Matthew 24:45-51

3. Illustration of the conscientious and the hypocritical servant (24:45-51)

45 Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath set over his household, to give them their food in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. 47 Verily I say unto you, that he will set him over that he hath. 48 But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord tarrieth; 49 and shall begin to beat his fellow-servants, and shall eat and drink with the drunken; 50 the lord of the servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not, 51 and shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

a.

How does this illustration differ from the preceding story about the burglar?

b.

In what sense is it true that this parable is really as much about stewardship as it is instruction on what will happen on the Last Day?

c.

In the illustration the conscientious administrator is assigned one kind of work before his master left and another upon his return. How do you explain the difference?

d.

If the Lord Jesus called the administrator faithful and wise, how can He later term him, that evil servant? Or, is He talking about the same person? If so, how is this language possible? If not, why say that evil servant?

e.

On what basis could the evil servant truly say, My lord tarries? What would this element of Jesus-' story reveal about His Second Coming?

f.

When the lord returned, he found the faithful and wise servant doing what? What does this detail tell us about what we should be doing when Jesus returns?

g.

When the lord returned, what did he find the evil servant doing?

h.

What is the psychological motivation of the evil servant, that caused him to choose the course that he did? Does this ever tempt you?

i.

In what sense is it true that everyone in God's world really has been set over his household to give them their food at the proper time?

j.

Explain how a person could be cut asunder and yet later be assigned his portion with the hypocrites. Would not being chopped in two have ended his miserable existence? How could he feel any further shame by being assigned the hypocrite's reward? Did he not die, or is this a post-mortem vilification? What do you think happened?

k.

Why bring in the hypocrites here, when the story is really about the evil administration of one particular servant? How does this almost passing allusion to the insincere strengthen the impact of Jesus-' story for you?

PARAPHRASE

Who then will be the conscientious, sensible slave whom his lord has put in charge over his household to dispense to them their sustenance at the proper time? What happiness will be his when his master comes home and finds him doing what he is supposed to! I can tell you for sure, he will put him in charge of all his property.
On the other hand, suppose this same servant is wicked and says to himself, -My master is taking his time.-' Suppose, too, that he begins to bully his fellow servants, and dines and drinks with his drunken friends. That servant's master will arrive someday when he least expects him and at an hour that catches him unawares. The lord will cut him in two with a scourge and send him to his fate among those who try to fake it. There people cry and clench their teeth in impotent rage.

SUMMARY

Christ's absence may be prolonged. Nonetheless, the responsibility for others assigned to each of us must be carried out with conscientiousness, because presumption and indifference will be severely punished.

NOTES

3. Illustration of the conscientious and the hypocritical servant (24:45-51)

Matthew 24:45 Who then is the faithful and wise servant? Then (àra) links this parable logically with the foregoing story where Jesus demanded a state of constant readiness which, in turn, requires a certain type of character: wisdom and loyalty. (Cf. Luke 12:39-42.) The present parable primarily illustrates these qualities and their contrary, the folly of disloyalty. Who then is? This question, rather than send us looking for someone else qualified, nudges us to ask it of ourselves.

1.

Faithful (pistòs) reveals two connected qualities:

a.

It involves believing that his lord's word is good, his service worthy of one's most earnest, generous service and trusts him to know what is ultimately best for all.

b.

It is also a trustworthiness and conscientiousness in doing what is expected, fidelity to duty. (Cf. 1 Corinthians 4:1-5; Titus 1:7.)

2.

Wise (frònimos, considerate, thoughtful, prudent, sagacious, sensible).

a.

The wise servant makes proper use of his stewardship for the profit and benefit of his lord.

b.

He is also aware that the lord will require an accounting at the proper time.

Whom his lord hath set over his household, to give them their food in due season. This description appears to refer only to stewards with responsibility greater than those of the household itself. But Jesus obviously intends each disciple to take this warning to heart as if each one is already, or could become, the faithful and wise servant. (Cf. Luke 12:41 ff.; Mark 13:34-37.) Further, this description of the situation is so psychologically and sociologically true to life, because literally EVERYONE, no matter how humble his station, has really been set over others in the wide household of humanity. This parable, then, lays stress on proper behavior toward our common fellow-servants in God's household, by depicting this steward's responsibility simply to take care of all the other members of the lord's household during his absence. No concept of our preparation for the Second Coming can be adequate that does not conceive of our duty as one of mutual ministry to our brethren (1 Peter 4:10). In the Lord's absence His people cannot serve Him directly. Nevertheless, each proves his sense of responsibility to Jesus by the degree to which he serves the other fellow-servants over whom the Lord has placed him (Matthew 25:40).

Matthew 24:46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Rather than answer His own question, Who then is the faithful and wise servant? by saying, It is the one who., Jesus underscores the special happiness of such a person. By so doing, He induces everyone to want to be conscientious and loyal. Happiness, according to Jesus, is to be found, not in fruitless speculation about the signs of the End-time, spending precious time to pin down the date, or in idle sky-gazing to detect some early signal of His return, but in doing what the Lord requested. Without anxiety about the date, we simply utilize every day responsibly by working at our appointed task to do honor to our master.

Matthew 24:47 Verily I say unto you, that he will set him over all that he hath. This statement is not to be applied absolutely, as if Jesus would establish only one loyal steward over all His vast Kingdom as his reward for faithful administration, when, as is likely, He actually intends to reward millions of faithful stewards in a similar manner. In fact, what each receives will be far greater than here pictured (Matthew 25:21; Matthew 25:23; cf. Luke 19:17; Luke 19:19). Rather, this reward nicely completes Jesus-' story, implying a recompense like that of Joseph who, because of his fidelity and wisdom, was elevated from slave to Prime Minister of Egypt (Genesis 39:3 ff; Genesis 41:33-44). Christ's rewards are not material, so that to give them to one would impoverish all others, but spiritual, like His own love, so that the more everyone possesses, the more is made available for others! Faithfulness and responsible service will be repaid with opportunities for infinitely greater responsibility. (Cf. Revelation 2:26; Revelation 3:21; cf. Matthew 25:21; 1 Timothy 3:13.) Because this means more work, those self-seeking people who side-step responsibility or loath labor may well ask themselves whether they really long for Christ's rewards after all. Hendriksen (Matthew, 872) sees implied here

the assignment of certain specific tasks in the life hereafter, each task a matter of pure delight and satisfaction, and each in harmony with the individuality of the person for whom it is marked out.

Matthew 24:48 But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord tarrieth.. Who is this fellow? Is he identical with the former wise and faithful steward? Though previously unmentioned, he is the very man. When Jesus told this story earlier, He clearly referred to just one steward; however, He did not term the steward evil as here (Luke 12:45). So, Jesus described him here as evil by prolepsis, i.e. described him in terms of what his later conduct proved him to have been. However, by this sudden switch, Jesus prospects the two alternatives open to the SAME servant of God: he may be a wise, faithful steward, or he may elect the route of the self-satisfying, and so prove to be an evil servant. Within the same disciple lies this dual potentiality. How does this happen?

Say in his heart. Mulling over his changed circumstances brought about by his master's absence, he toys with his options. Outwardly he had welcomed his lord's confidence, apparently vowing loyal, earnest assistance. Inwardly, however, his true desires and secret motives are strikingly diverse. No wonder he will be treated as a hypocrite (Matthew 24:51).

My lord tarries. Although this observation explains his subsequent actions which are condemned, nothing in the text indicates that the observation itself is mistaken. In fact, some lengthy delay explains to a no small degree the false confidence that permitted this steward to get up the courage to act the tyrant and indulge himself excessively. This treacherous manager attempted to pin-point the date of his master's return, but badly miscalculated, because he did not know for HOW LONG his lord tarries. To all appearances, the Lord Jesus too is taking His time (chronìzei). This harmonizes nicely with similar statements elsewhere (Matthew 24:4; Matthew 24:19; cf. Luke 12:45). This intimates that Jesus knew that the real date of His Second Coming was scheduled for much later than any suggestion of its nearness might seem to affirm. There is no ground for believing that He expected it in the first century. Peter, too, warned against our growing impatient and slipping into frivolousness and complacent indifference, merely because the years seem to roll uniformly by without any sign of Jesus-' coming. Rather, any delay is prompted by His patient mercy and must not be mistaken for ineptness or slowness, because the Day will come suddenly and certainly (2 Peter 3:5-12).

Matthew 24:49 and shall begin to beat his fellow-servants, and shall eat and drink with the drunken. Not only are the thoughts of this hypocrite alien to his apparently sincere promises made openly to his departing master, but now his conduct exposes lusts he dared not reveal to his lord's face. Fellow-servants emphasizes two things:

1.

Although this administrator is in some sense over them, he too is really a servant and their fellow, hence equally responsible to their common lord to treat them with consideration for sake of the work they rendered the master (cf. 1 Peter 5:3).

2.

If fellow-servants, then also the property of his master. Hence, his abusing them constituted an abuse of his lord's possessions, as truly as if he had been his master's enemy. The crooked steward's bad example and possible misappropriation of what was intended for others, compounded his wickedness, because it hindered them from serving their lord properly.

This supervisor mistook responsibility for the privilege of power, so he exercised the latter and abandoned the former in two ways:

1.

To beat his fellow-servants is typical of self-assertive people who abuse the trust of power delegated to them, trampling on those under them, but for whose care they are really answerable.

2.

To eat and drink with the drunken naturally follows for those self-indulgent little bosses who suppose that material enjoyments and bodily pleasures are the natural right of those in power.

Note the fairness with which Jesus, even in passing, treated the use of alcohol among a people accustomed to using fermented wine and strong drink (Deuteronomy 14:26; Isaiah 25:6). Although He Himself lived a normal life and ate normal food and drank wine, as opposed to John the Baptist who did neither (Luke 7:33 f.), He can still condemn its abuse in no uncertain terms. This, because its abuse leaves men insensitive to their fellows, irresponsible toward their duty, and, consequently, unprepared to meet God. (See Should Jesus Drink Wine? my Vol. II, 526ff.)

Matthew 24:50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not. This is no correction of the servant's conclusion, My lord tarries, but, rather, its confirmation, since the delay continued long enough to lull this steward into complete complacency. Carrying on his shameful conduct, he grew confident he would not be surprised. He basked in careless indifference until he no longer worried about his master's return. He expected not: his stupidity is the greater because he knew to expect him. Yet his continual self-indulgence further desensitized his moral alertness and proportionately increased his spiritual dullness. In an hour when he knoweth not: this emphatically reiterates the fact that absolutely no warning signs will announce the near approach of Jesus-' coming. At no time may we safely assume that His Second Coming is not imminent merely because we see no indications warning of His approach. We may not assume that we can stop sinning just in time to be found good and faithful at His return.

Matthew 24:51 He shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. To cut asunder (dichotoméô) is to cut into two parts. True, horrible butchery was not an unknown punishment in the ancient world. (Cf. Daniel 2:5; Daniel 3:29; Hebrews 11:37; the apocryphal Susanna, vv. 55, 59.) Nevertheless, Jesus-' expression may also point elsewhere.

1.

Literally, to severe scourging which cuts the skin, or perhaps to mutilation, from which the punished could survive to face the supreme humiliation of being shamed as a hypocrite. (Cf. Sir. 33:26-28; Sir. 42:5.) Some societies still mutilate those convicted of certain crimes.

2.

Figuratively, to inflict a punishment of extreme severity, his lord not only sliced through the apparent consistency between his pretenses and his deeds to unmask his real hypocrisy, but also summarily dismissed him from his position and severed him from his service.

He must be punished with the hypocrites, because he was humble and helpful before his master, but turned tyrant when he left. He planned to play the role of conscientious supervisor at his lord's return.

Whether in the parable or in the reality, the weeping and gnashing of teeth is the endless punishment of inconsolable grief and helplessness, that self-accusing anger suffered by anyone who sees his true happiness so frivolously and so irretrievably tossed aside by his own foolish choices. (See notes on Matthew 8:12; Matthew 13:42; Matthew 13:50; Matthew 22:13; Matthew 25:30.)

LESSONS

The Lord warns that the true criterion is not how people might act, were they certain Christ is coming back today, but how they actually conduct themselves in His absence. Accordingly, we demonstrate our fidelity or lack of dedication to our absent Lord, by the degree to which we nurture or abuse our fellow-servants, by the degree to which we utilize for His glory the wealth, ability and opportunities entrusted to us or turn these into authority to oppress others and amass wealth and prestige for ourselves. The crime against Christ is not simply a question of misusing great sums of money (as in the parable of the talents) or of failing to make adequate, appropriate and timely preparation (as in the parable of the ten virgins). Nor is it simply the misappropriation of what belongs to our Lord, but, rather, the combination of all of these that affects how we treat our brethren. No wonder Jesus included this facet of the terrible eternal punishment in His sentence of Matthew 25:46, because He is talking to people who confidently expect to be welcomed by Jesus, but shall discover themselves rejected at the final sentencing.

FACT QUESTIONS

1.

What are the duties of the faithful and wise servant assigned him during his lord's absence?

2.

What are the new duties assigned to this servant upon his lord's return?

3.

Quote the beatitude Jesus coined to describe the happiness of the faithful and wise servant.

4.

Describe the conduct of the evil servant.

5.

Contrast the final fate of the evil servant with that of the wise and faithful one.

6.

What does it mean to be cut asunder?

7.

What is the portion of the hypocrites? Who are they and why bring them into this picture? Explain why the evil servant should share their portion.

8.

Define gnashing of teeth as Jesus used this expression here.