The Parable of Virgil and the Doughnut Shop (Matthew 24:45-51)

Virgil was a young adult who worked at Delectable Donuts. Virgil has worked at other fast food restaurants and other retail jobs before, so in terms of dealing with customers and co-workers alike, Delectable Donuts did not feel any different from the other jobs. Delectable Donuts differed greatly, however, in the hours Virgil worked. Naturally, as a doughnut shop, Delectable Donuts opened at 5 a.m., so every morning commuter could grab a breakfast doughnut before driving to work. In order for the shop to open for customers at 5 a.m., the 1^st shift employees had to report to work at 4:00 a.m. In order for Virgil get ready and drive to work, Virgil had to wake up at 3:00 a.m. When Virgil took the job, he thought to himself, “I can do 3:00 a.m. I’m a night owl. 3:00 a.m. is just late at night.” Virgil came to realize that 3:00 a.m. was not late at night, it was really early in the morning, and Virgil was definitely not a morning person. He hated having to wake up so early in the morning, so much he struggled to wake up every morning. He even had to set 12 alarms! Needing to pay some bills, and having job security, Virgil got comfortable and stayed with the job.

Every Monday at noon, as the shifts changed, Mr. Mogavero, Virgil’s boss at Delectable Donuts, would have a weekly meeting with all his employees. Virgil never understood why Mr. Mogavero insisted on having meetings. They were always “fiscal year” this and “weekly revenue” that. Virgil did not know why he needed to know about these things. As long as he got his paycheck, he was content. This meeting, however, would have an impact on Virgil’s life. “Finally,” Mr. Mogavero concluded, “our beloved janitor Mike Kingston has put in his two-weeks notice because he has decided the times has come to retire. Let’s give him a round of applause for such diligent work.” The employees slowly began clap, including Virgil. They didn’t understand why they had to clap for someone not present. “With that being said,” Mr. Mogavero continued, “I need to find a new janitor to take his place. Since I prefer to promote from within, I will post a sign-up sheet on my office door for anyone who would to apply for the job. As the janitor, you report to work at 8:00 p.m. After you help 2^nd shift close shop, you will spend the first half of your shift cleaning up for the day, from cleaning the dishes and pans to wiping down tables and mopping floors. For the second half of your shift, you will begin prep work for the next work day, so when 1^st shift comes in, they can start cooking. Then you will clock out at 4:30 a.m. Since the janitor has no supervisor watching him, the employee must have good self-efficacy, meaning he or she must motive himself or herself to execute the tasks at hand. Oh, and for working such awful hours, I will give you a dollar raise.” Virgil’s ears perked up at that last sentence. Virgil had only received nickel raises or dime raises, not whole dollar raises. Virgil thought to himself, “I could really use that raise to help me with my bills and debts. Besides, those hours are more like the night owl hours I was looking for. And I’m pretty sure I have good self-eff…self-effeff…self-effeffeff…that thing that Mr. Mogavero said.”

After the meeting, Virgil marched up to Mr. Mogavero’s office, and he signed up for an interview, with his name on the top line. On Tuesday morning, Mr. Mogavero interviewed him first. Virgil felt like the interview went well, but just in case, he worked extra hard on Wednesday and Thursday, so Mr. Mogavero could see on his patrol of the kitchen he indeed worked hard. By golly, it worked! On Friday, Mr. Mogavero called Virgil in his office to inform Virgil he got the job. He would report at 8:00 p.m. on Monday to train with Mike Kingston during his last week of employment.

Virgil did report to work on Monday at 8:00, where he met Mike Kingston. Virgil had seen Mike Kingston in passing at his shift start up, but he had never gotten to know him. While Mike seemed nice and kind, he came off as peculiar to Virgil. He always had to constantly move, and he always had to find work, even to the point of inventing work for himself. Virgil played along, but he definitely planned on making changes when he took on the role full-time. The week went by quickly. Before Virgil knew it, Mike handed him the keys, and now he officially took the role as the janitor of Delectable Donuts.

The next Monday Virgil reported to work at 8:00 p.m. He helped 2^nd shift wrap up, and as the last employee walked out, he locked the doors. Virgil stood all alone in the doughnut shop. He began working right away…and he found himself done the clean-up by 10:00 p.m. Virgil didn’t remember the work going so quickly when two of them worked the job. Perhaps as an older gentleman, Mr. Kingston worked slower and took longer. Virgil decided to take lunch early, but that only killed a half hour. He thought about starting prep early, but he didn’t want to do it too early. So he took a seat in the eating area, pulled out his phone and began scrolling on Facebook. When he got to the end of his news feed, he switched to Twitter. When he got to the end of Twitter, he switched to Instagram. When he got to end of Instagram, he cycled back around to Facebook and repeat the process. Unfortunately, no one really updated their social media at midnight on a weekday, but it really didn’t matter because soon Virgil’s phone would run out of battery life. Virgil tried to pass the time by figuring out various ways to count the ceiling tiles (72 to be exact), but that quickly bored him. Virgil began the prep work, but he paced himself, stretching out his time, and even then, he barely made it to the end of his shift.

The next day, Tuesday, Virgil came prepared. He brought phone charger. He downloaded music streaming apps like Pandora and Spotify. He figured out how to hook his phone up to the shop speakers via Bluetooth, so he could stop listening to the awful elevator music Mr. Mogavero insisted playing in the shop and instead listen to his favor rap and hip-hop beats. He downloaded a Kindle and Nook app, so he could read books. He downloaded Netflix and Hulu, so he could watch movies and television shows. Now Virgil could better pace himself by giving himself multiple breaks, and now Virgil would never face boredom. The following day, Wednesday, Virgil brought in his Nintendo Switch. He was grateful Nintendo had invented a portable console because now he could get caught up on the latest video games. Now, between listening to music, reading books, playing games and watching movies and televisions shows, Virgil had a comfortable pace at work.

Soon, Virgil would become comfortable at work, too comfortable. See, Virgil enjoyed all this new-found free time. The best part was he was on the clock, so he got paid for his free time! He wished he could free up more time on his shift. Before he knew it, he did figure out how to get more free time. After locking up, he would get his work done as quickly as possible, so he could have as much free time as possible. He even figured the absolute latest he could start prep work to make sure he looked busy when everyone on 1^st shift arrived for work. Virgil thought he was getting away with it, but he wasn’t as smooth as he thought. Mr. Mogavero had notice dust collecting on the ceiling fans, dirt swirling on the floors, the tables stick, and the dishes had a residue on all of them. The shop never got this messy with Mike Kingston as janitor. Mr. Mogavero decided the time had come to give Virgil a surprise audit.

On a random night, Mr. Mogavero got in his car and began driving to his doughnut shop. As he turned onto the road of his doughnut shop, he could hear the loud pounding of his bass. “Wow,” Mr. Mogavero thought to himself, “I can’t believe how busy the club can get on a weekday night to open for business.” To Mr. Mogavero’s surprise, the loud, thumping sound did not come from the club, but from his beloved doughnut shop! Mr. Mogavero quickly parked his car in the shop’s parking lot and barged through door. “VIRGIL!” he yelled, but he did not see Virgil in the eating area. He barged through the door to the kitchen. “VIRGIL!” he screamed, but he could not find Virgil in the kitchen. Searching for him in the shop, Mr. Mogavero noticed the light in his office turned on. Mr. Mogavero swung open the door, and there was Virgil, sitting in his boss’s leather office chair, bobbing his head to the music while playing his Nintendo Switch. “VIRGIL!” Mr. Mogavero shouted at the top of his lungs. Virgil looked up startled. His face turned pale at the sight of his fuming boss. Before he could get out the three words “I can explain…” his boss shouted three sentence that would impact his life. “GET OUT OF HERE! YOU’RE FIRED! I DON’T EVER WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE AGAIN!”

What you have just read is what I call The Parable of Virgil and the Doughnut Shop. This is a 21^st century version of a parable Jesus told in the 1^st century. Back while in seminary, my preaching professor taught us that when teaching a parable of Jesus, a preacher should re-tell the parable in a 21^st century context. I agree with his teaching. All the parable Jesus taught Jesus extremely contextualized, so his open-minded audience would understand the message, while the close-minded audience would not understand. Therefore, Jesus used the 1^st century culture as his context, a context which would make no sense to the modern-day culture in the 21^st century. So preacher should study what Jesus intended the parable to mean, and then teach the parable in a 21^st century cultural context that the audience could comprehend. Still, because I am not an omniscient rabbi, my parable fails in comparison to the Lord’s parable, so let’s understand the original parable in light of the 1^st century context.

Matthew 24:45-51 begins a series of 3 consecutive parables, with first one starting at 24:45 and the last one ending at 25:30. Most Bible translations don’t give this sermon a title, probably because of its short length. The few Bible versions that do give the parable a title have given it a wide array of titles, and none of those titles call it a parable. The Holman Christian Standard Bible calls it “Faithful Service to the Messiah.” The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) names it “The Faithful or Unfaithful Slave.” The Contemporary English Version (CEV) title it “Faithful and Unfaithful Servants.” The New King James Version (NKJV) calls it “Illustration of Two Servants.” At least the NKJV recognizes as an illustration, albeit not a parable.

The commonality among all these titles reveals the structure of the parable. For those interested in the fancy theological terms, theologians call this a dichotomy. In a dichotomy, the listener hears two examples. Based on the attitudes and behaviors of the two characters alone, the listener clearly understands which character plays the good example and which person plays the bad character. Matthew enjoys uses dichotomies. Throughout his Gospel account, you’ll see dichotomies of good examples and bad example. On top of his love for dichotomies, Matthew further strengthens his dichotomies by explicitly emphasizing that the good example receives a reward, but the bad example gets punished. Interesting enough, in this parable, the good example and the bad example both come from the same character! It is as if the parable is saying, “If the servant is a good servant, he will do this, but if the servant is a bad servant, he will do that.”

This parable also appears in Luke, but Luke uses it in a different context. Matthew utilizes the parable to talk about the coming Messianic kingdom, whereas Luke uses the parable to talk about the expectations of a disciple.

Matthew 24:45-51 (ESV)-

⁴⁵ “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶ Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. ⁴⁷ Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. ⁴⁸ But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ ⁴⁹ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, ⁵⁰ the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know ⁵¹ and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

In Matthew 24:45, Jesus describes the servant as “faithful” and “wise.” Matthew records Greek adjective πιστός (pistis), or faithful, for the first time in his gospel here, but it appears twice in the next chapter. The other adjective, φρόνιμος (phronimos), translated “wise,” appears seven times in the gospel, as opposed to 0 times in Mark, 2 times in Luke and 0 times in John. More specifically φρόνιμος (phronimos), appears 5 times in Matthew 24-25. Therefore, the reader must consider such usage unique to Matthew. The Greek word φρόνιμος (phronimos) might be where the English word “prudence” came from.  Matthew wants to convey that the servant Jesus finds as wise is a servant who is both intelligent and sensible, able to judge and determine how to use practice his wisdom. Some have suggested the servant talked about represents the disciples. Just as the master placed this servant in authority over the servants, the disciples, who become the apostles, would have leadership authority over the first century church. The Luke parallel proves such thinking incorrect, however, since in the Luke passage, Peter asks, “Is this parable just for us or for everyone?” and the answer Jesus gives hints the parable applies to everyone.

In the 1^st century A.D., a wealth head of house could have several slaves. In a wealthy home, the term “household” would not simply refrain to the family. The household includes everyone in the house, including the servants. When Jesus says “household,” he probably meant the servants, thus making the faithful and wise servant the head servant of the household. When a household had several slaves, a master would commonly set aside a slave as a manager or steward. As seen in the passage, the head servant distributed the food portions to his servants as one of his chief jobs. What an honor for the servant to work in this role! The master would only put someone he esteemed greatly to take charge of what his heart valued most. To put a servant in change of it all, the master must have trusted this servant. Backing us out of the parable and back into the 1^st century AD context Jesus taught this parable in, Jesus might also begin revealing the meaning of the parable already. In both Galatians and Ephesians, Paul calls the church a household. Perhaps Jesus already hints the servants refer to Christian. Indeed, God has entrusted the church and the kingdom of God to Christians, he expects us to practice good stewardship when handling it. To assume the that servant placed over the household is a pastor, however, would probably be taking it too far.

In Matthew 24:46, Jesus answers the rhetorical question he presents in the previous verse. Jesus calls the faithful and wise servant blessed, the same blessed Jesus uses in the Beatitudes.

Matthew 24:47 begins with Jesus saying, “Truly I say to you” or “I tell you the truth.” This phrase only appears in the gospels, only used by Jesus, to lay certainty a divine truth. The faithful and wise servant is put over all the master’s possessions, everything he owns, even up to his property. The reward makes sense. Since the master saw he could trust his servant with a partial portion of his property, he now feels comfortable putting the servant in charge of much more.

As Matthew 24:47 ends, so closes the good example of the good. If you haven’t made the connections yet, the master is the Lord, and the servants are his people, the Christians. Jesus has entrusted the kingdom of God on earth to the Christians. The faithful and wise Christian is the Christian who faithfully carries the will of God and advances the kingdom. The faithful and wise Christian constantly thinks about the Lord’s work. The faithful and wise Christian desires to glorify God in all aspects of life. Just like the servant put over his fellow servants, the Christian leader serves those below him more than uses his power above him. Upon the Lord’s return, the good servant will receive a reward for his faithful and wise actions.

In Matthew 24:48, Jesus seems to talk about the same servant, but now he calls the servant a wicked servant. The Greek word for wicked, κακός (kakos), occurs only 3 times in Matthew, despite a common word throughout the New Testament. The Greek text literally reads that the wicked servant “says in his heart.” In Biblical times, people thought thoughts originated from the heart, just like today we associate the heart with feeling, despite numerous research affirming it only pumps blood. The wicked servant thinks in his heart his master is delayed. A wealthy man in the 1^st century A.D. could own properties many miles apart. With the traveling conditions of the day, anything could prevent someone from coming home on time. Something has held his master up from returning at the expected time, so the servant has much more time away from his master. Temptation sets in to act differently than his commands. He plans that he will begin his work closer to the time of the master’s return. Until then, he will act as he pleases.

In Matthew 24:49, the reader sees how the wicked servant’s think impacts his actions. He no longer sees himself as the head servant, but rather, he thinks of himself as the master. Instead of using his new-found power to help his fellow servants, he uses it to abuse them. Beating the servants does not mean that the servant gets into fights with other servants. As the servant left in charge, this servant could bestow any punishment he saw fit, including beating, the maximum punishment. The wicked servant would abuse this power and mistreat his fellow servants. The compound Greek word σύνδουλος (syndoulos), translated “fellow servant,” only appears outside of Matthew in Colossians and Revelation. In Colossians and Revelation, σύνδουλος (syndoulos) refers to believers. Therefore, Matthew probably had in mind the same meaning. If the master found out about the severe beatings, he would feel enraged. As much as the 21^st century world would hate to think of people as property, the 1^st century world would have seen a managing servant beating fellow servants as a mistreatment of property. The master would personally investigate the beatings to see if the punishment fit.

The wicked servant also abuses his power by indulging himself and drinking with drunkards. In general, 1^st century culture frowned upon drunkenness. Masters expected their servants to be sober always, so they may serve always. The sentence structure does not explicitly make the wicked servant a drunkard, but the context implies he has become like his drunkard friends.

In Matthew 24:50, the reader observes that the wicked servant has trapped himself. He expects his master to come back at a much later time, so he becomes lax, so lax he lulls himself into a false sense of security. Because of his relaxed attitude, the wicked servant does not prepare for his master’s return. He has no excuse when the master finally returns.

In Matthew 24:51, the master has two punishments set aside for such a wicked servant. First, the master will διχοτομέω (dichotomeo) the servant, most commonly translated “cut into pieces.” During the first century A.D., only the worst people received such a violent death penalty for the most heinous crimes. While cutting a disobedient servant to pieces might sound extreme, Jesus conveys to his audience the severity of mishandling the kingdom of God. Second, the master assigns him to a place with the hypocrites, where people weep and teeth gnash. For Matthew, no one can receive a worse title than “hypocrite.” The title fits the wicked servant, for the opposite of a hypocrisy is sincerity, which is exactly what a faithful servant is. Therefore, the punishment fits the wicked servant. Matthew wants his audience to know this place houses the worst of the worst, including wicked servants. Together, the listener of the parable understands the unprepared servants receives the worst of punishments for his wicked behavior. The hearer of the parable comprehends the wicked servant has received pain and loss for his behavior. The weeping and gnashing of teeth conveys this truth, two reactions someone might have for extreme loss or extreme pain.

Again, let’s make sure we understand what the parable means regarding the wicked servant. More condemning than the wicked servant’s destructive habits is his thinking that he can get away with because of his master’s absence. The wicked servant is somebody who has not been a good steward of the kingdom of God. He or she has abused his or her power, and he or shall has mistreated other people. More destruction than the wicked servant’s hands is his heart. Quite the opposite of the faithful and wise servant, the wicked servant will receive the worst punishment for such actions. In the same way, if there is anything worse than sin, it is unconfessed and unrepentant sin. What condemns humanity worse than sin is unconfessed and unrepentant sin. This is what brings down the wrath of God.

Clearly, the moral of the story is that a faithful and wise Christian anticipates the return of the Lord Jesus, their master. But what does it mean to anticipate the return of Jesus? Let’s look at the parable again. Notice that the servant does not sit at the door and wait to greet him warning. Note that the servant does not try to calculate or figure out when the master will return. If anything, what gets the wicked servant in trouble is that he figures he knows when the master will return, so he takes advantage of the time away from his master! The difference between the faithful and wise servant and the wicked servant is their attitude and behavior. Therefore, the Christian can conclude that anticipation for the return of Christ does not mean enthusiastic speculation, but rather, it means faithfully serving the kingdom of God.

No one warned me that receiving a Masters in Divinity will make everyone see me as the expert in all things Biblical, religious, spiritual and theological. I get a lot of questions and a lot of requests. Requests can begin with, “Read this book,” “listen to this podcast,” or “watch this video,” but all the requests end with “and tell me what you think.” Most of these questions deal with the subjects of spiritual disciplines or ecclesiology (how to do church), but every now I will get fielded questions about eschatology (Biblical prophecy on end times). When I get those end time requests, I tell that person, “Alright, I will read this book/listen to this podcast/watch this video, but I want you to do something for me. I want to you find the 16^th season of The Simpsons, either On Demand or DVD. I want to watch the episode called ‘Thank God It’s Doomsday’ in exchange.” Now I want to quickly add a disclaimer by saying I only say this to mature and strong Christians. I wouldn’t say this to weak or immature Christians because the episode might come off to them as offensive for making fun of Christians. In reality, it more so makes fun of Christians who study end times too intensely. Just like the foolish and wicked servant in the parable, Homer Simpson constructs some bogus math equation to predict the rapture. I want Christians to watch this just so they can understand how they look to non-Christians (and maybe Christians) too when they try to predict the end times.

More specifically, I want them to watch it for a line Homer says in the middle of the episode. As Homer Simpson prophecies the end times, wearing his sandwich boards, TV anchorman Kent Brockman interviews Homer. Kent asks Homer, “Homer, what turned you from sad drunk to mad monk.” Homer answers, “Here's my angle- there's no way in God's Heaven I should get into God's Heaven, but maybe He'll let me in, if I warn others the Apocalypse is coming, as I previously shouted.” I want Christians to hear this line because I want them to think about their intent and purpose of prophesying the end times. Matthew 24:36 aside, even if someone somehow could figure out the perfect timeline for the rapture, the tribulation and the millennial kingdom, what good would it bring? Like Homer Simpson, do they expect to have something special with God if they create that perfect timeline? In human terms, friendships don’t strengthen when one friend goes telling the other friend’s deepest secrets. They weaken! How much more for the divine! Someone might argue, “Well, wouldn’t it help evangelism?” I have always felt like using end times for evangelism is like someone selling fire insurance going through someone’s house, pointing out all the fire hazards, proclaiming a great fire is inevitable. In a generation that prefers to see Christianity as a relationship and not a religion, is the person scared by the eminent tribulation really in a relationship with Jesus, or are they submitting to a dictator in fear of facing punishment?

Matthew 24:45-51 exposes why the Father wants to keep the day and the hour unknown. If Christians evangelized the gospel with the exact dates and times of the rapture and tribulation, it would create a bunch of foolish and wicked servants. They would take advantage of the time the Lord was away. They would indulge in sin and abuse others. Then, just before the Lord returns, they would clean up their act, so everything looks perfect when the Lord returns. This leads to the other error that Christians commit when they focus too much on eschatology. They think about the future more than the present. Jesus concerns himself with both the present and the future, and Christians should follow in those footsteps. Once again, I point out to you that what gets the wicked servant in trouble is that he thinks he know when his master will return. The faithful and wise servant focuses on the tasks the master put in charge of him. The faithful and wise servant concerns himself more with what the master find himself doing when the master returns rather than the date and time when the master returns. Christians fail theologically, in both doctrine and application, when they focus too much on Christ’s return. Christians theologically succeed when they concentrate on doing Jesus taught them. If Christians want to live as faithful and wise servants, they think about what to do until Jesus returns more than thinking about when Jesus will actually return.

As mentioned earlier, this passage does also appear in the Gospel according to Luke. Luke ends the passage in a different way. In Luke 12:48b, Luke writes, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.” It’s a Bible verse many Christians know, but probably more people know the a very similar saying spoken by Ben Parker in the Spider Man movie: “With great power comes great responsibility.” As Christians, we have received so much responsibility from Jesus. We have so much to do, we can’t waste time trying to figure out at unknown date and time. Let us be found doing the will of Jesus, so we too can receive the title of faithful and wise servants.