On Unworthy Servants

“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty’” (Luke 17:7-10).

How liberating reading this passage of Luke’s gospel was. 

Want To Be An Unworthy Servant?

There are not a lot of performance expectations on the unworthy servant. He (or “She” but I’ll stick with “He” for this post) is by his very nature, “unworthy” of anything. The bar has been set low. I believe this is so in order that anyone, be they rich, poor, talented, clumsy, smart, simple- really, can become such a servant should they desire to enlist.

The only credential you need to join is that you need to know that you are unworthy. 

One good thing about being unworthy is that should the master choose to use you for anything, it is a bonus. The alternative is just to spend your life chasing after all the things you see people enjoying on TV.

That’s slavery- not servanthood.

There is camaraderie in servanthood. The unworthy servant is free from the competition that could arise from two people who are serving in similar roles. If the Master chooses one of his servants over another, it is not like either one is more worthy than the other. They are both unworthy. This is especially important if they disagree on theology. One unworthy servant can look and see another unworthy servant being used by the Master and they can celebrate it together.

Servants In The Master’s Service 

The Master has the right to do whatever he wants with his servants. They are only servants. The Master brings one up for awhile and he keeps one on the bench. Sometimes he sends them out together. Sometimes he puts the former back on the bench and calls up the latter. Or he might keep both the unworthy servants on the bench and they can just hang out and become friends. 

It would be in the best interest of these unworthy servants to learn to content themselves each day. They must learn to take joy in the service of the Master for whatever he uses them for. It really is a simple task for the unworthy servant. He has to simply wake up each day and submit himself to his Master. The master promises to provide for him, supplying all his needs for the present and the future. This is an act of grace on the part of the Master. The servant is worthy of none of it.

Sometimes the service will be goose-bumpingly amazing. Sometimes it will be incredibly difficult. Sometimes there might be long periods of neutrality. This is the spectrum in the life of unworthy servanthood.

And after four score and ten years of submission to the Master’s service, you might ask these servants what they thought of their experience. Well that answer was already given at the beginning. They might say rather bashfully,

“We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.”