Why Don't You Get a Job Bouncin at the Strip Club?

At our free store conversation on Tuesday morning we talked about Jesus' parable in Luke 12:35-38, "A Man Going To a Party."  In this story the master goes to a wedding party and leaves the servants to look after things.  He returns to find the lights on, the servants awake, and the door opened for him.  The master is so pleased that he surprises everyone by reversing roles and serving up a feast for his reclining servants.

We started the discussion by talking about how in this story the servants simply did their job and fulfilled their role.  Rick made us laugh when he said, "What if you don't know what your job description is?"  This led us to talk a bit about how our purpose in life is far greater than any paying job we might have.  We also talked about how difficult it can be to discover the meaning of your personal existence.  The question was asked, "What are some of the things that get in the way of knowing and fulfilling our unique role in the world?"  David said "the flesh" and "people."  He told us about sleeping in a homeless shelter thinking to himself, "Ain't you tired of wonderin where your next meal is gonna come from?  Why don't you get a job bouncin at the strip club?"  David said that he didn't do it because he didn't want God to take his blessing away.  He said it made him think of the William McDowell song, "I Won't Go Back."

As the conversation progressed we talked about how people can also distract us from focusing on what is important for us.  Our new friend said, "people might want to take your focus off doing what you should."  Someone said, "We can get sidetracked by good things.  The good can be the enemy of the great."  At this someone said, "In Jesus' story the servants did what they were meant to do even though the master was gone, even though the external authority was absent."  We talked about how kids will often get in trouble when the parents leave the house.  Someone said, "When my mom left me alone I was scared.  She would put something out just to catch me" which made us laugh even though we didn't know exactly what that meant.  Marney said, "Some people think they can be clubbin on Saturday night and goin to church Sunday mornin."  Another new friend said, "People think they can do wrong and then repent for it later."  Sheila said, "You gotta learn the hard way.  You gotta make some mistakes."

As the conversation moved to its conclusion the question was asked, "Is there something to learn from the reversal in the story, from the master serving the servants?"  We talked a bit about how Jesus' stories often turned things upside down which makes us think about things in a new way.  Our new friend said, "It's something similar to the first shall be last and the last shall be first.  Let's put it back in slavery days when the slaves ended up getting the land from the slave owners.  It was a blessing."  Someone said, "Man makes slaves.  God created us all to be free and to have power and use it responsibly to look after others and to care for the earth."  At this Rick said, "We're not doing such a good job of that" which made us laugh.  Donald loudly jumped in at this point and said while grinning broadly, "Matt took a picture of me this morning" which made us smile as well.