The Servants

By Matt

Oh, Matthew 24 is a fun one for sure! Let's take a look at the parable involving the servants that comes at the end. Jesus has been foretelling the end of the world and implores his disciples to be on the lookout and at the ready lest Jesus returns and catches them unawares (like that great bumper sticker: "Jesus is coming (look busy)." Anyways, in the parable Jesus talks about two servants put in charge of their master's house while he is away. The first servant makes sure that everyone in the house is fed at the right time; the second servant beats all the other servants. Obviously the first servant is good and the second servant is not so good. However, the sneaky master decides to show up unexpected and unannounced and finds the not so good servant beating the other servants. He is then cut to pieces and assigned to a place with the hypocrites (Pharisees?) and then weeps and gnashes his teeth.

I put it humorously because it's kind of an outlandish example, but it's pretty clear what Jesus is expecting. Jesus, the master, might be out of the house for a while but people who use their power to help others will be rewarded while those who use it to take advantage of others will get the beat down. For the thousandth time it all comes down to, "With great power comes great responsibility." So, like other stories where condemnation is offered, it's very clear that those who act in love are rewarded while those who don't are damned. It's interesting to me that I haven't yet found anything about belief in Christ being necessary for eternal life. However, the Gospel of Matthew makes it very clear that doing anything worthwhile and out of faith requires belief in Jesus as the son of God. Still not sure what to make of all of this!