The Evil Servant Parable of Jesus, Who did He Have In Mind?

I will quote the verse, from the NETBible.org version.

“Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom the master finds at work when he comes. I tell you the truth, the master will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that evil slave should say to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he begins to beat his fellow slaves and to eat and drink with drunkards, then the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not foresee, and will cut him in two, and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

This is in Mathew 24 which is rather apocalyptic sounding, where this is the concluding segment of the chapter. What are we supposed to make of this? My main question, if anyone wanted to try to give an answer, is: in view of the placement of what may or may not be a parable, should we take this as a nice object lesson on personal behavior, or is Jesus explaining what apocalyptic event was about to happen?

He is not talking to anyone in particular. He is talking to you and how you must be watchful over yourself and the gifts he has given you. It shows that he does not want you to squander your spiritual wealth. Parables arent literal

Originally posted by jmdewey60
I will quote the verse, from the NETBible.org version.

“Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom the master finds at work when he comes. I tell you the truth, the master will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that evil slave should say to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he begins to beat his fellow slaves and to eat and drink with drunkards, then the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not foresee, and will cut him in two, and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

This is in Mathew 24 which is rather apocalyptic sounding, where this is the concluding segment of the chapter. What are we supposed to make of this? My main question, if anyone wanted to try to give an answer, is: in view of the placement of what may or may not be a parable, should we take this as a nice object lesson on personal behavior, or is Jesus explaining what apocalyptic event was about to happen?

edit on 3-10-2011 by jmdewey60 because: (no reason given)

This is why i dont read the bible anymore, and stick with The Urantia book.

Folks have problems with it but then again you dont get much of whats above......that dont make a lick of sense.

reply to post by jmdewey60


No two churches can agree 100% about the meaning of the Bible 100% of the time. Not even two individual Christians can agree 100% of the time. No Christians are in full agreeance nor accord about the religion, yet they all want to convert non-believers? "We don't agree because we all have our own personal relationships with God, and no two relationships are the same." Ever stop to think that 'non-believers' have their own relationship and understandings about God/Creator/Source too?

So why even bother asking to interpret a Biblical verse? More fodder for you to judge and condemn people to Hell? I try to keep my peace... stay humble... let others believe as they wish... but the whole religious superiority that causes so much separation is really pissing me off nowadays. Believe like me or go to Hell. You can't even get one congregation of Christians to 100% believe like you! Doesn't matter cuz I'm going to Hell anyway, huh?

reply to post by jmdewey60
Hi,
Matthew 21: Jesus had come up to Jerusalem and had been greeted in triumph, though he rode in on a donkey. The people thought he had come as a King in the mold of David rather than as Saviour of the World. He was greeted and feted as 'The Son of David who comes in the name of the Lord'. It caused a great uproar in the city.

Jesus then went up to the Temple and drove out those desecrating it. He then let the blind and lame approach him and healed them within the Temple. The chief priests and scribes came out against him in great indignation and refuted his right to do these things. Jesus then left the city for the village of Bethany and lodged there overnight.

He then spoke to the priests and elders, and told them a number of parables. The first, the parable of the Two Sons,Matthew 21:28-32 the second, the parable of the Wicked Farmers, Matthew 21: 33-44. In both he was informing the priests and elders of the people that they had failed. That they were full of unrepentant sin and now stood condemned before Almighty God for the evil they had wrought. He used Psalm 118:22,23 to tell them, 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes!' He thus was telling them that because they had rejected him, did not recognize him as the Christ , they were now rejected. Further, the 2nd parable has Jesus saying that, 'And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder!'

Now at last the priests and elders knew he spoke of them and their lost future. They sought to lay hands on him but were scared of what the crowd might do.

From hereon the priests and elders attempted to trick Jesus into doing or saying something, (anything), for which he might be arrested and condemned. They sent the Sadducees and Pharisees and Herodians to him in groups to test him with religious and doctrinal questions. He silenced them all for they could not best his truth and logic and also because, he forced them to look inside themselves and like us, they did not like what they saw.

Then he asked them, 'What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is he?' They said, 'The son of David!'
He said in verse 43 'How then does David in the Spirit call him 'Lord' saying: 'The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool. He went out, 'If David calls Him Lord, how is He his Son?'
Not one of them could answer and from that day on none dare question him.

But he refused to be silenced. In Matthew 23 he speaks again to the people and His disciples and describes the so-called religious leaders as false, full of their own importance. He enjoins them not to call anyone 'Father' except God Himself and no one is to be called, 'Teacher' except the Christ. He teaches us to humble ourselves and that the humble will finally be exalted. And then he went on to describe the scribes and pharisees as hypocrites, vipers and murderers for the blood of the slaughtered Prophets earlier sent to the Jews, they slaughtered.

And so Jesus condemned all sin and sinners from the highest to the lowest. The 'Evil Servant' then is anyone of us, who, given the knowledge of Him or of the Holy Spirit that dwell in every created man, rejects Him. Before this world is judged, ALL mankind will have had ample opportunity to repent of their evil ways, which, in their hearts, they have known to be wrong. How do they know this? The inner voice within us is the Holy Spirit of the Living God, through Jesus. He dwells in every man whether taught of Jesus the Christ or not. ALL WILL THUS KNOW JESUS. Even fundamentalist anti Christians from other religions, atheist and agnostic. ALL WILL KNOW!

Jesus says that our time is short as is the time left for this world.. It is soon to judged. When that happens, Jesus says that those who have rejected God by not accepting his Christ, will not stand with his saved, Holy Remnant of believers. Who are they? The latter are they who, through faith, believed on Jesus as the Christ of God, repented their sin and thus, have been stood in favour, BECAUSE ALL THEIR SIN WAS FORGIVEN BY THE GRACE OF JESUS THE CHRIST. They are the 'faithful virgins' brought into the 'Wedding Feast' by the bridegroom, (Jesus himself as he returns as Judge).

THE EVIL SERVANT/S, (all of whom will be forced to bow to Jesus the Christ at the Judgement Seat), will not stand in favour. Rather they are condemned to Hell. What is is Hell? IT IS REJECTION FROM THE SIGHT OF GOD IN HIS HEAVEN. They will see Heaven from where they placed, but can never enter. They have fallen into the hand of the Living God. Their judgement is eternal separation, which they themselves freely chose. How pathetically sad: how awful! BigDenzil

He is probably talking about the people He'll say "I never knew you" to on the day of the Great White Throne judgment. Also in the first couple chapters of Revelation there are some churches who will be sent through the tribulation, perhaps He is talking about those Christians since He makes mention of what people will be doing when He returns for the Bride.

People tend to think the Bible's condemnations are for someone else while believing the blessings are for themselves. Only when you place yourself into the position of listener and doer then you can begin to understand who God is talking to.

That is why we call it a personal relationship. Even though God does speak to nations at large, He also speaks to each of us individually. You have questioned the verse, perhaps commune with God in your heart to see what He is saying to you through it.

Originally posted by mikesk8s247
He is not talking to anyone in particular. He is talking to you and how you must be watchful over yourself and the gifts he has given you. It shows that he does not want you to squander your spiritual wealth. Parables arent literal

In verse 31, Jesus says he will gather the elect from the four winds, then says, 'learn from this parable of the fig tree.'
At the conclusion of the fig tree parable, he makes an analogy between "the coming of the son of man" and the owner of a house securing the house from thieves if he knew when they were coming. So it may seem safe to assume that when he asks who the servant is, he is launching into another analogy.

reply to post by InshaAllah

This is why i dont read the bible anymore, and stick with The Urantia book.
Folks have problems with it but then again you dont get much of whats above......that dont make a lick of sense.

I would say, whatever you just said, turn it around. No book fell out of heaven from God and I will go with one that at least was close to Jesus and had witness testimony in it, rather than something which superficially may seem to make sense. I am willing to do the hard work with the NT, thank you.

Originally posted by jmdewey60

Originally posted by mikesk8s247
He is not talking to anyone in particular. He is talking to you and how you must be watchful over yourself and the gifts he has given you. It shows that he does not want you to squander your spiritual wealth. Parables arent literal

In verse 31, Jesus says he will gather the elect from the four winds, then says, 'learn from this parable of the fig tree.'
At the conclusion of the fig tree parable, he makes an analogy between "the coming of the son of man" and the owner of a house securing the house from thieves if he knew when they were coming. So it may seem safe to assume that when he asks who the servant is, he is launching into another analogy.

edit on 3-10-2011 by jmdewey60 because: (no reason given)

Doesn't he refer to each of His followers as servants and friends? Perhaps we should look to see if the fig tree is blooming in our own lives. It would be more helpful if you applied what God is saying to you, condemnations and blessings, before applying it to others.

Originally posted by WarminIndy
People tend to think the Bible's condemnations are for someone else while believing the blessings are for themselves. Only when you place yourself into the position of listener and doer then you can begin to understand who God is talking to.

That is why we call it a personal relationship. Even though God does speak to nations at large, He also speaks to each of us individually. You have questioned the verse, perhaps commune with God in your heart to see what He is saying to you through it.

Well, isn't the point to read the Word and discern what things we need to do by the example of those people the Bible doesn't mention in a good light? The biggest lessons in Proverbs can be found by contrasting the wise man VS the foolish man. That's the approach I have to scripture, to learn by the examples written in the text so that on that day we can hear from our Lord, "Well done my good and faithful servant".

reply to post by jmdewey60

No book fell out of heaven from God..

No, but the Holy Spirit inspired every word to be written. The human authors of scripture merely held the writing utensils.

Originally posted by NOTurTypical

Originally posted by WarminIndy

Well, isn't the point to read the Word and discern what things we need to do by the example of those people the Bible doesn't mention in a good light? The biggest lessons in Proverbs can be found by contrasting the wise man VS the foolish man. That's the approach I have to scripture, to learn by the examples written in the text so that on that day we can hear from our Lord, "Well done my good and faithful servant".

Exactly right. The Bible does say those people were given as ensamples, that we may learn by them to not live like them.

Those people who were put on the left side, they wanted to know why because they cast devils out of people and did all these things in His name. So far, only Christians do things in the Name of Jesus.

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
He is probably talking about the people He'll say "I never knew you" to on the day of the Great White Throne judgment. Also in the first couple chapters of Revelation there are some churches who will be sent through the tribulation, perhaps He is talking about those Christians since He makes mention of what people will be doing when He returns for the Bride.

Well said. I don't take up with the pre-tribulation rapture personally as 2nd Thessalonians mentions the resurrection and Revelation 20 states that the first resurrection occurs at the return of Christ after the tribulation events, but I otherwise agree with your thought on this question.

I think it parallels well with 2nd Peter:

20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 22 Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”

As far as the judgement/punishment mentioned, I won't say it's necessarily methaphorical although this is a parable - I can easily envision weeping and gnashing of teeth for those not allowed access to the messiah's kingdom, as well as the same for those dying the second death.

Take care.

reply to post by Sahabi

So why even bother asking to interpret a Biblical verse? More fodder for you to judge and condemn people to Hell?

I was mainly wanting to see if anyone even had an interpretation, to use your term.
It seems rather enigmatic to me and I never thought anything of it until a couple days ago and ran across it while doing a search for a particular Greek word. I all of a sudden felt like there may be a connection here to something bigger than just how it relates on an individual level.

Originally posted by WarminIndy

Originally posted by NOTurTypical

Originally posted by WarminIndy

Well, isn't the point to read the Word and discern what things we need to do by the example of those people the Bible doesn't mention in a good light? The biggest lessons in Proverbs can be found by contrasting the wise man VS the foolish man. That's the approach I have to scripture, to learn by the examples written in the text so that on that day we can hear from our Lord, "Well done my good and faithful servant".

Exactly right. The Bible does say those people were given as ensamples, that we may learn by them to not live like them.

Those people who were put on the left side, they wanted to know why because they cast devils out of people and did all these things in His name. So far, only Christians do things in the Name of Jesus.

That's actually the "sheep and goats" judgment at His 2nd coming, not the judgment of the world at the end of the millineal reign.

reply to post by BigDenzil

. . .describes the so-called religious leaders as false. . .

I think this is going in the direction that I have been thinking for a couple days, where "whom the master has put in charge of his household" indicates to me that he is talking about someone of a certain rank, and in this analogy, it is at the top, only below the actual owner of the estate, or Lord of the Manor. I've been reading some early Nineteenth Century books lately, like Jane Austin where these stories center on these great people who are Dukes and such, so they would have whole divisions of servants attached to an estate and whoever was at the top was like god, back in the day, especially if the master goes off to the West Indies to check on his plantation.

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
He is probably talking about the people He'll say "I never knew you" to on the day of the Great White Throne judgment. Also in the first couple chapters of Revelation there are some churches who will be sent through the tribulation, perhaps He is talking about those Christians since He makes mention of what people will be doing when He returns for the Bride.

OK, one vote for, Judgement, then.

reply to post by WarminIndy

You have questioned the verse, perhaps commune with God in your heart to see what He is saying to you through it.

I am not questioning the verse, unless that has some other meaning for you, as in the term you use when you want to understand a verse, you ask the verse a question.
OK, one vote for, figure it out with God, then. Thanks and that is helpful in my current question of if anyone wanted to submit how they understand this story by Jesus.

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
He is probably talking about the people He'll say "I never knew you" to on the day of the Great White Throne judgment. Also in the first couple chapters of Revelation there are some churches who will be sent through the tribulation, perhaps He is talking about those Christians since He makes mention of what people will be doing when He returns for the Bride.

I concur. He's talking about the people who come to church and call themselves his children-but don't really believe. They go through the motions, but don't live with Christ in their heart. At least, that's what I have always taken this to mean. The Christians who sleep their way through their relationship with Christ.