Should: The Story of Three Men

Our pastor quoted a parable in Luke the other day that didn't leave me feeling all warm and fuzzy.  In fact, it stopped me dead in my thoughts.  Trying to track with Pastor Javy's Spanish was certainly out of the question.  Why did it sound so cold?  Why had I never heard this parable before?   

The parable was from the book of Luke, the 7th chapter.  Jesus was explaining to his disciples the relationship between master and servant.  He said:

 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? ⁸ Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? ⁹ Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’"

 "Do as you're told" was ringing in my ears as Pastor Javy jogged through the remainder of his sermon.  Over the next several days, I struggled with why this passage seemed so cold.  I soon came to realize that what God considered a simple duty, "doing what I was told to do", had somehow become something in my heart worthy of recognition, praise from others, a proverbial "pat on the back" from God himself.  Its easy for missionaries to feel this way.  After all, we spend much of our time fundraising and saying to others in a loud voice, "Hey!  Look what I'm doing!".  In that moment, God convicted my heart that simply doing what I was told to do was not worthy of commendation or recognition, but rather it was the bare minimum; the expectation; the status quo.  Then, right on cue, God led me to the parable of the talents (Matt. 25).  

You know the story: a master gives varying amounts of money to his three servants.  Two of them invest it for a return and one does not, burying it in the ground and earning him the rejection of his master.  This time, the master hadn't left them any instructions for what to do with it.  He did, however, seem very pleased with the two who'd taken initiative and put their talents to work.  A curious thought occurred to me then, "The two who were successful were motivated out of a desire to please their master; to go above and beyond.  The one rejected was motivated by fear of failure and lowered expectations."  Then, right on cue, God reminded me of the prodigal son's brother.  I can hear his voice in my head now, "Hey, at least I didn't blow it like he did."

Suddenly, I'm convicted that "doing as I'm told" or as I "should" is not worthy of commendation, a medal of valor, a parade down 5th Avenue, or even a pat on the back from men or God.  It is simply something that, as a child of God, bought at a price and adopted into the family of God, is expected of me, His servant.  In an effort to feel special, I'd lowered that bar to a point where simply doing as I was told seemed utterly heroic.  Not only that, but I now realize that I should be motivated by a desire to please my Master, not out of fear of failure like the one-talent servant.  Finally, I must accept grace.  Unlike the prodigal son's brother, I can no longer view myself as better, more worthy of sonship, or somehow righteous for not blowing it or only doing as I "should".