The Parable Of The Unworthy Servant

by Chris Simmons

Luke 17:5-10, “And the apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ And the Lord said, ‘If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and be planted in the sea”; and it would obey you. But which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, “Come immediately and sit down to eat”? But will he not say to him, “Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me until I have eaten and drunk; and afterward you will eat and drink”? He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, “We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.”’”

The parable of the unworthy servant is like many of the parables that Jesus taught in that it was given in response to a specific question, request or challenge of the apostles, the Pharisees or the Scribes. Here, this parable is given in response to the specific request of the apostles to the Lord “increase our faith.” Jesus response to their request is an interesting one. He said to the disciples, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.” The mustard seed was known at that time to be the smallest seed of that day (Matt. 13:32) and yet the mustard plant would routinely reach a height of nearly 15 feet. Thus, Jesus response to the apostles is that faith is not a matter of how much you have, but whether you have the right type. A bigger mustard seed does not necessarily yield a bigger mustard plant. If you have the right type of faith, you don’t need to be asking for more of it. Either you have biblical faith or you don’t. What is the right type of faith? The right type of faith is a saving faith (James 2:14), a working faith (James 2:22; Gal. 5:6), a complete or mature faith (James 2:22), a sincere faith (2 Tim. 1:5), a kept faith (1 Tim. 1:19), and a stable and steadfast faith (Col. 1:23; 2:5). Biblical faith is not an issue of volume but of character. We need faith like a mustard seed.

Jesus then teaches the parable of the unworthy servant. Clearly, in this parable God represents the master of the servant while we represent the servant. Jesus makes the point that after doing the tasks (plowing or tending sheep) that are assigned to a servant, the master is not expected to then serve the slave but rather the slave is to attend to the needs of the master. That is his duty to do so. That’s what he ought to do. After serving the master, then the slave will attend to his own needs. Sometimes as Christians today, we also get the cart before the horse. We view our service to God in terms of what we desire to get out of it, rather than what we can render to Him. Our focus needs to be on what our duty or obligation is before God and not on what we expect God to do for us in order to make our lives fulfilling or to enhance our feeling of self-worth. The Greek word for “ought” (NASB) or “duty” (ASV, KJV) is “opheilo” which represents something that we owe or an obligation (see Heb. 5:12; Eph. 5:28 and 1 John 2:6). Certainly our motives for serving God are to include our love for God (1 John 4:7-21), our fear and reverence for Him (Eccles. 12:13; 2 Cor. 7:1; Phil. 2:12), and our desire for a divine reward (Col. 3:23-24; Heb. 11:26; Rev. 2:10), but we should never lose sight of the need for the motive of “duty” in our service before God. Other passages where “opheilo” is used illustrate our duty to serve others (John 13:14), to give thanks to God (2 Thess. 1:3; 2:13), to teach others (Heb. 5:12), to love as God loved us (1 John 4:11) and to live our lives in the footsteps of Jesus (1 John 2:6). As servants of Jesus Christ, let us never forget about our duties and obligations before Him.

But what does service as a servant and the fulfillment of duty before God have to do with the apostles’ desire for increased faith? Many years ago, I was invited by some brethren and friends to go rappelling – where you lower yourself down a cliff via a rope and a harness. We proceeded to the top of the cliff where the one who had been trained in rappelling taught us what we needed to do – how to hold the rope and use the harness safely and properly. My faith began to grow as I listened to the instruction (Rom. 10:17). My faith grew even more as I watched him demonstrate the techniques he had taught us. But nothing like the growth my faith experienced when I put on the harness and began to do myself what I had been taught to do. Indeed faith can not begin apart from hearing the word of God (again, Rom. 10:17), but our faith in what we have learned from His word will grow as we become good servants and humbly become “doers of the word” (James 1:22). Faith grows in the one who “hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them” (Matt. 7:24-27). Hear and act. Listen and do. Only then can our faith grow to become perfect and complete (James 2:22) in God’s sight.