Chapter 4

January 1, 2008 by Roger.

PARABLES ON WORK

How many times have you heard this or that excuse why someone would not help in
doing a particular work? Jesus even left a specific parable for us to let us know that this
is not a new problem. In the parable of the great banquet, those who were invited “all
with one accord began to make excuse” (Lk 14:18). One said, “I have bought a piece of
ground,” and another said that he had “bought five yoke of oxen” (Lk 14:18,19). You
know the rest of the story. When it comes to Jesus’ invitation to discipleship, the
excuses are without end.
Some excuses to avoid involvement are valid. They would thus not be excuses, but
reasons. But what James stated in James 4:17 is still true. “Therefore, to him who
knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” With that caution, we would do
well to be careful about making excuses, or giving reasons that are really excuses.
Excuses are made only when work is involved. We make no excuses about doing
our own thing. We make excuses in order to do our own thing instead of fulfilling our
responsibility toward others. Jesus focused on this problem in defining the nature of the
kingdom. He gave a trilogy of parables that are recorded in Matthew 25 in order to
define the work ethic that should be indicative of His disciples. Each of the three
parables bring us to the same conclusion. That conclusion is that if one would be a
disciple of Jesus, self-initiated works must be a life-style, not an occasional occurrence
in our lives. The conclusion of the parables teaches that Christians should be
very careful about making excuses to avoid responsibility.
It is surprising to notice that the nature of many of the parables of Jesus is on the
activity of the characters in the parables. Jesus seeks to focus our minds on work,
(This series of blogs compose a book that carries the title, “Justified By Works.” )
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