Bumper stickers, t-shirts, posters, and memes will all tell us “Jesus is coming – look busy!” These facetious art pieces, despite their humorous and flippant tones, highlight a deep-seated anxiety in today’s America. We are afraid to be perceived as not-good-enough. If we are not always busy doing good work, then we are wasting our time and our potential. And what if Jesus returns while we’re in the middle of being mediocre? I know I don’t want to disappoint Jesus.
This sets me up for a slew of anxiety when I read passages like this one:
“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 24:45-51, NIV)
Jesus tells this parable when he is discussing the end times with his disciples. He tells them that the end times will come upon them like a thief in the night – unexpectedly – and them warns them about what will happen if they’re caught in evil when the time comes.
In a culture that values achievement and productivity, it can be easy to think, “If I don’t do my job well enough, I will be cut to pieces and thrown out!” But that is not what is happening here. When the master returns, he is not upset with the person who doesn’t “look busy.” He’s upset with the person who is busy. Busy doing evil. The person who is actively causing harm to others.
In contrast, the first servant, the one with whom the master was pleased, didn’t do much. He just had to feed the other servants. That was all. He had to take care of the people around him in basic ways. The master didn’t even say that he had to serve gourmet meals from scratch. And there is no punishment if the food is overcooked or under-salted.
It doesn’t take a lot to be a faithful and wise servant. We just need to take care of each other. We don’t need to be busy or productive so that we can show off to Jesus with an impressive resume. We don’t have to do everything. We don’t even have to do lots of things. We just need to do what the master has called us to do to the best of our abilities (read: imperfectly). We just need to feed each other. And if we happen to take a quick break right when Jesus returns, I’m sure he’ll understand.
Neglected Word 