Skip to main content

Villain


          But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 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 unbelievers. (Luke 12:45-46) 

          When you read this passage, what sort of person do you envision?  In the past, I’ve tended to think the servant was a horrible person, the sort who would strike others just for the fun of being abusive, and who neglects to do his job but instead sits at the table and mockingly pretends to be the master. 
           On the other hand, one of the recommendations given to authors is that they create villains who don’t see themselves as the villain of the story. They see themselves as the hero. In fact, the best villains supposedly want the exact same thing as the hero, but the villain chooses to seek that end in a way that the reader thinks is wrong. Think of Professor X and Magneto. Could the villain in today’s passage think he’s the hero? 
         Could the servant have been trying to do a good job? Could it be that the other servants have been neglecting their tasks, and perhaps even have been abusive of the one who was trying to do a good job? Could he have awakened one day and decided he’d had enough? Could his beating of the other servants been his attempt to act on his master’s behalf? Could his sitting down and getting drunk have been a celebration - if not for having done his master’s will, then at least in doing something to benefit his master? So much of the time, Jesus spoke against the Pharisees, and this is a Pharisee’s story. This is what the Pharisees were trying to do.
          Even if the other person is abusing you, even if the other person is a villain and you’re trying to do something you think is good, if you do it in the wrong way, you’re the villain. It goes back to the old adage that two wrong don’t make a right.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more