Yesterday we looked at fear, how it paralyzes us and causes us to stumble and fall. But what was it that actually made the “wicked and lazy” servant so afraid? And what should we learn from it?
Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, “Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.”
But the master replied, “You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.”
Matthew 25:24-27Matthew 25:24-27
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
24 The servant who had been given one thousand coins then came in and said, “Sir, I know that you are hard to get along with. You harvest what you don't plant and gather crops where you haven't scattered seed. 25 I was frightened and went out and hid your money in the ground. Here is every single coin!” 26 The master of the servant told him, “You are lazy and good-for-nothing! You know that I harvest what I don't plant and gather crops where I haven't scattered seed. 27 You could have at least put my money in the bank, so that I could have earned interest on it.”
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I knew you were a harsh man. Can you imagine going up to your boss and saying something like that? You boss puts you in charge of a big project, a budget to accomplish it, and leaves town with the expectation you will complete your job. He gets back, sees nothing done. And you respond, “I knew you were a harsh man. So I didn’t want to risk failure. But don’t worry, I haven’t wasted any of the money, it’s all right here.”
We’re not told that he was right or wrong about his opinion of the master. Maybe he had good reason to think the master was hard or had high expectations. From the servant’s vantage, it certainly seemed that the master gained advantage in situations that weren’t of his own making. Maybe he had just heard that the master had high expectations. Perhaps one of the other two servants, knowing the master well, had warned him saying, “Don’t mess this up. This is your chance to shine!” Or maybe it was all just in his head.
We don’t know. But we do know that his response was a mistake.
Stepping back for a moment: This whole thought process is important. Some have read this parable and taken the servant’s statement as definitive. And reasoning that the master stands in for God in the parable, they have reasoned that God is harsh, just like the master. We need to recognize that that is not what this parable teaches. And this kind of attitude towards God is dangerous, as we can see in the response of the servant.
The master points out his servant’s poor reasoning: “You mean to tell me that you had this idea I was harsh, and yet you did nothing? Did you fully think this through? Are you really expecting me to pat you on the back and say well done?” The master doesn’t tell the servant his view of the matter was wrong or right. That’s not the point. The master points back to task at hand: “You were supposed to produce. And you didn’t.”
God does care that we are productive. He has entrusted great riches with us: the message of salvation, his body the Church, our possessions. God has given all these as tools. He wants them used to advance the Kingdom of God. People are right to say that God doesn’t need us to accomplish his purposes. But he has decided to use us. It is his great pleasure and will to involve us in his plan for rescuing the world.
That God would use is is humbling, but encouraging. Each new day is a chance to praise God by our faithfulness and persistence. We don’t have to dread the failure and sin that has haunted us to this moment. Today, step out in faith, letting your choice to follow God transform you into the image of Jesus.
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