Parable of the Master and Servant

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Template:Short description

File:Legros - Communion.jpg
The prayer of Thanksgiving after Communion by Thomas Aquinas includes a phrase similar to the last verse of this parable:
I thank You, O holy Lord, almighty Father, eternal God, who have deigned, not through any merits of mine, but out of the condescension of Your goodness, to satisfy me a sinner, Your unworthy servant.
(Painting by Alphonse Legros)

The Parable of the Master and Servant is a parable told by Jesus in the New Testament, found only in Luke's Gospel (Script error: No such module "Bibleverse".). The parable teaches that when somebody "has done what God expects, he or she is only doing his or her duty."[1]

Narrative

The parable reads as follows: Template:Quotation

Interpretation

This parable suggests that "even the best of God's servants are still unworthy because they have only done their duty and no more."[2] Nobody, "no matter how virtuous or hardworking, can ever put God in his or her debt."[1]

William Barclay[3] relates the parable to the last verse of the Isaac Watts hymn "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross":

Were the whole realm of Nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.[4]

The phrase "unworthy servant" in the last verse of the parable is widely used liturgically, such as in the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.[5]

Scottish biblical writer William Nicoll refers to this story as "the parable of extra service".[6]

See also

References

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  1. ↑ a b Arland J. Hultgren, The Parables of Jesus: A Commentary, Eerdmans Publishing, 2002, Template:ISBN, p. 251.
  2. ↑ Mark Black, Luke, College Press, 1996, Template:ISBN, p. 285.
  3. ↑ William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke, Westminster John Knox Press, 2001, Template:ISBN, p. 257.
  4. ↑ WikiSource: When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.
  5. ↑ The divine liturgy of our father Saint John Chyrsostom, Byzantine Seminary Press, 1965 Template:Webarchive, footnote 100.
  6. ↑ Nicoll, W., The Expositor's Greek Testament on Luke 17, accessed 4 July 2018
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