Lazy, Good-For-Nothing...

The world is full of lazy people who do just enough not to get fired and to give off the appearance of being a diligent worker. You can be fairly certain that you work with one of these species of human being when you find yourself, day in and day out, not only doing your share of the work but also their share as well. We in the manufacturing industry call this "wiping their butt for them." It goes without much saying that this is patently unfair given that your paychecks still come out equal. While this is certainly not the most heinous of injustices perpetrated upon mankind, it is, nonetheless, annoying as crap if you are the one pulling the extra weight.

It puts the disciple in an interesting (read "awkward") position by forcing him to chose between "screwing the screwer" (also known as taking revenge) and working himself to exhaustion in an effort to make sure the essential tasks are accomplished, even when it means "wiping someone's butt." Every ounce of you wants to exact revenge on them, to leave them hanging out to dry in the hopes they'll get blown away, like a kite in a hurricane. But then your heart conjures up images of Jesus washing dirty feet eighteen hours before his death for something(s) he never did. And as much as you try to shoo those inconvenient images away in order to exact your revenge--they persist. And you relent. And you carry a heavier load that somehow seems lighter when weighed against the load of Jesus. You realize "this too shall pass," that it's only a 12-hour shift. You start to wonder if maybe you're stuck (read "put") in this factory to make someone's day easier, make their load lighter. You sigh because you realize that God is teaching you something about the way of the kingdom. and underneath the sweat and aches you find another emotion rising up--contentment.

shalom, matt