THE SERVANTS OF CHRIST AND THEIR RESPONSIBILITY
By SIEGFIZIED GOEBEL*
[* Translated from the German by Prof. Banks.]
The
narrative (Luke 19: 11-27) itself speaks of
the setting up of a kingly rule, which, however, was preceded by a journey into
a far country, and a consequent prolonged absence of the future king, during
which the fidelity of his servants is to be proved on the one hand, and the
hate of his fellow-citizens will be revealed on the other. We may here then assume as undoubted, that by
this journey of the nobleman Jesus means to represent His own approaching
departure from the world, and by his return His own coming again in royal power
and glory; and further, that by the nobleman's servants left behind He would
have His own disciples understood, and by his fellow-citizens, His own
fellow-countrymen, and citizens of Israel.
From
that retirement of their Lord arises for the disciples of Jesus, as for the
servants of the nobleman, an intermediate period, during which they will be
without His visible presence, and must wait for His coming. But the period is not given them for idle
waiting. It is of the most critical
importance for themselves, because it is appointed
them as a test-time, on the use of which their own participation in the
"Like as (it is with the Parousia
of the Son of Man as if) a man, about to journey
into another country, called his own servants, and delivered unto them his
goods" (Matt. 25: 14).
The Greek words are literally translated
"the goods of him", is not necessarily
the entire property of every kind and in every place belonging to the
householder, but is limited by the context to the property he had in his
possession, and under his personal management in his residence so far. Being now about to take a
journey, he is obliged to hand over this property of his, which he is unable
personally to manage as before, to other faithful hands during the time of his
absence. He therefore calls, not
strange labourers, but his own servants,
belonging to him as his servants; and as their master, since he may expect
that they will regard his interest as
their own, entrusts to them and their hands the property he leaves behind.
In
the investigation on his return, the householder first bestows his praise on
the faithful servant, and then promises him his reward, so that the Greek words
... belong not so much to the preceding eulogy, as to the following promise of
reward, giving its reason, therefore: "Well done, thou
good and faithful servant! Over a little
thou wast faithful, over
much will I set thee" (Matt. 25: 23). He calls him a good and faithful servant:
"good" not in the general moral sense
but in his character as servant, therefore a true servant; and since he has especially proved himself such by
his fidelity, which is the most prominent virtue of a good servant, the
specific "faithful" is combined with the
general term "good." The promise of reward is to the effect, that
because he has been faithful over a little, he will set
him over much, just as a servant who has proved his fidelity in the small is
trusted with the great. Thus, the
comparatively large sum delivered to this servant was but little in comparison
with the wealth of goods (money is no longer specially thought of) over which
he is now to be set, set as controller, so that he may now deal with them just
as independently, despite the householder’s presence, as with the sum of money
during the master’s absence. But this,
of course, supposes that from the mere position of servant, which he has
hitherto held, he is raised to the position of a friend of his master, sharing
his full confidence, and taking part in his authority. Hence, to the promise of
reward, a saying is added, expressive of this elevation:- "Enter into the joy of thy lord," i.e.,
into the state of joy accruing to him in his character as lord, and in virtue
of his authority, so that the servant will have part and lot in his master's state.
But
great and glorious as is this reward, so heavy, on the other hand, is the
punishment that will be inflicted on those who let the word entrusted to
them lie dead and useless. For
not merely will the Lord leave to the faithful the rich product of their
earthly labour even in the future
Kingdom of God as their crown of rejoicing, their glory and joy (1 Thess. 2: 19),
but He will also over and above reckon to their glory what He takes from
the indolent. By exposing the false
glory of the latter, as though they had done their duty by merely preserving
that which was entrusted to them, and taking that glory from them along with
the trust that was theirs, He will still further augment to the faithful the
glory and joy which is the result of their faithful labour, so that they will
become just as much richer as the others became poorer.
And
to the retribution decreed is added the positive punishment which the
householder orders to be inflicted on the profitless servant (verse 30): "and the useless servant cast forth into the darkness without"
(outside the bright festive rooms). Although, therefore, no festal celebration of
the householder's return was expressly mentioned in the narrative before, since
the "joy of the lord" (verses 21, 23)
cannot be referred to such a feast merely, still the thought of such a
celebration so natural and common in other parables, really floats before the
narrator’s mind. And whereas the first
two servants’ entrance into the joy of
their lord evidently includes participation in this festal joy, so the idle servant is to be
expelled from the bright rooms of his master's household. This doom, then, forms in fact the contrast to
the eulogistic word to the first two servants: "Enter into the joy of thy lord." Christ, in the hour of His coming, besides
depriving every idle, unfaithful servant of what was entrusted to him, will
also inflict on him the penalty of exclusion from His Kingdom: what
Luke says of the punishment of the servant already implies that he has no
share in the kingdom of his lord, and therefore that he who is like
him will have no share in the Kingdom of Christ.
And
if the hour of Christ's second advent will be an hour
of reckoning even for His disciples,
how much more will it be an hour of judgment for His enemies! The
citizens of Israel, who hated Jesus, although He lived and worked among them as
His countrymen, and who were impelled by their hatred for Him to resistance
against the counsel and will of the most high God - what can they be to the
Messiah returning from heaven but enemies and what other fate can the erection
of the Messiah's kingdom bring them than that of rebels, on whom a victorious
king takes righteous vengeance? Although
members of the chosen nation to which Christ Himself belonged, who as such
would have been called in the first rank to enjoy the blessings of the
Messianic Kingdom, the manifested Messiah at the setting up of His Kingdom will
call them before His tribunal as His foes, and forthwith inflict on them the
punishment due to hardened rebels against His divinely ordained eternal
kingship - the punishment of condemnation to the eternal death, of whose pain
and terrors even the slaying of the rebels in the parable is but a feeble
image. When it is said that such an
image is unlike the mind of Jesus, this is simply an a priori assertion easily refuted by the numerous passages in
which Jesus speaks of the punishment of damnation with no less menacing
solemnity, and no less terrible images. That
nothing can be meant by extreme penalty inflicted on the rebels in the parable
but the condemnation to eternal death, ought not to have called in question,
considering the clearness and distinctness with which the parable distinguishes
the period of the second advent as one of reckoning and judgment, from the
intermediate period preceding it as the time of the Lord's absence in the
heavenly world, designed to leave scope to His friends and foes to manifest
their love and hate.
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