Matthew 24:45-51 (ESV)
No One Knows That Day and Hour
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 47 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 48 But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know 51 and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
When my children were little, they often made mistakes which is a natural part of growing up. Whenever they made mistakes my wife and I would work to correct the problem, patiently teaching them the right behavior or choices they should make.
When my kids were older and made mistakes, my wife and I often had to determine if what happened was an honest misstep on their part or a deliberate choice of disobedience.
What helped us to work things out was to consider if our kids were being childish or foolish. Childish mistakes resulted from a lack of understanding, experience, or maturity. Foolish mistakes resulted from a deliberate choice of disobedience. My kids knew what they should do, but, paraphrasing the wise words from the knight in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade…, “they chose poorly.”
Choosing wisely or choosing poorly is what Jesus is talking about in this passage.
The underlying theme Jesus is hitting on is the same as it has been from the previous passages; to be found ready. The master of the house has left the servants in charge while he was away, and he will come back suddenly and unannounced. How will he find his servants? Will they be doing what they are supposed to be doing or will the master find them doing something they’re not supposed to do?
Here in this passage as we continue with the theme of being ready, Jesus makes His point through a wisdom saying, painting the picture as the difference between the wise servant and the wicked, foolish servant.
Wisdom sayings were an ingrained tradition in ancient Jewish culture. In the book of Proverbs, there are many wisdom sayings that contrast the wise person with the foolish person.
The wise person is the one who respects and honors their relationship with the Lord, while the foolish person is the one who ignores the Lord.
Jesus made use of wisdom sayings in His parables and teachings, and we can find them in New Testament letters (James 3:5 for example), and they continue to this day (my favorite from J.R.R. Tolkien, “Never laugh at live dragons”).
The point Jesus is making regarding the wise and foolish servants isn’t just about knowing what God wants us to do. The point, going back to the previous passages, is that God may show up at any time. The wise will be ready for the Lord, but the foolish will not.
However, let’s not have a narrow focus on this, thinking that we must be found perfect in every way. You and I know that we are far from perfect. We constantly stumble and fall in the pursuit of our relationship with the Lord. There are times when we listen to the voice of things other rather than the Lord. There are times when we head down the wrong path. There are times, sometimes long spans of time when we don’t even think about or acknowledge the Lord.
In many ways, we’re a lot like the apostle Peter who stumbled and often fell flat on his face in his relationship with Jesus, but we can learn from Peter. When Peter recognized his failure, he took those humble steps to seek forgiveness and put his relationship with the Lord back on track.
Please know that God’s love and forgiveness are always there for you and Jesus’ arms are always wide open in welcome when you turn to Him, but that doesn’t mean that we can ignore what Jesus is saying here. As N.T. Wright puts it, “there is the hard and high call to watchfulness and loyalty…, we can never forget that much is expected of those to whom much is given.”
Stay alert…, keep watching…, be ready.
God bless you and know that you are constantly in my prayers!
Scott