Are You Being Served?
Luke 12:35-38
January 21, 2015
Several of Jesus' parables involve serving people--servants--faithful and otherwise. For example, he told a parable about the normal relationship between a master and his servants that goes like this:
“Will any one of you, who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep, say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and gird yourself and serve me, till I eat and drink; and afterward you shall eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that is commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” (Luke 17:7-10)
Jesus told more than one story about servants waiting for their master to return. But the parable of "The Serving Master" (Luke 12:35-38) is different and demands an answer to the question, "Are You Being Served?"
The Parable
You are all aware, of course, that there are many translations of our Bible. Each translation is usually done by a group of scholars. A person might assume that the translations would all be much the same since they all start with the same Hebrew or Greek text, but you know that is not the case. Over the years new manuscripts--sometimes in languages we did not know about--are discovered and these manuscripts provide meanings for words that previous generations of scholars did not have. And sometimes, scholars learn things that enable them to translate words better. I've mentioned before a scholar who has spent his life in the Middle East and knows its customs in a way that most New Testament scholars don't. In his book, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, Kenneth E. Bailey has provided a translation of Luke's parable that sheds new light on it. I want to share Bailey's translation and his interpretation with you. Here is the way he translates it:
"Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning, and be like people who are expecting their master when he withdraws from the wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks, immediately they may open to him. Blessed are those slaves who coming, the master finds awake. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself and cause them to recline [to eat], and come to them and serve them. If in the second or third watch, he comes and finds thus, blessed are those slaves."
I've underlined two words which Bailey translates differently than most other translators. As we go through his interpretation, you will see why he translates them as he does. If enough scholars believe he has made a good case for his translation, you may see this version in a later edition of the New International Version[2] or in some new version of the Bible. Here is the New Revised Standard Version translation which is typical of most versions:
“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves."
Great stories like Jesus' parables have at least two facets to them. Of course, the content of the parable--what its message is--is the primary thing we notice, and for the average reader the content is enough. A long time ago, however, Marshal McLuhan taught us that the vehicle used for conveying something to us becomes part of the message; to use his expression, "the medium is the message."[3] After we try to understand the message of the parable with Dr. Bailey's help, we will look briefly at the medium Jesus used to convey his parable. Seeing how Jesus shaped the message will allow us to be inspired all over again by this jewel of a story.
Waist Girded and Lamps Burning
We know immediately that we are in a different world when Jesus mentions tying up our robes and preparing our lamps. To this day in the Middle East many men wear robes that reach to the top of the shoes; sometimes these are everyday white robes but for dress occasions the djellabas come in beautiful colors and fabrics. Western men would use a belt (or suspenders) to hold up their trousers, but working people in Jesus' time just used a piece of rope or cloth to hold up their long robes when they needed to work. The rope would be tied around the waist and the hem of the robe would be picked up and tucked behind the rope belt. Thus, in the parable Jesus begins by urging the disciples to get ready for work, to gird up their garments.
Likewise Jesus told his disciples to make sure their lamps were burning. We live in the age of electricity, but it was not long ago--barely beyond the lives of those of us here--that the world was dimly lit. Life slowed down drastically when the sun set. Nothing that required much light could be done in the evenings. In another instance Jesus told the disciples that no one would light a lamp and put in under something (Luke 11:33). Instead a lamp would be placed on a stand or in a niche in the wall. That little pot of oil with a wick sticking out was all the light they had. Dr. Bailey notes that "only those who have lived without electricity know how difficult it is to prepare and light a lamp after dark."[4] Thus Jesus urged his disciples to be sure their lamps were burning before dark so they could be used to wait for the master. Unless one had a fire going or a lamp already lit it would be very difficult to light the wick on a lamp at night. Obviously they could light lamps at night if they had to, perhaps by using a flint, but it would have been difficult. If being ready for the return of the master required a servant to have light ready for him, the servant could ill afford to wait until he heard the master at the door to try to light the lamp.
Expecting and Withdrawing
After urging his disciples to be ready for the tasks at hand, Jesus went on to say "be like people who are expecting their master when he withdraws from the wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks, immediately they may open to him." Just as there was no electricity in antiquity, so also instant communication was impossible. The master could not text the staff to let them know he was on the way. The servants just had to be ready whenever their master needed them. Doubtless in many households, servants who were not ready paid a physical price in punishment for not doing their duty. Normally, servants could anticipate the length of common kinds of celebrations but in this case, Dr. Bailey suggests that the master came home early from the wedding celebration. Instead of just "returning" (that is, at the expected time), Dr. Bailey suggests that the master "withdraws" from the party (that is, he left earlier than would have been expected). He bases this translation on the Syriac version which is used in the Middle East. "It is this literal reading that the Arabic and Syriac versions have usually chosen. I find this translation more authentic to the larger world of the New Testament images into which this parable must be placed."[5]
Dr. Bailey suggests that the servants were not just waiting; they were "expecting." "Waiting" is passive, like 'waiting for a bus.' But 'expecting...' projects a different mood. Expecting denotes excitement and a dynamism that the first word lacks."[6] The same word is used to describe the aged Simeon as "looking for" the kingdom (Luke 2:25); he was actively expecting the kingdom to come in his time. So Jesus has described the servants in this parable. They weren't just playing games and waiting--they were actively expecting the master and eager to have him return.
Seating and Serving
The heart of the parable comes in verse 37 when the expecting servants are re-united with their master: "Blessed are those slaves who coming, the master finds awake. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself and cause them to recline [to eat], and come to them and serve them." Dr. Bailey notes that the master's action here "represents a stunning reversal of roles." The servants had been waiting so they could serve the master! Instead the master prepares himself for work just as Jesus told the disciples they should do--he girds himself--and proceeds to serve each one of the servants. We have a similar scene in John's Gospel (John 13:1-7) where Jesus "laid aside his garments, and girded himself with a towel" and proceeded to wash the feet of the disciples. He took upon himself the role of a servant and the disciples were stunned.
In the parable, Jesus declared that these expecting servants were "Blessed." That is exactly the same word used in the Beatitudes where Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit.…". "The meaning of this text is not: If these servants are alert and ready, their master will reward them with his blessing. Rather it says: Servants/slaves who have lamps lit, robes duly belted and are awake, eagerly expecting the arrival of the master, are already filled with the blessing of God and are a bless-ed presence in the household. The way they act is an expression of who they are, not an attempt to earn something they do not have."[7] And, of course, that is exactly the way we want our own lives to be. That's the message of the parable. Living life in faithful service makes life itself blessed. Indeed, the party will come to you.
The Medium of the Message
As encouraging and inspiring as the story is, we have not yet seen all its beauty. Like a diamond that has been perfectly cut, this tiny story has a symmetry about it that makes it sparkle. Dr. Bailey has helped us see its beauty by grouping things together:[8]
Verse 1
1. Let your waist be girded SERVANT (prepared)
2. and your lamps burning SERVANT (prepared)
Verse 2
3. and be like people who are expecting their master SERVANT (alert)
4. when he withdraws from the wedding banquet MASTER (comes)
5 so that when he comes and knocks MASTER (comes)
6. immediately they may open to him SERVANT (alert)
Verse 3
7. Bless-ed are those slaves SLAVES (blessed)
8. whom coming, the master finds awake MASTER (comes)
9. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself
10. and cause them to recline [to eat] MASTER (serves)
11. and come to them and serve them
12. If (in the second or third watch),
he comes and finds them MASTER (comes)
13. blessed are those slaves SLAVES (blessed)
The parable has three verses and each verse builds on the one before it. In verse two a statement about the master is placed between two statements about the servants like a sandwich. Then in the third verse the key verse about the master serving the slaves is sandwiched in between the elements in verse 2. Dr. Bailey concludes: "the parable of the self-emptying master is composed of a three-stage sandwich such as I have yet to find elsewhere in all of Scripture. It is the creation of a very sophisticated Jewish poetical mind."[9] Indeed, it is.
Conclusion
The parable of the serving master, like most of Jesus' teachings, may well have delivered different messages to different ages. When Jesus taught his disciples using this parable and others like it--such as the parable of the wise and foolish virgins--the hearers may have linked it especially to their belief that the end time was coming very soon. In that context, Jesus taught them to be ready! By the time Luke included this parable in his Gospel about 85 A.D. the end time had not yet come and clearly early Christians were having to adjust their thinking about how long they were going to have to be living with the expectation of an end in their lifetime. In that context, Luke's first readers heard Jesus suggesting that servants never knew when the master would return but would be blessed if they were found ready when he did. Today we are nearly 2000 years removed from the original context of the parable, and few of us live with the same expectation of a second coming in the immediate future, the popularity of the "Left Behind" novels notwithstanding. We still affirm every Sunday that Jesus will return to judge "the living and the dead," but there is little anxiety attached to that expectation. For our context, hearers of the parable may well relate its message to the blessedness of faithful servants. "Blessed are the faithful" may well join the other beatitudes to describe today's Christians. And we know that the one we await is indeed not a terrible prosecutor, but a Lord who came to serve. We have been brought in from the highways and hedges to sit at the banquet which he will serve. Thanks be to God.
BACK TO TEXT 1. The main characters include: Mrs. Betty Slocombe, head of the ladies' department, Mr. Wilberforce Claybourne Humphries, a camp man who lives with his mother, Captain Stephen Peacock, the haughty floorwalker and Miss Shirley Brahms,, the attractive assistant to Mrs. Slocombe.
BACK TO TEXT 2. The NIV was originally published in the 1970s and has been updated three times in 1984, 1995 and 2011.
BACK TO TEXT 3. Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (Originally published by Mentor in 1964; reissued in 1994 by MIT Press).
BACK TO TEXT 4. Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2008) 369
BACK TO TEXT 5. Bailey, Op.cit., 370.
BACK TO TEXT 6. Ibid.
BACK TO TEXT 7. Bailey, Op.cit., 372.
BACK TO TEXT 8. Bailey, Op.cit, 367 I have modified Dr. Bailey's outline just a bit but the arrangement is his.
BACK TO TEXT 9. Ibid.
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