Luke 12:47

Beaten with many stripes

Many stripes

Our Lord in the context urges His disciples to diligence, watchfulness, and fidelity.

This is important, for we are stewards, servants, and are responsible to Him who will one day say unto us, “Give an account of thy stewardship.”

I. THE CHARACTER SUSTAINED--“That servant.” In many passages of Scripture true believers are called the servants of God. Called so by God--by Christ--by believers themselves (see John 12:26). “Paul a servant of God”; “James, a servant of God,” etc.

1. The servant’s Master. This is Christ. He is the Head of the Church--the Divine Sovereign--Lord of all. He issues His commandments--appoints His ordinances--gives His rewards (John 13:13; Matthew 23:28).

2. The servant’s origin. Once servants of sin, of Satan--the world--pleasure--self. Now enlightened to perceive the superiority of Christ--translated from the kingdom of darkness (Romans 6:16).

3. The servant’s character.

(1) Must be faithful, give up all for his master.

(2) Patient. His work will require self-denial.

(3) Enduring, day after day he must toil on in an evil and difficult world.

(4) Anxious to please, out of love and affection, not from fear or dread.

II. THE SERVICE REQUIRED--“The will of the Master.” What is the will of our Master?

1. Faith and repentance. These duties are desired in order that they may accomplish the servant’s salvation (John 3:16; Mark 16:15).

2. The advancement of His Kingdom. This is to be brought about by the servant’s labour. It is an unspeakable honour to be so employed.

3. Internal sanctification. Humility for failings. The acquisition of holiness. Piety of life. Sanctification of spirit.

4. Zeal in duty. Love is not to wax cold--the voices of prayer and praise are not to be silent--the hands are not to hang down--the voice is not to be silent.

III. THE CONSEQUENCES ATTENDANT. On doing this duty depends reward or punishment. If it is faithfully performed, the servant shall have the approval of his Master; if neglected, His blame.

1. This is natural. It is the way of the world. A bad servant is soon discharged. A dishonest one is disgraced.

2. It is also just Wages would not be given unless they were earned. Slaves were obliged to obey.

3. It is for the good of the just. If careless, ignorant, evil men were admitted to heaven, it would be a place of misery.

IV. THE PUNISHMENT PROPORTIONATE. An ignorant servant may be awkward without intentionally transgressing. But for those who know what is right, and deliberately sin, there will be many stripes. It is those who transgress against light and privilege and mercy, who will have to bear the full brunt of the law. Therefore--

1. How great was the guilt of the Jews. They had God’s oracles. Special revelation. Continuance of guidance.

2. How much greater our guilt if we offend. We have not only the light of the Jews, but the full blaze of Christ’s revelation, and light, and work. All things made plain. All prophecies fulfilled. All directions given. If we neglect our duty, how many will be the stripes we shall receive! (The Preachers’ Analyst.)

Practice in religion necessary in proportion to our knowledge

I. THAT IGNORANCE IS A GREAT EXCUSE OF MEN’S FAULTS, AND WILL LESSEN THEIR PUNISHMENT; “but he that knew not, but did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.”

1. There is an ignorance which doth wholly excuse and clear from all manner of guilt, and that is an absolute and invincible ignorance, when a person is wholly ignorant of the thing, which, if he knew, he should be bound to do, but neither can nor could have helped it, that he is ignorant of it; that is, he either had not the capacity, or wanted the means and opportunity, of knowing it. In this case a person is in no fault, if he did not do what he never knew, nor could know to be his duty. For God measures the faults of men by their wills, and if there be no defect there, there can be no guilt; for no man is guilty, but he that is conscious to himself that he would not do what he knew he ought to do, or would do what he knew he ought not to do.

2. There is likewise another sort of ignorance, which either does not at all, or very little, extenuate the faults of men; when men are not only ignorant, but choose to be so that is, when they wilfully neglect those means and opportunities of knowledge which are afforded to them; such as Job speaks of--“Who say unto God, depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways” (Job 21:14). But out Saviour here speaks of such an ignorance as does in a good degree extenuate the fault, and yet not wholly excuse it; for he says of them, that they knew not their Lord’s will; add yet that this ignorance did not wholly excuse them from blame, nor exempt them from punishment, but they should “be beaten with few stripes.”

3. There is an ignorance which is ,n some degree faulty, and yet does in a great measure excuse the faults which proceed from it; and this is when men are not absolutely ignorant of their duty, but only in comparison of others, who have a far more clear and distinct knowledge of it; and though they do not grossly and wilfully neglect the means of further knowledge, yet, perhaps, they do not make the best use they might of the opportunities they have of knowing their duty better; and therefore, in comparison of others, who have far better means and advantages of knowing their Lord’s will, they may be said not to know it, though they are not simply ignorant of it, but only have a more obscure and uncertain knowledge of it. Now this ignorance does in a great measure excuse such persons, and extenuate their crimes, in comparison of those who had a clearer and more perfect knowledge of their Master s will; and yet it does not free them from all guilt, because they did not live up to that degree of knowledge which they had; and perhaps if they had used more care and industry, they might have known their Lord’s will better.

II. THAT THE GREATER ADVANTAGES AND OPPORTUNITIES ANY MAN HATH OF KNOWING THE WILL OF GOD, AND HIS DUTY, THE GREATER WILL BE HIS CONDEMNATION IF HE DO NOT DO IT. “The servant which knew his Lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to it, shall be beaten with many stripes.” “Which knew his Lord’s will, and prepared not himself”; the preparation of our mind to do the will of God, whenever there is occasion and opportunity for it, is accepted with Him; a will rightly disposed to obey God, though it be not brought into act for want of opportunity, does not lose its reward: but when, notwithstanding we know not our Lord’s will, there are neither of these, neither the act nor the preparation and resolution of doing it, what punishment may we not expect? For, after all the aggravations of sin, there is none that doth more intrinsically heighten the malignity of it, than when it is committed against the clear knowledge of our duty, and that upon these three accounts:

1. Because the knowledge of God’s will is so great an advantage to the doing of it.

2. Because it is a great obligation upon us to the doing of it.

3. Because the neglect of our duty in this case cannot be without a great deal of wilfulness and contempt. (Archbishop Tillotson.)

The enlightened, yet disobedient servant, beaten with many stripes

I. THE LORD JEHOVAH IS OUR JUST AND LAWFUL MASTER, AND LEGITIMATELY CLAIMS OUR SUPREME AFFECTION FOR HIS EXCELLENCIES, AND OUR ENTIRE OBEDIENCE TO HIS LAWS. He makes His claims, and He has a right to them.

1. Has He not a right to our supreme affection, and our entire devotedness to His will, as our Creator?

2. The claim will increase when we consider that He is not merely our Father in giving us existence, so that we derive our being from Him, but that we receive our wellbeing from Him.

3. His claims are still higher, and we may say, resistless, on the ground of redemption.

II. THE LORD JEHOVAH HAS AFFORDED YOU AND ME, AS HIS SERVANTS, THE CLEAREST KNOWLEDGE OF HIMSELF, AND OF HIS RIGHT OVER US, AND OF HIS WILL TOWARDS US, AND OF HIS EXPECTATIONS FROM US.

1. By a letter--a book.

2. By His servants--the persons who bear the letter.

3. By the unction of His Holy Spirit imparted to us.

III. IT IS EVIDENT, FROM THE CHOICE AND CONDUCT OF MANY, THAT, THOUGH THEY MUST AND DO KNOW THEIR MASTER’S WILL, YET THEY DO NOT “PREPARE THEMSELVES NOR DO ACCORDING TO IT.”

IV. THE SIN OF SUCH MEN, THEREFORE, IS STAMPED WITH PECULIAR MALIGNITY, AND, WITHOUT PARDON, WILL BE FOLLOWED BY THE SEVEREST PUNISHMENT. You that know your Master’s will, and do it not--remember, your sin is stamped with peculiar malignity. The malignity of a crime always bears proportion to the known dignity of the character insulted. To insult a constable, in the exercise of his official capacity, is a crime; to insult a magistrate on the bench is a greater; to insult a monarch on his throne is rebellion. Therefore, the gradation of crime always rises in proportion to the known dignity of the character offended. Then what must be--what must be the black aggravation of your crime, who know your Master’s will, and know who that Master is, and yet do not “prepare yourselves nor do according to it”? You sin against God the Father in His laws--and you know Him to be so; you “trample under foot the blood of the Son of God”--and you know Him to be so; you “do despite unto the Spirit of Grace”--and you know who it is that you are doing despite unto. Remember, also, there is an aggravation in the case. It is not one sin committed once; it is the same sin committed again and again, under growing aggravations. Human laws say--for the first offence the penalty shall be light, for the second it shall be doubled, for the third it shall be trebled, and so on, so that punishment always bears proportion to the multitude of the offences. Very well; then, pray what sort of a sinner must you be? You know your Master’s will, and do it not; and that is not in one instance--one sin once committed, or one duty once omitted, or one blessing once neglected--it is the same sin committed again, and again, and again, a thousand times repeated with increasing aggravations. Judge, then, “wicked and slothful servant,” of such a Master! what must be the malignity of your sin. And then, again, it is not one sin committed a thousand times even, but a multitude of sins committed again and again with those magnifying aggravations. (W. Dawson.)

God’s penal law

I. ALL MEN EXIST IN A STATE OF OBLIGATION TO GOD. They are His servants; He, their Master.

II. THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF MEN, CONNECTED WITH THEIR STATE OF OBLIGATION, VARY IN PROPORTION TO THEIR OPPORTUNITIES OF KNOWLEDGE AND OF IMPROVEMENT.

1. There exist in the world very different degrees of opportunity for knowledge and improvement.

2. We are placed in circumstances which afford to us the highest degrees of opportunity for knowledge and for improvement.

3. Possessing as we do such opportunities, we are under a special call to eminent devotedness to the service of God.

III. THE PUNISHMENT OF MEN FOR THE VIOLATION OF THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES, IS REGULATED ACCORDING TO THE VALUE OF THE OPPORTUNITIES WHICH THEY HAVE POSSESSED, AND HAVE ABUSED. There are two remarks under this part of the subject to which your attention will be called.

1. You will observe, first, that punishment is to be inflicted upon all by whom their original obligations have been forgotten and violated. The desert of punishment is presented under the phrase of “committing things worthy of stripes.” A certain period is stated to be appointed by the master, or lord of the household, for the purpose of returning, in order to inflict punishment, or grant rewards, according to the characters of those by whom he has been professedly served.

2. But, what we principally intend to insist on, on this part of the subject, is, that the punishment to be inflicted on those whose opportunities have been many, will be far more grievous than the punishment to be inflicted on those whose opportunities have been few. “ Many stripes,” or larger and heavier inflictions, are to be the portion of him who knew his lord’s will and did it not; but “few stripes,” or minor inflictions, are to be the portion of him who knew not his lord’s will, and did it not. In this infliction of stripes there seems an allusion to the law, which you observe to be contained in Deuteronomy 25:1. The deduction of the Saviour, in connection with this law, appears to be this: that those whose opportunities have been few shall receive a certain amount of punishment, limited in some mode analogous to that which is contained in the announcement of the law; but that those whose opportunities have been many, and who yet have abused and slighted them, are to be subjected to a punishment to which no limit and no measure are to be assigned: they are to endure the keenest inflictions which the wrath of an Almighty and Infinite Being can pour upon them. (J. Parsons.)

The penalty of disregarded duty

I had an aged friend who knew Robert Pollock, the celebrated Scotch poet, and he told me that Pollock lost his life through too vivid views of the great future. It seemed as if he walked amid the realities of the eternal world. It was too great for his physical strength, and he died in early life. Robert Pollock one day caught a glimpse of the destiny of those who miss heaven. I can recollect here and there a sentence: “And as I listened I heard these beings curse Almighty God, and curse the Lamb, and curse the earth, the resurrection morn, and seek, and ever vainly seek for utter death. And to the everlasting anguish still the thunders from above, responding, spoke these words which, forlornly echoing through the caverns of perdition, fall on every ear: ‘Ye knew your duty, but ye did it not.’ Then back again recoiled a deeper groan--a deeper groan! O what a groan was that!” (Dr. Talmage.)

Result of sinning against the light

A few weeks ago, a poor woman came to my surgery, and said, “A young woman is lodging in the same house with me, who is wretchedly poor, in great suffering, and, I fear, near her end.” I accompanied the woman home. She led me to the bedside of the dying girl, and left us together. It was a dreadful scene. A girl of three or four and twenty lay on a wretched pallet, with scarcely any covering. A single chair and a broken table was all the furniture the room contained. Near the bed was hanging, on a few pegs, the girl’s finery. Yes, alas l finery. Dresses of gaudy material, and showily made up, were flaunting their gay colours in this chamber of death, looking in that girl’s eyes as she lay dying, as witnesses of her sin and folly, and reminding her that, as soon as she was dead, these things, which had cost her so dear, mould become the property of the landlady, as payment of the debt she had not money to discharge. I leaned over the bedside, and took her hand in mine. I told her that Jesus had sent me to her with an offer of peace and pardon. “No,” she said, hoarsely--“no, I was brought up in a Sunday-school; I knew the right, but I did it not. There is no pardon for me now.” I knelt down, I prayed for her--prayed, as she had not confidence to pray for herself--her sinful self. I besought Him that she might repent and find peace. But, even as I talked with her, she died, uttering the fearful cry, “Too late! too late!” (Dr. Raynor.)

Disregarding the light

It is said that off the coast of New Zealand a sea-captain steered his vessel directly toward the light, and, thinking himself safe, fell asleep. His vessel dashed upon the rocks at the very foot of the lighthouse. The beacon-light shining out upon the deep for protection and guidance furnished no help to the slumbering mariner. Indeed, his culpability was greater because of the abuse of the friendly gift.

Degrees of punishment

The legend of St. Macarius of Alexandria runs thus: “One day as Macarius wandered among those ancient Egyptian tombs, wherein he had made himself a dwelling-place, he found the skull of a mummy, and turning it over with his crutch, he inquired to whom it belonged; and it replied, ‘To a pagan.’ And Macarius, looking into the empty eyes, said, ‘Where, then, is thy soul?’ And the head replied, ‘In hell.’ Macarius asked, ‘Itchy deep?’ And the head replied, ‘The depth is greater than the distance from heaven to earth.’ Then Macarius asked, ‘Are there any deeper than thou art?’ The skull replied, ‘Yes: the Jews are deeper still.’ And Macarius asked, ‘Are there any deeper than the Jews?’ To which the head replied, ‘Yes, in sooth! for the Christians whom Jesus Christ hath redeemed, and who show in their actions that they despise His doctrine, are deeper still.’”