Fear and the Wise Servant

Matthew 24:45-51

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone (Vol. 2)

The difference between the two types of slaves—the one who kept watch and did what he should, and the one who forgot what he was about and did the opposite—isn’t just the difference between good and bad, between obedience and disobedience. It’s the difference between wisdom and folly. . . . If the living God might knock at the door at any time, wisdom means being ready at any time. . . . Wisdom consists not least, now, in realizing that the world has turned a corner with the coming of Jesus and that we must always be ready to give an account of ourselves.

Of course these warnings are held within the larger picture of the gospel, in which Jesus embodies the love of God which goes out freely to all and sundry. Of course we shall fail. Of course there will be times when we shall go to sleep on the job. Part of being a follower of Jesus is not that we always get everything right, but that, like Peter among others, we quickly discover where we are going wrong, and take steps to put it right (130-1).

Aaron Orendorff

Fear is without a doubt one of the most powerful motivational forces in our lives. In a hundred different ways, fear drives us, directs us, prompts us, compels us. Our problem with fear, however, isn’t fear itself; it’s what we fear.

Jesus’ point here is simple: what (or perhaps better, who) we should fear is God. It’s no accident, as Wright points out, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Pro. 9:10). Wisdom consists in taking a right view of the world, of seeing things as they really are (not as they appear nor, as is often the case, the way they feel). Faithfulness to the work at hand and wisdom to see things aright go hand in hand. It’s only as we reverently cultivate a genuine “fear of the Lord” that we are made fit for the kingdom work that the Master of the house has prepared for us.