when no one is looking

I seem to remember when I was at school we voted on which teachers we respected by our behaviour whilst they were out of the room. Sometimes a teacher would leave, often threatening dark retribution were we to misbehave…these same teachers would return to an earily quiet classroom and the threat of a practical joke or to a complete riot. Other teachers could be gone for a while and return to find us beavering away happily at our assigned task without any hint of rebellion. I do not even remember which subjects were which….but I do remember that feeling of a class full of girls getting on with what we were supposed to because we wanted to, or because we were enthusiastic about the subject.

This weeks readings from Luke have Jesus spending quite a long time on the subject of doing things right even when there is noone watching. He uses the example of servants getting on with what they are supposed to be doing even when their master is away.

We have probably all heard the phrase Sunday Christians…people who inhabit a role one day a week but do not let that enter into the rest of their lives. Somehow, outside the walls of the church they feel no need to live lives modelled in any way after Jesus.

Jesus pulls out this point…that a servant who is really true to their master will continue to serve whether or not they are likely to get called to account.

We are called to be every day Christians..those whose duty and joy is not just about how we are publicly but who we are all the time. And joy is a real key to this sort of living..that we will discover fulfilment and completeness in this sort of service.

Like a class full of children, fear only goes so far in motivation…we end up doing a minimum…but love and joy inspire our best efforts..they both call us to and form us in our awareness of constant service…but service for which we are made.