“We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.”
—Luke 17:10
When I used to hear the word “servant,” I thought of it as a dirty word. I thought a servant was someone without any authority, someone very low in class and poor, someone who had no choice but to do the work for others. My definition and understanding of who’s a servant was completely wrong. Jesus Christ came to earth not “to be served but to serve” (Matt 20:28). As we are called to imitate Christ, we are called to be servants—that is, to be devout and faithful followers of Christ.
In the Gospel reading for today, Jesus is speaking to the disciples, and to each of us, telling us that we should do what is commanded by God without complaining and without expecting to be praised. This might be difficult for many to take in as we all want to be seen and given due credit for whatever small deed we do. We attach our names to absolutely everything so the world can see: out of my kindness, out of my brilliance, out of my skills, out of my popularity, I did that. On the other side of the spectrum, when things aren’t to our standard, we complain. We let the world know that we are not satisfied, that we are upset and angry, that we demand things to be as we want them to be. Neither of these characteristics are pleasing to God. We are servants of the Lord. What is pleasing to God is for us to follow His commands and be in accordance with His will. By doing this we show our love for God.
How can we be good servants? By serving as Jesus Christ served. We should take care of the poor, the sick, the hungry, those who mourn. We should be meek and humble. We should follow righteousness. We should be merciful and pure of heart. We should be peacemakers and stand firm in front of persecution. I learned that this is the true definition of what it means to be a servant: a devout and faithful follower of Christ.
In the catechism it states that the religious and ministers of the Church are servants of God. The pope’s proper title is servant of the servants of God. And one of the first steps in the canonization of a saint is to pronounce them as a servant of God to the entire world. I mean, whoa, think about that. To be a saint in heaven, you will first take a title that the secular world walks all over: servant.
We are all unprofitable servants, this is true. Because everything good is due to God alone. But God is not like the man in the parable who is not grateful that his servant is being obedient. After the servant finishes plowing and tending the sheep, his master orders him to serve food and drink. The servant’s work never ends, and he is not rewarded. As servants of the Lord, our work never ends either, but this is because we never stop being faithful followers of Christ! Our mission is to always preach and worship His good name. We will continue to plow and plant seeds of faith. We will continue to tend the sheep and build up the Church. The difference is that our God sees the work we do for Him, and He loves us. When we enter the gates of heaven, our Lord will joyously tell us, “come here immediately and take your place at table.” We all have a place at His table, and we will celebrate with a great heavenly banquet filled in abundance with food and drink.
Frassati Reflections 