Faithful Servants: A Meditation on Matthew 25, for the 25th Sunday after Pentecost

For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country,

who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.

And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one;

to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same,

and made them other five talents.

And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.

But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.

 

After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.

And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying,

 Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents:

behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.

His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant:

thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things:

enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

He also that had received two talents came and said,

Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents:

behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.

His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant;

thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things:

 enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

Then he which had received the one talent came and said,

Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown,

and gathering where thou hast not strawed:

And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth:

lo, there thou hast that is thine.

His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant,

 thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:

Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers,

and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.

Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.

For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance:

but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness:

 there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 

In Matthew 25, Jesus continued to teach His disciples about the reckoning at the end of the world which He declared to them in chapter 24.  The first imagery He used was with the 10 Virgins, and the importance of faithful endurance in waiting for His return.  The second is this parable of the stewards, and the importance of working faithfully with the gifts He has given them in the course of their lives.  Each steward or servant of God is given life, and into that life is poured many blessings and abilities which can be used either to His glory or wasted elsewhere.  When the Lord returns to review accounts with His disciples, each person will return to God what they have been given and what they accomplished with those gifts.  To those who worked faithfully and multiplied the positive investment of God in their lives, they will be rewarded with greater gifts in the world to come.  But to those who squander their lives and their gifts from God in selfish and slothful unbelief, even their lives will be taken from them as they are cast into hell at the final judgment.

 

In terms of Jesus preaching the Law, this is a terrifying image of accountability that no one can escape.  The Lord of Glory gives each person life, and each person is accountable to God for how they use the life they are given.  But lest pride and narrow vision blunt the impact of Jesus’ admonition, we must not lose sight of how many minutes, hours, and days we have been given by God, and how many of those we may spend in sloth, selfishness, and unbelief.  Who can look on their own life, and honestly conclude that not a moment was wasted or poorly used?  Who can take an honest inventory of their powers of mind and body, and declare that every power given to them has been properly used according to God’s design and direction?  Who can measure every resource ever poured out into their lives, of money and material and care from others, and account for every penny, every tool, every property, every kindness they ever received as used righteously?  The Law of Sinai and the Law of Love dictate that we should be always and everywhere loving God above and beyond all things, and loving our neighbors as ourselves, in accordance with His Word and Spirit which enliven, guide, and sustain all creation.  And yet, there is no person who can rightly claim to have used every power and every resource they are given virtuously, in even one particular day, let alone a lifetime.

 

In truth, there is no way for any servant of God to claim for himself the mantle of good and faithful, nor be self-justified in the reward to enter into the joy of thy Lord.  What Jesus is describing at the final judgment is not a salvation by works to be accomplished by those who follow Him, but a salvation by grace received with a faith that cannot help but work actively in love.  St. Paul and St. James would later agree that faith as some kind of empty intellectual exercise or boastful acclamation is nothing before God, but that a living faith which cannot help but be at work in accomplishing the will of God is the saving faith which receives saving grace.  The first two stewards in the parable above are not saved because they doubled their Lord’s investment, but because they trusted in their Lord to live and strive in His service, surprised at what the Lord was able to accomplish through them.  Likewise, the last servant is not damned because he made a poor return on his Lord’s investment, but because he did not trust his Lord, and rather repudiated the One from whom he had received everything… including his own life and intellect, free to embrace the insanity of rejecting his own Creator.  The parable of the stewards is not about the relative worthiness of the stewards, but of the gratuitous grace of God.

 

As we near the end of the church year, Jesus’ words ring out to remind us that every person is a beneficiary of grace just by being alive.  To live and move and have our being in this world is not a reward for our worthiness, but an act of creative and sustaining love that gives to every person the dignity and opportunity to exist and work in the Creator’s universe.  That grace alone is marvelous, but added to that wonderful reality is the grace which calls all people to live in Him by faith and thus to abide with Him forever.  The grace of existence is magnified by the grace of salvation from sin, death, hell, and the devil—from the final judgment of our own unworthiness before the intractable Law of God—through the satisfaction made for us in the Cross of Jesus Christ.  In Jesus, our lost moments, days, and years are absolved, and we are given faith to believe and work and accomplish His will in the moments, days, and years yet ahead.  In Jesus, our squandered resources are forgiven, and we are given faith to use the resources of each new day to His glory and the care of His people.  In Jesus, our due condemnation as unfaithful and lazy servants is transformed into His good and faithful service, that by faith in Him we might enter in the joy of our Master, united to His life, death, and resurrection.  In Jesus, our tepid and empty faith is born from above into a faith that works in the power of the Holy Spirit, to accomplish all the good works He has ordained for His servants to do from the before the foundation of the world.

 

Hear the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ today, that His Spirit might breathe into you an honest repentance for all the squandered gifts you have been given by His unfathomable grace, and raise you up in the joy of His Gospel to live in love and service as He has made you to live.  Let go the vanities of this modern selfish age, and believe again in the God from whom all good gifts flow, and to whom all will one day give account.  Trust the only God who showed His inestimable love and compassion for you through the Cross of His Son, and be raised up in His resurrection that holds no fear of death nor judgment.  And by the power of His Holy Spirit, go forth into the darkness of this world in a living faith that casts down every artifice of evil, to reveal the Savior who seeks and saves the lost.  Soli Deo Gloria!  Amen.