Daily Devotions – A parable of the slaves

Daily Devotions – A parable of the slaves

 

 

Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:

Luke 12:41-46 (ESV)

41 Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” 42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 44 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 45 But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, 46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful.

This passage follows the teaching in Luke which we heard last Sunday, about being awake and ready for God. Peter begins by asking if Jesus’ message was meant for people like him. Jesus doesn’t answer him directly, which shows that the message is meant for everyone. Jesus then explains the radical different outcomes for the faithful and unfaithful. The faithful will be set over all the master’s possessions (v. 44), whereas the unfaithful will be cut to pieces (v. 46). This does not mean that God will violently cut people up. What it does is describe how we will feel if we cut ourselves off from God – our lives will feel all in pieces, like we haven’t amounted to anything. It is through knowing God that all the pieces of our lives – the good and bad – are weaved together in a story which lets us see than even our hard times were a necessary and blessed step toward our eternal joy.