Jesus’ Parable of the Servant and the Master

The Parable of the Servant and the Master

A Parable of an Obedient Christian Servant

Luke 17:7–10

It’s essential that we begin by putting into context this four-verse parable. In Luke’s gospel account, the parable follows three interrelated miniparables in vv. 1–6. I’ll first provide the text of the miniparables then a breakdown that leads up to our parable.

Here’s my breakdown of this “servant and master” parable passage.

Each of the three lead-in sayings has an unexpected verbal twist: (1) The consequence for causing a little one to stumble is worse than if you were thrown into the sea with a millstone around your neck (vv. 1–2); (2) forgiveness is required when a person sins against you and repents, even when it happens seven times in a day (vv. 3–4); (3) faith as small as a tiny mustard seed can uproot a mulberry tree and replant it in the sea (vv. 5–6). Jesus couples a sensitivity to sin, a readiness to forgive, and a willingness to trust in God with an attitude of humble service.

Jesus presented this parable in response to his disciples’ request to be given increased faith. He began to teach them (and us) the necessity of forgiving a brother or sister, even if he or she sins against you seven times per day; he also highlighted a disciple’s responsibility to forgive them. In Jesus’ Parable of the Servant and the Master, he insists that we realize the difference between “choosing to serve” and “choosing to become a servant!” When we choose to serve, we’re still in charge; we ultimately decide when and whom we’re inclined to serve. However, when we intentionally choose to become a servant, we fully forego the right to be in charge. A dedicated servant must give up all rights!

The lesson in the text of vv. 1–6 (shown above) introduces and intermixes with this parable’s vv. 7–10. Therein, Jesus emphasizes each disciple’s obligation to serve the Master without expecting a release or reward. After all, no one, no matter how hard one works, can ever put God in his/her debt! Jesus’ followers must completely and devotedly obey him, no matter the trials they/we face. Just like Jesus, servants must overcome their human nature by suffering. Jesus further calls attention to the kind of faith his disciples would need to successfully withstand upcoming trials while obeying his commands.

Follow my verse-by-verse account of our servanthood parable… Jesus challenges his disciples to consider how they’d act toward a servant if they were to become a master: (a) Jesus invites his disciples to imagine that they had a slave who’d work around their house and farm (v. 7); (b) He then asks a rhetorical question: Does the master offer to fix dinner for the slave or is it the other way around? (v. 8); (c) Of course not! says Jesus. The master doesn’t “owe” the servant a reward for his hard work (v. 9); (d) Are we to somehow gain special recognition from God, even receive a reward, if we do what he says (v. 10)?

Verse 7:  Will one of the listening disciples say to a servant, “Come along now and sit down to eat”? Jesus knows well that his disciples’ unanimous answer will be that no master will invite or permit his slave to eat before the master eats. The disciples knew from their culture that things didn’t work that way.

Verse 8:  Instead of the servant eating first, when he comes in from the field, from either plowing or tending sheep, he’s told to prepare a meal for the master to eat. To do that appropriately, the servant must first get cleaned up and clothe himself properly so he’ll be able to serve the master until the master has finished eating and drinking. Once the master has been appropriately taken care of, the servant becomes able to eat and drink. Essentially, the master comes before the servant. Once again, the disciples would agree to themselves, Yes, that’s how it works.

Verse 9:  Jesus asks one more question: “Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?” Does the master thank the servant for coming in after working a day in the field and then serve him food and drink? No. There’s no place for a master to thank a servant for what a servant does dutifully. He’s there to serve his master. No one in that culture would expect the servant to serve his master and await hearing his master tell him, “Thank you.”

Verse 10:  Jesus’ point in this parable’s closing verse became very personal for his listeners then and us today. God is the Master and we are the servants/slaves. Contextually, the disciples presumed that the commands made by Jesus, their Master, were asking them to perform acts that were exceptional — above and beyond their capabilities. Based on that incorrect presumption, they felt the need to say to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” (v. 5). In response, Jesus first assured them that they needed “faith as small as a mustard seed” (v. 7).

Jesus is saying herein, When you do what I’ve commanded, you’re not doing something exceptional; you’re simply doing what you ought to do as the Master’s servant. Therefore, your response to me should be: “We are your unworthy servants/slaves, Lord Jesus.”

In this four-verse parable, Jesus had all who heard him then, as well as us today, imagining the unimaginable: A master treating a servant after a long day’s work, as if the master were a dinner guest who said to the servant, Hey there hard-working servant, sit down to eat. Servants would never be treated that way!

Servant? Slave?  In this parable Jesus speaks of a servant. In some Bible translations the servant is referred to as a slave. The reason for this is that the Greek word doulos can be translated as a servant, bond-servant, or slave. In Jesus’ day, slavery was common throughout the Roman Empire. With slavery being an accepted part of most ancient cultures, Jesus’ listeners would have easily understood the point he was making herein. In the modern world, having rejected slavery, we see it as unjust. It’s been estimated that between twenty and thirty percent of the people throughout the Empire were slaves. Please note: That Jesus used a slave example doesn’t mean he condoned slavery. He used a servant/slave in this parable to clarify his point, since it was a common, easy-to-understand concept.

New Testament scholar Simon Kistemaker explains, “The context of the parable is the cold, impersonal relationship of the ancient world in which a slave was expected to obey whatever his master told him to do. If the owner instructed the servant to plow the field during the day and to prepare supper upon returning home, he merely obeyed because he knew that this was his task. It was as simple as that. And for doing his task the slave did not receive a ‘Thank you,’ for it was not customary to thank slaves.”^[1]

Our salvation is the most valuable reward or gift that will be bestowed upon us servants by God; we aren’t to work for it or earn it. Our service to him is to be done out of gratitude and love, as well as out of our duty to the one-and-only Master who’s redeemed us. When we’ve done what God has commanded us to do, we can’t ever put him in a position of “owing” us something.

Jesus spoke numerous times about rewards for our service: “Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret will reward you” (Matt. 6:4); “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (v. 6); “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven” (Luke 6:23a); “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High” (v. 35a). Yes, we’re promised a reward. But our relationship with God isn’t a matter of deserving, bargaining for, or working to attain or earn something. As servants of the Lord, we work for him to fulfill our duty to him. In return, we receive directly from God his extremely valuable gift, which is NOT his payment to us for services rendered!

Individually and collectively we serve God because he saved us. We serve him because we’re grateful. We serve him because we love him. And, because our service to him is motivated by love and gratitude, not reward, he delights in rewarding us, his servants.

A Hearty Way to Approach and Apply This Parable

We believers are duty-bound to serve Christ Jesus by that first and great commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). God is absolutely sovereign. Because of that, he deserves and expects our complete obedience. In addition, our works of service to him aren’t to be performed by us to receive one or more rewards or special blessings. For us believers today, we instead receive grace and goodness and so much more from Father God.

Please note! This parable doesn’t deny that God will actually reward his children. He will reward us as he deems fit! Scripture confirms this most encouraging revelation. Read now what Jesus truly said to Peter who’d implied that he and fellow disciples had done everything imaginable in their service efforts for Jesus…

Surely, God rewards his children accordingly. But that’s not this parable’s point! Instead, Jesus is advising us that when we serve as he commands, we’ll have done only what was expected of us as Christ’s devoted followers. In the end — on judgment day’s great white throne — God’s final judgment will bestow great reward on all who are faithful. Jesus promised that those who endure persecution, love their enemies, and obediently serve their Master will be richly rewarded (Matt. 5:11–12; 25:23; Luke 6:35).

Merit vs. Grace  The New Testament is quite clear about differentiating between merit and grace. These two classic statements of this differentiation were articulated by Apostle Paul (Romans 4:4–5; Ephesians 2:8–10). The blessings of God are ours because we’ve been adopted by him as his “sons,” “daughters,” “children.” But that unmerited adoption itself comes to us only because of his grace. God doesn’t owe his followers and servants anything! He gives it freely. Rather we owe him an unpayable debt.

Our Lord doesn’t say exactly what his rewards will be, but I assume that those who’ll receive rewards will cheer and treasure them (Matt. 6:19–21; Luke 19:17; 1 Corinthians 3:14). No matter what rewards we’ll receive, they’ll be granted to us only because of the Lord’s grace in providing it. It will have absolutely nothing to do with merit! While we can’t earn or merit our reward, obedience is what’s most essential.

What wonderfully amazing grace it will be when we hear the Master say to each of us at the end of time: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matt. 25:21).

Questions to Answer:

•  Would it have been enough for Jesus to merely increase his disciples’ faith as they’d requested? (v. 5)
•  Being the devoted servants we ought to be, must we be subject to God in everything? (v. 7)
•  How would you quantify the effort a servant must make for his Master? (v. 8)
•  Should a servant expect praise, reward, thanks, or even recognition for his obedient service? (v. 9)
•  Having served the master, why is the servant still unworthy? What does the Master expect? (v. 10)

We ought now to conclude that the Parable of the Servant and the Master was intended to reveals, then and now, that doing our duty may be difficult and demanding. It might cost us dearly. And it isn’t always immediately gratifying. We are servants of Christ, our Master, and no one else. But, no matter what it feels like at the moment, the privilege of serving the Master ultimately becomes our joy. What’s more? That joy will transform our duties into delights.

Jesus says when we’ve done everything for him in our life, we’re to say to him, We are unprofitable servants; we’ve done nothing more than our duty. That’s humility! We serve Jesus not for ourselves but for him and others. So, when you lose yourself for Christ, what you discover is that you'll learn who you are in Christ and you'll be happy. Why? Because you're not trying to get a reward or special recognition for your service efforts. The best reward you can receive is developing a personally engaging love relationship with Jesus.