NOTES for Luk 17:7-10
The parable of the unprofitable servant is a typical double-edged sword. On the one hand, who is this servant? The one who carries out everything that was commanded. A great deal has been commanded of us: to love God and our neighbor, and to love one another as Jesus loves us. Whoever fulfills all this to the end may consider himself an “unprofitable servant.” In other words, even the greatest saints can be called nothing more than this, to say nothing of an ordinary person in everyday life. On the other hand, even the slightest effort to keep the commandments seems to us worthy of special praise and gratitude from God. Every little thing deserves payment at the highest rate. It is very difficult to accept that fulfilling everything, as it turns out, is not considered something extraordinary.