Seamless Service

~~~ Titus 2:1-8, 11-14 ~~~ Psalm 37 ~~~ Luke 17:7-10 ~~~

 

At first reading the gospel account from Luke seems harsh and selfish.

The slave in Biblical times literally had no rights.

 He was the property of his owner and would have

been given few priviledges.

Certainly the servant would not have expected or been

entitled to special allowances.

 

 

Jesus is using this slave as an example of our relationship with God.

What could God possibly owe to us?

On the other hand we owe everything to God.

He has given us all that we are and all that we have.

 

We are not is a position to bargain with God.

We are not is a position to expect special priviledges.

But at the same time we are not slaves to God.

 

When we obey God we are not doing so in hopes of sitting

with him as his honored guest.

We obey out of a desire to give something back to him.

The only thing we can give to God is ourselves.

Giving ourselves back to God is really all that we can give to him.

 

 "'...We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.’”

 

We might like to think that we are worthy of something from God

in return for our prayers and good deeds, but it is not true.

It is out of the goodness of God that our prayers are even answered.

No matter what we do for God he does not profit from our efforts.

 

Just as the slave returns from the field with more work waiting to be done,

we too can never become complacent. We must never think that we have done enough...that we have served the Lord long enough or enough times.

There will always be more work to be done in the vineyard.

Our whole life needs to be one of serving...bringing forth the word of the Lord.

 

No matter what we are doing with our life;

the underlying mission should be about pleasing God.

 

 

I guess the question remains...

when have we ever given enough back to God?

Does your love for God compel you to give him your best?

Does your love for God help you to give yourself back to him?

 

We know that even the apostles were confused by the message of the kingdom.

They even thought that they were going to be entitled

to some special merits for being among his closest followers.

In this example Jesus may be trying to tell them to be patient;

things were not exactly as they might have thought.

 

Often our perception of things turns out not to be the reality.

Serving in the 'field' or serving at the 'table'

our work in the eyes of God is never completed.

It is by the grace of God that we continue to freely serve him.

In the end it was Jesus, himself, who assumed the servant's position

and washed the disciples feet.