From master and servant
The parable of the master and servant is a parable presented by Jesus and recorded in writing in the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament .
It is about the master and his servant, whose fulfillment of duty is taken for granted and therefore needs no praise.
text
“If one of you has a slave who plows or tends the cattle, will he say to him when he comes from the field: Have a seat to eat right away? Will he not rather say to him: Make me something to eat, gird yourself and help me; when I have eaten and drunk, you can eat and drink too. Does he thank the slave for doing what he was told? It should be the same with you: when you have done everything you were commanded to do, you should say: We are useless slaves; we only did our duty. "
interpretation
This parable suggests that even the best of God's servants are still unworthy because they have only done their duty and no more ”). Nobody, " no matter how virtuous or hardworking, can ever put God in his or her debt " , can ever achieve that God is in his debt, no matter how virtuoso or hardworking he is .
William Barclay relates this parable to the last verse of Isaac Watt's song When I Survey the Wondrous Cross :
Did the whole realm of nature
belong to me, too, that would be an offer too small,
love is surprising, so divine here,
demands the soul, life, yes everything mine.
(Were the whole realm of Nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.)
The phrase “useless slave” in the last sentence of the parable is liturgically widespread, as is the case in the liturgy of John Chrysostom .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mark Black: Luke . College Press, Joplin MO 1996, ISBN 0-89900-630-2 , p. 285.
- ^ Arland J. Hultgren: The Parables of Jesus: A Commentary . Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids MI 2002, ISBN 0-8028-6077-X , p. 251.
- ^ William Barclay: The Gospel of Luke . Westminster John Knox Press, Buchanan, NY 2001, ISBN 0-664-22487-3 , p. 257.
- ^ When I Survey the Wondrous Cross . ( Wikisource )
- ↑ Ernest L. Dunda (Ed.): The divine liturgy of our father Saint John Chyrsostom. Byzantine Seminary Press, Pittsburgh 1966, fn. 100.