Left in Charge is based on Matthew 24:45-51
Retell?
The setting of this parable would have been understandable up to the beginning of the Twentieth Century. Nowadays, it’s more likely that people will have to handle their own catering. But, even today, fans of TV programmes like Downton Abbey could recognise the scenario – especially when ‘slave’ is translated as ‘servant’. That leaves us with the question of whether the parable even needs retelling.
The Implications of ‘Slaves’
In a Downton Abbey scenario, one implication of the parable is likely to be missed. If servants are being shorted on food, or beaten up by the butler, they can give a month’s notice. In the scenario of Jesus’ parable, the slaves can’t give a month’s notice. The good slave makes sure his (probably his) fellow slaves are fed and cared for. The bad one is attacking those with no redress. Only the return of their master can end their nightmare.
Care Home
When deciding to retell this parable, it needs to be set somewhere that emphasises the evil of the second slave. That slave is not just being irresponsible; they’re hurting people who have no way of defending themselves.
The setting chosen would depend on how familiar they were to people listening. I chose a care home for two reasons. Firstly, because it’s a familiar setting for many people in my area and secondly, because the residents often have dementia. They’re very vulnerable to a ‘bad servant’. Other possibilities are a hospital, or even a prisoner-of-war camp.
The Ending
We find this parable’s ending shocking: perhaps it’s that we don’t recognise just how badly the slave is behaving. This parable is one of the ‘end time’ parables; right in the middle of Jesus warning people about staying alert, keeping watch, being ready. How do we do this? By being responsible people who care for others. Not selfish people who enjoy themselves at the expense of others.
The master punishes the wicked servant in a way that would have been familiar to Jesus’ audience. Yes, the Romans really did cut people into pieces (don’t look up methods of Roman execution over breakfast). But also, I think we underestimate just how badly people can want evil to be punished. I have a vivid memory of British news reporting the arrest of a notorious serial killer, reporting live from the police station he was being transferred to. News had spread; a large crowd was waiting.
On live television, I heard the snarl of a crowd wanting to tear another human being apart. If the police had lost control, the killer would never have reached his cell alive.
A Vengeful God? Or a Just God?
So a parable in which the evil slave gets torn to bits isn’t necessarily one where Jesus presents us with a vengeful God. The master in the parable wasn’t waiting for the slave to step out of line; they wanted the slave to be responsible and sensible, in a job they knew how to do. If they were, they were rewarded for good behaviour. But if they weren’t, they were punished.
In both cases, the way the slave behaved had consequences. Jesus is not so much presenting us with a vengeful God, as with a just God.
If Jesus was trying to warn people away from self-centred evil, the punishment in the parable needed to work as a warning. A warning that actions have consequences. That was the rationale for the Roman’s various gruesome methods of execution; when people’s lives are desperate, punishment needs to be terrifying. Even more terrifying than having you and your family starve to death.
In the context of the times, bad actions should have bad consequences. And terrible actions – should have terrible consequences.
Previous Parable: The VIP Lounge (Luke 14: 8-14)
Next Parable: The Coffee Shop Assistant (Luke 17:7-10)
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