No reward in God’s service?

Luke 17:7-10. November 8, 2022 - Tuesday, 32nd Week

Today’s parable assumes the historical background of Jesus’ time. Slavery was accepted practice and no master would thank a slave for his service. After all, it was a duty of a slave to serve his master. But, hearing this parable in the 21st century makes many of us uncomfortable. First of all, slavery has been officially abolished a few centuries ago. But, the parable aims to picture a relationship between God and believers as that of master and servant. Moreover, in the parable, the master demands; he does not thank or show favour for services being rendered to him. And then Jesus applies it to his disciples, to all of us. We should not expect special favours for serving God. Instead, we should say: “We are unworthy slaves; we only did what we were supposed to do” (Luke 17:10). But do we behave in this way?

The majority of us act like the elder son from the parable of the prodigal son. Together with him, we complain to God: “Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends” (Luke 15:29). Or we are upset that God treats us as the master from the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16). How could God compare us, who serve him diligently our entire life with those who repented at the last moment? “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat” (Matt 20:12). That is unfair.

We get used to being rewarded. We are rewarded in school with high grades for studying diligently; We are rewarded at work with promotions and higher salaries for hard work. And we expect God to reward us also for the service we render to him. But, here we are for a surprise. God does not owe us anything. Our very existence, who we are and what we have is given to us. We are the expression of his grace. “What do you have that you did not receive?”, asks St. Paul in the First Corinthians. We are because He exists; we are because He is Love. And so, the question is: why do we serve God? To get a reward or out of love?

“Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16), says St. Paul. He considered himself under the obligation to preach the Gospel. But, we also know that he loved Christ more than his life: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21). And what did he consider as his reward? That he could offer the Gospel to everyone free of charge (1 Cor 9:18). So why do we serve God? And do we expect any special reward for that?