The Evil Servants

The Evil Servants

⁴⁸ But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ ⁴⁹ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, ⁵⁰ the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, ⁵¹ and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 24:48-50

Matthew 24 ends in a very negative way. It focusses on those who refuse to listen or see the signs of the times. It shows us a vision of judgement, darkness and death.

You’ll notice that both groups, good and bad, are called servants here. This is an important thing to remember as we have a bad habit of uplifting ourselves more than we should. Compared to God, we are just servants but what is amazing is that he treats us much better than we deserve.

The evil servants say that God is delaying. “This second coming idea is way into the future and things happening now are just normal things of the earth.” I have heard this sentiment from many people in the church. Nothing is really out of the ordinary. We’ve always had wars, disease, famines and natural disasters. They reject the idea that God is getting ready to return soon and continue living the exact same way. Many speak this way to avoid making any real life altering decisions in their life.

You could claim, rightfully so, that people have been saying these things for generations and Jesus still has not returned. That is true, but you also have to realize that those people are no longer here and for them, the second coming is but a blink away. God wants us to be ready now and every day.

That is what the other verses are really about. There will always be people in the church who don’t follow God’s advice and law. They will beat fellow servants usually by their words and actions. They eat and drink with the drunkards meaning they will focus more on their own appetites and desires than on God.

These will have their part with the hypocrites. All those years of sitting in the pews, praying and reading their Bibles will come to nothing. Their hearts were not in it. They didn’t want to be servants but masters themselves. They trades an eternity of perfection for a few years of pleasure.

God bless,

Pr. Steven Couto