When you have done all you were asked to, say, “we are unprofitable slaves, we have only done our duty.”
“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’? 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’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 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.’” Luke 17:7-10
I’d say this this is a bit counter-cultural and politically incorrect in our day. There are lots of biblical metaphors of our relationship with Christ: slaves, friends, bride, body, etc. I dare say that slave is the least popular. It’s true Jesus told the twelve disciples they were no longer His servants, but now were His friends. Despite this we see later disciples, including the apostle Paul, refer to themselves as slaves of the Lord. In some of His parables, Jesus has a master telling his slaves at the end of their service, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Here, Jesus says that even if we do everything we’ve been asked to, that we have only done the minimum. Let us rather seek extravagant ways to demonstrate our love for Him for all that He is and our gratitude to Him for all He has done. He says that even in regard to our enemies, if they ask for our shirt we should give them our coat as well. If that is to be our attitude toward our enemies then how much more should we go beyond what has been asked of us to glorify our perfect and gracious Lord?
