Unworthy Servants

I am challenged by the teaching of Jesus in Luke 17:7-10: “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'” When we first read this teaching, it’s easy to see it as offensive. Why is Jesus telling us to call ourselves “unworthy servants?” Shouldn’t we be thanked? But this teaching is only offensive if we fail to understand who our Master truly is. This is our Master: ” Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.” Jesus doesn’t ask us to do anything that He himself is unwilling to do.