wealthy enough to several slaves, those who worked outside and others inside. We don’t know if the master had other family. The story focuses on him and his slave. There was just one servant who had to do all the work expected by the master.
1.2. The slave would be sent out to work on the farm during the day. His assignment might be to plow a field or to tend the livestock. This was hard manual labor, and he had to do it all by himself. His day was, as I have heard old working men say, “from sun-up to sun-down” or “from can to can’t.”
Now, if you and I spend hours outside doing physically demanding work, we are ready to sit down in the shade, drink something cool, recuperate, take a shower, and have our supper. Jesus asks, “Is that what you expect the servant to do when he work is finished? Would his master say, “You’ve worked long and hard. Come on in right now, and sit down and have supper with me”?
Everybody who heard the story would have answered, “No, of course not. That’s not how it works with masters and slaves!”
1.3. The slave’s day is not over. The master says, “Prepare my supper. Change out of your work clothes and put on proper clothes for waiting table. Then you can serve me while I eat and drink.” The master adds, “When you have finished with serving me, then you can see about your own supper.”
Jesus asks another question: “Do you think that he will thank the servant of all of his work?” From our perspective, it would seem obvious that the master should say, “Thank you.” That’s not only courteous; it’s good management to express appreciation.
But to Jesus’s listeners the answer was obvious. Of course, not. The slave is a slave. His job is to do whatever the master tells him to do. He has just done what was expected of him. No thanks are due for doing what you’re supposed to do.”
2. Point
2.1. The story seems strange to us, but it made sense to the people who originally heard it. Does the the fact that the story comes from a very different world from ours mean that it is irrelevant for us living in the second decade of the 21st century? No, Jesus had timeless point to make, but first we need to clear a possible misunderstanding.
Jesus was not teaching us the way to treat other people. He is not telling us not to thank the waitress who brings our meal, or the UPS man who delivers a package, or the person who sets up and cleans up after the fellowship time at church. We should not take for granted the people who serve us. It is always good to express appreciation and to recognize jobs done well. Your mother was right. Say, “Please and thank you.”
2.2. The stories or parables Jesus told often begin with a reality that illustrates a point he wants to make. He told the story about a man who early in the morning hired laborers to work in his vineyard. At intervals all through the day he hired more laborers. Then when the workday was just about over he hired some more laborers. When it came time to pay, he paid everyone the same amount. Those who had worked in the heat of the day protested that it was not fair. But the owner of the vineyard said, “I paid you what I promised. And it’s my right to pay whatever I want to those who did not start till the end of the day.” Jesus is not teaching us about labor and management contracts, but rather takes a story that could come from real life in order to teach us about God’s grace and generosity to sinners.
2.3. What was Jesus doing with this story about the hard working slave and the master who gave him no thanks because he did no more than was expected of him. Jesus tells us the point: “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”
2.3.a. We belong to God body and soul for two reasons. First he created us. As. Psalm 100 tells us, “It is he who has made us, and we are his.” We belong to God because “in his we live and move and have our being. “ Second we belong to God because he redeemed us the dying of Christ. St. Paul tells us, “You are not your own (you don’t belong to yourself), for you were bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6: 19,20). God created you; God saved you from sin.
2.3.b. There is a way of thinking that is very common, even among Christians. It is that God owes it to us to take care of us, to help us, to make us successful, and make us happy. On the other hand we have no obligation to God. Since God wants us to be fulfilled and happy, we are free to do whatever we need to do to be fulfilled and happy. If doing what God wants us to do, obeying his will, is too hard or too demanding, then those things are optional. If service to Christ proves inconvenient or costly, those things, too, are optional. God owes us happiness; we owe God nothing.
2.3.c. Another way we are preoccupied with ourselves is when we are willing to let others serve, especially to serve us, while we do nothing. We don’t find a place of service. We don’t give to the work of the Lord. We let others carry the load. We are takers not givers, watchers not workers. We reverse the words of our Lord. Our motto is “I am here not to serve but to be served.”
2.3.d. There is another thing characteristic of us. We may be willing to serve the Lord, but there is a limit especially when others are not doing their part. “I’ve done my part; others are not doing theirs; I am doing no more till others do more.” And we want others to notice what we and to thank us. If we don’t get the appreciation we think we deserve, then we get our noses out of joint.
2.3.e. Another trap we fall into is that, when we are faithful in obedience and service, is to think that God is obligated to do things for us. We say, “I have obeyed the Lord and served the Lord, and he has let me down. My life has not turned out the way I hoped. I am disappointed about my work, my marriage, my finances, my kids, my health. This is just not fair. God owes me better than this. There are a lot of worse people than me.”
In all these things we partake of the spirit, “It’s all about me.” It’s not about God, or Christ, or the church, or Christian obedience, or Christian service. It’s about me.
3.1. And so Jesus says, “When you have done everything - everything God asks of you - when you have done more than others, when you have sacrificed to serve, say, “We are but unprofitable servants; we have only done our duty.”
The truth is that there is no obedience that is too costly or burdensome. That is no service that is too hard or demanding. We belong to God body and soul. We can never repay him for his grace and mercy to us.
4. Do you know who is the perfect slave in the story? We know it’s not you or me. It is not St. Paul or St. Peter, or a martyr. It is our Lord Jesus Christ, who served his Father and served us sinners. He said, “I came not to be served but to serve and to give my life a ransom for many.” On the night he was betrayed, in the Upper Room with his self-absorbed disciples who that night would abandon him in his hour of greatest need, he got up from the table, took off his outer clothing, wrapped a towel around his waist, and went to each disciple washing their feet. Why? Because he is the Servant who never said, “Enough! That’s all I am doing.” He went all the way in his service. He dirtied himself with our sins and paid their penalty on the cross.
Go, labor on: spend, and be spent,
Thy joy to do the Father’s will:
It is the way the Master went;
Should not the servant tread it still?
