"Who, then, is the faithful and wise servant...?"
I - The parable of the "faithful and wise servant"
Three of the synoptic gospels mention it in diverse ways, providing slightly different details. It’s possible that Jesus told this parable on more than one ocasion, from different angles, which would explain the diverse renderings that the Gospel writers presented of them. However, the context in which the parable is presented is normally the same. The parable in the three gospels Mark 13:34-36 - “It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake — for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning — lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.” Luke 12:42-48 - “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. Matthew 24:45-51 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Of the three, the Markian version is the one who’s less rich in details and appears to be partially amalgamated with other parables. The version of Luke is more detail-rich and offers a slightly different conclusion than that of Matthew. In any case, the basic common elements of the parable are:
The versions of Matthew and Luke differ from Mark in which they include conjectures about the possibility of the servant who was assigned with a task of greater responsability becoming unfaithful to his assignment, and what the consequences would suffer that “evil” servant in case his Master would return and find him unfaithful and distracted. While Matthew mentions one outcome, that is, harsh punishment followed by rejection, Luke describes a slightly different scenario, where the Master would weigh in the degree of guilt of the servant, and calibrate the punishment accordingly. With Luke, the final outcome of the punishment is unclear, whether is rejection or indulgence. In Luke’s version, Jesus strongly stresses the connection between responsability and accountability. In Mark, the prominent slave was assigned the task of “doorkeeper”, while the duties of the other slaves are unclear. In Matthew, the prominent slave receives the task to supervise the other slaves and ensure that they get “food at a proper time”; In Luke, the prominent slave is put “in charge” over the other servants “to give them their food allowance at the proper time”. Notice that the prominent slave is put in charge for a specific function: To provide protection and nourishment for his co-slaves. He’s not generically put in a position to administrate and rule over the other slaves in the household. Rather, he was assigned to a specific, responsible task: It’s his responsability to ensure the protection and nourishment that they’d normally would expect from their Master, now during his absence. Simple parable - or prophecy? The moral lesson contained on the parable of the faithful servant may be summarized in the following formula: “Be diligent, be faithful, be prepared at all times, for you will be held accountable for the attainment of your assigned duties.” To the listeners of Jesus, the notion of a faithful and wise slave that earns his Master’s praise and is appointed over the Master’s entire possessions wasn’t new. They surely recalled their ancester Joseph, son of Jacob. After being made a slave into the house of Potiphar, he became so efficient that his Master “left everything he had in Joseph's care”, to the point that ‘no one was greater in the house than he was. His master has withheld nothing from Joseph’. (Genesis 39:9). When he was injustly sent to prision, he was such a model detainee, that “the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there.” (Genesis 39:22). When the time came and Jehovah manouvered the events so that Joseph came to be before the Pharaoh of Egypt, and interpreted his dreams, the monarch said about Joseph: “there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders.” He said more: "I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt (...) I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt.” (Genesis 41:37-45) Indeed, Joseph, son of Jacob, was the biblical archetype of the “faithful and wise slave” that was “put in charge of all his Master’s possessions”. While it surely can be considered a parable with a moral lesson, this parable had other implications for a time ahead of its utterance; therefore one may speak of a prophetic parable. The context on which this parable was uttered helps us to reach such conclusion. In two gospels, the parable is preceeded by another parable about the owner of a house not knowing about the hour when the thief would come. (Matthew 24:43; Luke 12:39). Then, before the parable of the faithful and wise slave is uttered, a stern warning is given, that the disciples do not know the hour when their Lord is returning, even if they can observe signs that his return is close. “Be on guard! Be alert ! You do not know when that time will come” (Mark 13:33) “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come (...) be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Matthew 24:42, 44) “You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Luke 12:40) After this clear warning, Jesus told the parable to illustrate the point. Clearly, the context surrounding the parable of the faithful and wise slave was about the future return of Jesus Christ. Therefore, this is more than a mere parable with a moral lesson. It is a prophetic parable. (continued...) by Eden << Back to Introduction | To Part 2 >> |