My master's happiness - part 1
...Enter into the joy of your master. Matthew 25:21b
Those seven words hold so much meaning for me both in the context of the passage in the Bible where they are spoken and in my position as a father. As these words are spoken, a master has returned from a long journey and has seen the wisdom of a servant in his handling of the money that was entrusted to him. The master is thrilled so much so that he invites the servant close to him. So close. I get the sense that this is not a begrudging willingness to share in his master's happiness. It seems rather spontaneous and born out of the servant functioning at his highest level. A level that may even have been born out of love.
This is not a "good job" pat on the back. This is more of a visceral reaction - the master reaches deep and offers everything that he can possibly give to the servant. His happiness is not something that he holds onto. It is something poured out onto the servant. Overflowing. Soaking. Immersing. Baptizing. Marking. This will be the servant's finest hour for (I try to catch this into my heart) it in one of the master's.
But why? I rather think that the master had more than enough money. It was not as if he was depending on the servant to fill his coffers so that he and his wife could go on vacation or so that they could pay the rent for one more month. Men who go on long journeys needn't concern themselves with such vulgarity. No, this happiness is squarely centered in the wisdom of the servant. How humiliating! How could a master, so well endowed, so important, so adequate in and of himself, wrap his own wellness in the actions of a piece of property? Isn't that what a servant was in that day? Isn't that all he was?
Yet here is his master falling prostrate to him as the servant shows his rags of wisdom. A wisdom that, without a doubt, paled in comparison to his master but one that set his master's life ablaze and attached his heart to that of his servant. Incredible. If it had not been written down I would have scarcely believed it.
But more on that later.
Those seven words hold so much meaning for me both in the context of the passage in the Bible where they are spoken and in my position as a father. As these words are spoken, a master has returned from a long journey and has seen the wisdom of a servant in his handling of the money that was entrusted to him. The master is thrilled so much so that he invites the servant close to him. So close. I get the sense that this is not a begrudging willingness to share in his master's happiness. It seems rather spontaneous and born out of the servant functioning at his highest level. A level that may even have been born out of love.
This is not a "good job" pat on the back. This is more of a visceral reaction - the master reaches deep and offers everything that he can possibly give to the servant. His happiness is not something that he holds onto. It is something poured out onto the servant. Overflowing. Soaking. Immersing. Baptizing. Marking. This will be the servant's finest hour for (I try to catch this into my heart) it in one of the master's.
But why? I rather think that the master had more than enough money. It was not as if he was depending on the servant to fill his coffers so that he and his wife could go on vacation or so that they could pay the rent for one more month. Men who go on long journeys needn't concern themselves with such vulgarity. No, this happiness is squarely centered in the wisdom of the servant. How humiliating! How could a master, so well endowed, so important, so adequate in and of himself, wrap his own wellness in the actions of a piece of property? Isn't that what a servant was in that day? Isn't that all he was?
Yet here is his master falling prostrate to him as the servant shows his rags of wisdom. A wisdom that, without a doubt, paled in comparison to his master but one that set his master's life ablaze and attached his heart to that of his servant. Incredible. If it had not been written down I would have scarcely believed it.
But more on that later.
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