Today's gospel is hard for us, because most of us didn't grow up in a world of servants. The idea of the servant being told to wait on the master and then they can eat just does not sit well with us.
But remember. This is the Bible; and the master is always God. The story in the gospel is not about how we should order our society. It's about how we should order our priorities. God always has to come first; whether it's doing the work of God or simply doing the will of God in my ordinary work. Serving the master must be my first concern. Then in second place, in the time that is left can come my own amusement.
Sometimes we can get our priorities turned around and honestly believe that taking care of ourself is job. We do it with partially true statements like,"You can't take care of others unless you take care of yourself."
I would suggest we throw away both "taking care of yourself" and "caring for others." There is a much simpler rule. Serve the Master. God loves me, and so if I am constantly serving the Master, doing God's will, that will include proper care for self and others. It will even include rest and fun, because know how he built us. He knows all our needs. He knows them better than we know them.
Lastly, we should not forget that because God is the Master, and not just our buddy. He deserves worship.
