Matthew 24:45-51 45“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has put in charge over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? 46Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 47Truly I say to you, he will put him in charge over all his possessions. 48But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time,’ 49and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not expecting and at an hour he does not know 51and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
In this short parable, Jesus begins to illustrate the need to be ready by doing what he has commanded us to do. The tendency when a boss or parent is delayed is to begin to compromise and grow lazy in our duties. Jesus begins this parable with a question of identity that invites the listeners (and us as readers) to chose for ourselves to be a faithful and wise servant. He is our Lord and we serve him, and our goal is to be faithful to his commands and wise about how we live out our faith in obedience. Both of these terms are illustrated in this parable.
The particular servant Jesus describes has been put in charge of his household. This person has responsibility over the affairs of the master and particularly taking care of other servants by giving them food. If the servant fails at this job, other servants will go hungry. Jesus often used food to represent his teachings, so there may be a deeper meaning implied here than simply a story about a servant. The application may be that certain servants of Jesus, such as the apostles, will be responsible for the spiritual growth of others, and they can be faithful and wise by following through with the mission Jesus gives in 28:18-20.
The rest of the parable gives two scenarios about when the master returns home. Verse 46 promises a blessing for those who are following through with Jesus’ command. Behind this verse is the assumption that the master has been gone for a time period. Perhaps it was the master himself who gave the food to the household, but since he will be gone, it is the job of the servant whom the master put in charge. The promise of reward is a powerful positive incentive for obedience. The reward is in the form of honor, recognition, and more responsibility of all his possessions. Jesus does not give any more information about how this might apply in the context of eternity, and so this particular reward may simply be part of the story.
Likewise, the warning of judgment in verses 48-51 provides a strong reason why a servant will want to be faithful while the master is gone. The type of behavior the unfaithful servant shows is characteristic of the wanton disregard of selfish, fleshly, and worldly living. The wicked servant has two big problems. First, he foolishly convinces himself into thinking that the master will not come back for a long time. This type of thinking leads the servant to become lazy, and laziness opens him up to temptation and the sinful nature, which leads to the second problem of sinful actions of beating up his fellow servants and getting drunk. Compromise in faithfulness to the command of the master leads to bad thinking and bad behavior.
The foolish servant’s actions do not change the fact that the master will indeed return and the servant will have to give an account for his actions. Jesus again emphasizes in verse 50 that the servant cannot know the day or hour of the master’s return. Since that is the case, the servant must always be diligent and not give in to sin. The outcome of disobedience and sin will be judgment and condemnation with the hypocrites. Jesus called the scribes and Pharisees hypocrites in chapter 23 and now warns his followers that they could face the same fate for unfaithfulness. He uses the same standard for all people. The place of weeping and gnashing of teeth is the burning fire of hell. The way to avoid this punishment is to be faithful to the commands of the master.
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