The True Son

A rich man had a servant, who had grown up in his household from childhood and performed his duties flawlessly all his life. One night the rich man’s son found the servant asleep, because the servant’s duties required him to be awake during the day. The son was enraged at finding the servant asleep, and the rich man had given his son the power of life and death over all the servants in his house, so the son killed the servant in his sleep. The rich man did not punish him, but demanded that the son’s name should be exalted alongside his own. This is not a parable that Jesus told. It is one that Jesus lived.