Parable of the Master and Servant Parable of the Master and Servant The Parable of the Master and Servant is a parable told by Jesus in the New Testament, found only in Luke's Gospel (). The parable teaches that when somebody "has done what God expects, he or she is only doing his or her duty." The parable reads as follows: This parable suggests that "even the best of God's servants are still unworthy because they have only done their duty and no more." Nobody, "no matter how virtuous or hardworking, can ever put God in his or her debt." William Barclay relates the parable to
Old Testament messianic prophecies quoted in the New Testament as one individual, and more specifically to the Jewish people deported to Babylon. However, in aggadic midrash on the books of Samuel, a compendium of rabbinic folklore, historical anecdotes and moral exhortations, is messianically interpreted. One of the first claims in the New Testament that Isaiah 53 is a prophecy of Jesus comes from the Book of Acts chapter 8 verses 26-36, which describes a scene in which God commands Philip the Apostle to approach an Ethiopian eunuch who is sitting in a chariot, reading aloud to himself from the Book of Isaiah. The eunuch comments that he does not