Christians; please interpret the parable of the unprofitable servant for me?

Question

"Which one of you having a slave tending sheep or plowing will say to him when he comes in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down to eat'? Instead, will he not tell him, 'Prepare something for me to eat, get ready, and serve me while I eat and drink; later you can eat and drink'? Does he thank that slave because he did what was commanded? In the same way, when you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, 'We are good-for-nothing slaves; we've only done our duty.'"  (Luke 17:7-10 HCSB)

In my last question, I asked about a parable that I really did have a pretty good handle on (at least, I think I do, so far), but I confess that I truly don't understand this one, so if you can give me some genuine insight, and the Holy Spirit witnesses with my spirit that what you say is true meat, I'll be very grateful. I'll be grateful in any case, if you even make a sincere attempt. It's always good to hear from the family.

As a kind of hint, I think that the context (which I didn't include above) may be important to the interpretation of this parable. Jesus told this right after He answered a question about forgiveness, to which His disciples responded with a plea, "Lord increase our faith!"

* So, Jesus is speaking to His disciples, but do they represent themselves in the parable, or someone else? ("Which of you, having a slave . . .")

* Who or what is the slave?

* What does the slave's labor in the fields represent?

* What does the slave's duty to serve the master his meal before eating himself represent?

* What is the significance of the meal?

* What does any of this have to do with forgiving 70 x 7, and/or with increasing one's faith?

* And how does this apply to the disciples seeing themselves as worthless slaves?

* Aren't we SUPPOSED to do only what the Master gives us to do?

Looking forward to your insights!

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

I was always taught by my Pastor that this Parable is about our FAITH Cindy.  We were taught that Faith is a muscle which must be continually used or it will just wither away like a muscle atrophies when it is not used.

That's why the implication in the parable is that even when the servant (OUR FAITH) has worked all day, it should not be allowed then to rest until it has done its whole duty for its Master.

This is us, also, we are to work unceasingly for the Master and never complain that we have worked all day and it is enough - but instead continue working for the Master first, before looking after our own needs.  When we do this, we have only done our duty - nothing more, so we must not expect praise for this.

In the same way, our Faith must work continually and it is nothing special - it has only done its duty if it was well grounded in Jesus Christ.

We can see this very well in this parable because who amongst us has the strength of faith to forgive someone who keeps on sinning against us and keeps on repenting?

Most of us would think that person wasn't even trying and we would give up long ago and be moaning and groaning and criticising them maybe even behind their backs wouldn't we?

So the disciples said, "Lord, increase our faith"  (Luke 17:5)  In other words, give us the strength of faith to carry out this task well so that we have merely done our duty and should not receive a pat on the back for it!

Jesus responded with this parable in order to explain how faith works.  It must continually be pushed and stretched to the limit or else it will just lie back and rest and never want to be used and it will wither and die so that when we need it to work, it will not be able to.

We cannot use faith once in a while and expect it to grow and get strong.  Just like a muscle builder does, we must continually push our faith and force it a little bit at a time to go further and further so that it can believe more and more and have faith in Christ more and more.

It is very hard to use our faith to that degree and even if we do, we are then in danger of being proud about our achievements and patting ourselves on the back - but Jesus covers this aspect of our Adamic natures by saying, "When you have done all those things which are commanded then say,  "We are unprofitable servants." (Luke 17:10)  We have only done what was our duty to do (Luke 17:10) and therefore we must make sure that we don't expect to receive any praise for this.  It is nothing special.  Be humble instead and just go about your business.

If we can learn to increase our faith in God and Jesus Christ when the 'chips are down' our faith will increase to such a degree that in the time of persecution which is to come in the final days of the Anti-Christ, we will be strong enough in our faith to STAND for Christ and not cave in at the first sign of torture or imprisonment because our faith will be a faithful slave in that day and will help us to trust completely in Christ's ability to do what He has promised and be our Deliverer,(Romans 11:26) our Strength and Help (Psalm 46:1) our Defense (Psalm 59) etc. in times of trouble.

Thomas · Answer

I think I will check out your web site.

God will not allow sin into Heaven, 
Jesus took care of that on the cross,

However, we are not extinct to sin in our daily lives.
God wants us dependent on Him.   An unprofitable
servant would be tantamount to a believer, who says
he is saved and justified by faith, but has no relationship
with God through Jesus Christ, nor has he/she yielded
to the Holy Spirit.

Christians; please interpret the parable of the unprofitable servant for me?

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