Texts in Conversation
Rabbinic tradition in Pirkei Avot urges people to serve God as servants who work without expecting a reward. In Luke, Jesus expresses a similar tradition, telling his disciples to say they are only servants who have done their duty.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Luke 17:10
New Testament
7 “Would any one of you say to your slave who comes in from the field after plowing or shepherding sheep, ‘Come at once and sit down for a meal’? 8 Won’t the master instead say to him, ‘Get my dinner ready, and make yourself ready to serve me while I eat and drink. Then you may eat and drink’? 9 He won’t thank the slave because he did what he was told, will he? 10 So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are slaves undeserving of special praise; we have only done what was our duty.’”
Pirkei Avot 1:3
Mishnah
Rabbinic
2 Shimon the Righteous was one of the last of the men of the great assembly. He used to say: the world stands upon three things: the Torah, the Temple service, and the practice of acts of piety. 3 Antigonus a man of Socho received [the oral tradition] from Shimon the Righteous. He used to say: do not be like servants who serve the master in the expectation of receiving a reward, but be like servants who serve the master without the expectation of receiving a reward, and let the fear of Heaven be upon you. 4 Yose ben Yoezer (a man) of Zeredah and Yose ben Yohanan [a man] of Jerusalem received [the oral tradition] from them [i.e. Shimon the Righteous and Antigonus]. Yose ben Yoezer used to say: let thy house be a house of meeting for the Sages and sit in the very dust of their feet, and drink in their words with thirst.
Date: 190-230 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
... We are unprofitable servants. That is, we recognize that what we have managed to do in God's service is still inadequate. The sense of the adjective achreios is disputed. Literally, it means 'useless, worthless' and is used in this sense in the only other place in the New Testament in which it occurs (Matthew 25:30, for the servant who has done nothing). It was often used of slaves. ... we have only done our duty. Literally, 'we have done what we are bound to do.' Compare the later dictum of Antigonus of Socho: 'Be not like slaves that serve the master for the sake of receiving a bounty; but be like slaves that serve the master not for the sake of receiving a bounty; and let the fear of heaven be upon you' (Mishnah Abot 1:3). Or the advice attributed to R. Yohanan b. Zakkai: 'He used to say, If you have achieved much in the Law, claim no merit for yourself; for this purpose were you created' (Mishnah Abot 2:8). ...
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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