Matthew 24:45-51
Let’s continue to pray for Jim and Marty.
“Notice what you notice.” The faithful servant and the evil servant. So, is Jesus referring to specific people here? Mostly, that is, might He be thinking of the scribes and Pharisees as the evil servant? That thought came to me in today’s last verse where Jesus says that the master will …assign him a place with the hypocrites (v. 51), and Jesus has regularly referred to the scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites. Or is Jesus saying that the scribes and Pharisees are already doomed in that place where …there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (again, v. 51), and that those who model after the evil servant will join the scribes and Pharisees in that place? So, to whom is Jesus referring when He contrasts the faithful and evil servants?
The preceding paragraph describes the coming of the Son of Man. So if today’s reading continues that thought and reflects forward to the “End of the Age”, then Jesus is returning and finding all sorts of people grouped into one of these two servant categories. I know that all of us want to be among the faithful servants – and from what little I know of myself and the rest of you, I would place us in that “faithful servant” category. But with “day and hour” completely uncertain, what if Jesus comes on a day when he does not expect Him and at an hour which he does not know (v. 50) and we’ve grown lazy from His delayed return? Ouch.
Rich Wilkinson posted on Facebook a couple of days ago, something like the following: The early church asked “What must I do to be saved?”, while today’s church asks “What can I do and still be saved?” Think about that for a bit.
Slava Bohu!