GOSPEL PARABLES 14 A SERVANT MINDSET

The background to this parable in Luke is Jesus answering his apostles when they asked him to increase their faith. He said to them ‘If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.’ Luke 17:6 Having that kind of spiritual authority no doubt impressed them, and they would probably have then expected to hear a master class tutorial on gaining great faith. But in the next verse Jesus taught them a parable about having a servant mindset.
Verse 7 Which one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep would say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was assigned to him? It’s the same with you, so when you have done all you were told to do, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

They would have had no problem agreeing with what Jesus said about servants. There weren’t any workplace relation issues in those days or fair-work conditions or overtime. The point was that a servant worked until the day’s work was done, and certainly wouldn’t expect to sit down in scruffy work clothes and have a meal before the master of the house had eaten, as preparing the master’s meal was part of the day’s work anyway. And that meant having to wash and put on the right clothing and then having their own meal separately.
They would have agreed about no thankyous or bonuses – work is work and serving is serving - so get used to it. And being an unworthy servant simply points to the relative status of master and servant. It does not mean being a worthless servant – because they get fired. So what is the takeaway here in this parable?

There are a few stipulations that get special mention – know your place – Don’t expect privilege or applause and dress appropriately, and implicit in this is don’t grumble. And while these are fine qualities for a good employee the message just doesn’t send the soul heavenwards. In fact, there appears to be nothing inspiring about this parable at all.

But then Heaven lifts this mundane story into its highest glory and we see that Jesus is giving the apostles the key to unlocking the Kingdom power of God into the world - a master class of the dawning of a new kind of heavenly power that would reorder the nature of power – a power that was not our power over people but God’s power with people. And we see that Jesus is setting the stage here for the apostles to embrace a mindset of loving service as he himself had done. Jesus was answering their request to him to increase their faith. He was teaching them that having the kind of faith that released the power of the Kingdom of God did not mean that they possessed that power within themselves. They would become endued with God’s power at his will and timing as they embraced his servant nature mindset, and as they heard and obeyed his word in any given situation. The world did not know about this and still doesn’t and this has always been on offer to the Church and waiting to be fully embraced in these days of such neediness and destitution of the human soul.

God does not supernaturally empower people who lord themselves over other people or coerce them to do their own bidding. Our faith is the assurance that God is at work in the world of the unseen, and we see God’s power in action as we become partakers of his Divine servant nature. Jesus diligently taught them this a number of times.
Matthew 20:25 Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The Bible tells us in Philippians how Jesus lived within this faith and power when he writes ‘Have this mind(set) among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be clutched onto, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, (Philippians 2:5)

We can know God’s presence with us in many ways, in worship or prayer or meditation in his word, but in our serving that is born out of God’s love and faith and not born out of sheer duty or just to be impressive we can touch the empowering presence of God.

Jesus graphically turned the tables on his apostles’ cultural perspective of masters and servants and status and self-importance when he expressed not only his servant nature but his devoted love to the apostles at the Last Supper.

John 13:3-9 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you will have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” (Peter went into overkill as usual)

When he said to Peter ‘you will have no share with me’ he was saying that Peter could only share the Divine empowering and authority as he let the grace of the serving nature of Jesus flow through him to others.
And Jesus has more to say to those who have valued that ‘share with him’ mindset.
Jesus is waiting to come as the bridegroom to his own wedding feast and he wants to demonstrate his love and care and appreciation to all the faithful servants who are waiting for him. And he desires to lavish his warmest hospitality upon
his close and cherished guests and attendants. He says,
Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning and be like people who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. (Luke 12:35)

This servant mindset is always able to be conscious of considering two things at once. The first part is about us and what we are doing and the second part is about what God is doing.

The first part about us is being conscious that we are doing the best we can and accepting that our service will not be perfect but our heart of willingness to help and bless can be as perfectly selfless as we can manage. It is also about dealing with our human expectations of being appreciated or even thanked or wanting to feel affirmed. We can manage that mostly by focussing on the fact that we are doing this as unto the Lord and not only for people. Jesus said ‘when you do this you are doing it for me’ (Matthew 25:40)

That brings us to the second part about being conscious of what God is doing.
God sees what we do as an act of love to himself and as an act of faith in him and now we see the answer to the request that the apostles had for Jesus about increasing their faith.
The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit at these times that God is working through our faith in him to bring about his supernatural outcome of blessing upon the ones we are serving. We leave that result in God’s hands and in his timing. But the awareness of his love and closeness to us at these times brings an instant spiritual blessing to us. And it is in this atmosphere of his loving attendance to us where God assures us of his creative reordering of all things in that place in our world to come into alignment with his will.<...