Daily Reflection

Reflection for November 11, 2025

The Humility of the Unprofitable Servant

At first glance, this parable of Jesus can strike us as harsh, even jarring. It seems to paint a picture of a demanding master and a servant with no rights, a relationship devoid of gratitude. Where is the loving Father? Where is the God who invites us to His banquet?

This is precisely why this passage is so crucial. Jesus is delivering a radical and necessary corrective to a spiritual trap we all fall into: the trap of believing God owes us something for our good deeds.

1. Recalibrating Our Relationship with God

Jesus uses the familiar master-servant relationship of His time to make a fundamental point about our relationship with God. The servant does not direct the master. The servant does not negotiate his duties. The servant’s purpose is to fulfill the will of his master.

In the same way, we are not God’s equal partners or consultants. He is the Creator; we are His creatures. He is the Redeemer; we are the redeemed. Everything we have—our life, our talents, our faith, the very grace that enables us to do good—is a gift from Him. When we serve, when we pray, when we perform acts of charity, we are not doing God a "favor." We are simply using the gifts He Himself gave us, for the purposes for which they were intended.

2. The Danger of Spiritual Bookkeeping

This parable is a direct challenge to the Pharisee in each of us—the part that wants to keep a spiritual ledger. We can subtly begin to think: "I went to Mass, I prayed my Rosary, I volunteered at the soup kitchen. Surely, Lord, You are pleased and will bless me accordingly." This is a dangerous form of spiritual pride. It turns our relationship with God into a transaction, and it leads either to arrogance when we feel we've "succeeded" or to resentment when we feel we haven't been "paid."

Jesus shatters this mindset. "When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’" The term "unprofitable" (sometimes translated as "useless") does not mean we are worthless. It means we have not made a "profit" for God. We have not added anything to Him, who is infinite and all-sufficient. We have simply returned to Him what is already His.

3. The Foundation of True Freedom and Joy

Far from being a depressing teaching, this truth is the foundation of profound freedom and joy.

When we truly internalize that we are "unprofitable servants," we are liberated from the exhausting burden of earning God's love. We can stop keeping score. We can serve not for a reward, but out of love for the Master Himself. Our service becomes purer, more selfless, and more focused on Him rather than on ourselves.

This humility is the very soil in which God's grace grows most abundantly. It is the attitude of the saints, who, despite their heroic virtue, considered themselves the greatest of sinners, utterly dependent on God's mercy. It is the posture of Our Lady, who declared, "He has looked upon the humility of his servant" (Luke 1:48).

A Prayer for Humble Service

Lord Jesus, your words in this Gospel are a sobering and necessary medicine for my soul. Forgive me for the times I have kept a spiritual ledger, expecting rewards for the gifts you yourself have given me.

Help me to embrace the title of "unprofitable servant" not with shame, but with liberating humility. Strip me of all spiritual pride and let me serve you simply because you are my Master and I am yours.

May I do all that you command, not for my glory, but for yours. And when I have done my duty, may I simply rest in the truth that my true reward is not a payment, but the joy of knowing and loving you. Amen.