One point in the Gospel is very clear from beginning to end: Christian life is service, service to others, service to God. Life is nonstop, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week service. God’s son Jesus comes to us to share our lives and integrate us into the life of the Father. He shows us a true life of service first by taking on human flesh and bones, being born in our midst – as John’s Gospel says: by camping in our midst. And then he continues to serve through his life as an itinerant preacher, prophet and healer who has nothing but the Word of God and his confidence in God’s action in his life. In the end, through his service, he becomes the suffering servant, the sacrificial lamb. His Cross integrates all of us into his resurrection and life in the Spirit. He has no wages, nor accolades, nor medals, nor praises, nor testimonials, nor tributes.
This is very clear in today’s parable where the farm hand or field worker comes back to the house after a hard day of labor and is immediately ordered to set up the table and cook for the master of the house. Our tendency is to say that the farm hand worked a doble shift and deserved double pay plus time off. That comes from our modern self-centered culture that is based on individual rights at the expense of personal responsibility. We live in a culture of established limits, protections against abuse, and controls. We tend to look for a way to do the minimum required and we want to dedicate ourselves to ourselves and our desires.
It is quite extraordinary that in today’s Gospel Jesus is telling us that when we live out a life of dedicated service, even if it be above and beyond the spirit of the law or the call, we can claim no special recognition. Our life as Christian is service to God and to others.
We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.
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