Misjudging the Master: Where the One-Talent Servant Went Wrong

April 23, 2015 Blog, Christian Life, Doctrine/Theology Adelina Alexe 4 Comments
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Misjudging the Master: Where the One-Talent Servant Went Wrong
In the beginning of Jesus’ parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30), the master
sets a pattern of parallelism: he gives each servant some talents to invest while
he is away. At his return, the master should receive back his possessions with
interest. The story should then come to a happy end with the master praising his
faithful servants for a job well done.

Except things don’t turn out quite that way. One thing is out of order. One thing
disrupts the symmetry of the story.

Twice in the parable we read the word “but.” The first time is when we learn
what the third servant did with his talent: “But he who received the one talent
went away, and dug a hole in the ground” (v. 18).[1] The other time, the word
“but” introduces the master’s response: “But his master answered and said to
him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave…’” (v. 26).The first discordant note causes the
second dissonance. The wicked servant disrupts the harmony of the parable
because, instead of investing his talent like his companions, he buries it in the
ground. What went wrong?

Assassinating the Master’s Character

The conversation between the wicked servant and his master makes up almost
half of the story. Their intricate relational dynamic is key for understanding the
underlying issue. Let’s look at it more closely.

The way this slave addresses his master suggests a tense rapport between the
two. When his turn comes to give an account, he—unlike the other two servants
—makes no initial reference to the amount received.[2] Instead, he abrasively
calls his master “a hard man” and accuses him of “reaping where you did not sow
and gathering where you scattered no seed” (v. 24). He is not even satisfied with
one example; he repeats the accusation with two illustrations.[3]

The description of the master is actually the explanation for the man’s hardness.
He is hard because he reaps what he did not sow and gathers where he did not
scatter. The underlying issue is unfairness. Basically, the servant is saying:
“You’re tough and unfair, and I shouldn’t have to do the work for you.” Clearly, he
does not think it was fair of the master to entrust the servants with his
possessions. In his eyes, administering those goods was not supposed to be their
job. Where the other two servants saw an opportunity to be industrious, the lazy
one saw domination.

The servant invokes an element of fear to paint further evil stains on the master’s
portrait. The roughness of his unfair master, he says, generated fear, which made
him hide the talent in the ground (v. 25). This is a subtle attempt on the slave’s
part to change his master’s conduct. The implications of his accusations are that
(1) he should not be punished, because it really wasn’t his fault that he did not
earn anything, and (2) the master could use some bettering of character. Perhaps
he should repent for being harsh and unfair, change his ways, and become a good
master.

Like Lucifer, this servant calls into question his master’s character. He accuses
him of being harsh, unfair, and fearsome—an evil tyrant unworthy of service and
obedience.[4]

The servant’s choice to bury the talent was conscious and deliberate. His words
betray the fact that he never had the slightest intention to invest the talent
received. We know that the master was away for a long time. What did the
servant do all that time? Most likely he tended to his own interests, which clearly
were not the same as his master’s. His heart was not with that of his master. As
one writer puts it, “The servant, as a self-seeker, separated his own interest from
his lord’s, and therefore reckoned his lord to be a self-seeker also.”[5]

The servant projects his own character onto his master. He is wicked and lazy,
yet instead of seeing himself as he is, he charges his master with the very faults
that lie in him. The spirit of the wicked servant is the same rebellious spirit that
Satan displayed. Interestingly, too, just as one third of the angels in heaven
believed Lucifer’s accusation and followed him in disobedience, one third of
those under this master’s ownership manifestly disobeyed him.

Ironically, the servant demonstrates a false perception of the master even while
he claims to know him (v. 24). The roots of his selfishness have spread from the
core of his heart to the pupils of his eyes. His vision and entire being are
corrupted.

A Mutually Beneficial Relationship

The master now stands accused. How will he respond to the charge?

The servant’s attempted justification, couched in words of accusation toward his

master, works like a boomerang. The master makes no effort to defend himself;
instead he immediately throws the ball back into the servant’s ballpark: “You
knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. Then
you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have
received my money back with interest” (v. 26).

Ignorance of the master’s expectations might have been a better excuse, but that
is not the case here. The servant is all the more culpable precisely due to his
knowledge,[6] which should have guided him toward obedience, not
disobedience. The servant tries to take the attention off his inaction by pointing
the finger at the master. But his motives are unmasked by the very discrepancy
between what he knew he should do and what he did, which causes the master to
call out his true character: “wicked” and “lazy” (v. 26). As we saw, his laziness is
not just naïve and innocent idleness. His lack of action is the result of a rebellious
spirit that refuses to join his interest with that of his master’s.

After thoroughly rebuking the slothful servant, the master commands that the
unused talent be given to the slave who has ten. This detail is key because it
suggests that the master had returned the ten talents to the first servant, who
now receives one more. It also points to a principle of stewardship, which the
master hinted at earlier in his commendation of the good servants: “You were
faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things” (v. 21). The
talents earned are put back into the hands of the servants for further investment.
“The reward of the use of opportunities was a greater charge.”[7]

If this principle of rewarding good work with further and greater responsibilities
was practiced between the master and his servants before, it would explain why
the wicked servant knew that the master expected multiplied results. It also
shows that the master does not keep the profit for himself. His goal is not
personal appropriation of what has been earned through the work of his
servants. Rather, his heart is open to endow those under his ownership with gifts
and opportunities for making themselves useful in the service of others.

What about the philosophical speech? The master converts the command “Take
away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents” into a
general principle of stewardship: “For to everyone who has, more shall be given,
and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what
he does have shall be taken away” (v. 28).

The withdrawal of the talent is not a reactive, vengeful deed. It is an application

of a general principle that guides the relationship between the master and his
servants. This relationship is based on trust and loyalty. Those who prove
themselves trustworthy, those who invest their talents for further gain, will be
given more. Those who do not prove worthy of trust not only will not receive
more but will lose what they have been given.

An Unfair Punishment?

Finally, the wicked servant is thrown into outer darkness—a place of weeping
and gnashing of teeth. Matthew uses both expressions several times in his
Gospel[8] as metaphors to describe the final punishment of the wicked.[9] The
wicked servant loses his life as a result of his choice.

I must confess that on more than one occasion this parable stirred mixed feelings
in me about the master’s disposition. I rejoiced with the two servants affirmed
and commended, yet I pitied the one who suffered a drastic and irrevocable
punishment. The master seems at once generous yet merciless, and it all revolves
around the servants’ choice to invest or not invest the talents received. Why is
the servant in the parable punished so severely? How could investing his talent
be so crucial that his eternal life hangs on it? After all, isn’t salvation by grace?
We have sensed by now that the deeper theme of the story is not money but
loyalty, and loyalty to the master is demonstrated in obedience through faithful
stewardship. The talents are the medium through which the servants manifest
their loyalty and obedience to the master. Two of them prove loyal and obedient.
The third servant proves disloyal and disobedient. What makes the difference
between the two kinds of responses is the servants’ attitude toward the
relationship between them and their master.

You Are Not Your Own

In the very beginning of the story we read that the kingdom of heaven is “like a
man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his
possessions to them” (v. 1, emphasis mine). The possessions as well as the
servants belong to the master. Belonging to the master requires some form of
dependence. The servants possess nothing on their own. Yet in their poverty and
nothingness, they are entrusted with incredible opportunities for work, for
service, for development, through the means of the master.

To give an idea of just how much these servants were entrusted, the value of one
talent was equal to a laborer’s wage for half a lifetime![10] A day’s wage for a
common laborer was a denarius, and one talent equaled 6,000 denarii[11], or
6,000 workdays. Even the servant who received “just” one talent was entrusted
with an incredible amount of money. The servant who received two talents was
given the amount of money a laborer could earn in a lifetime, and the first
servant received beyond what was possible for him ever to earn. Amazingly, the
master calls these talents “a few things” (v. 21).

Clearly, though, belonging to this master and being stewards of his bountiful
goods were not privileges that all servants cherished. Two of the servants were
happy with their lot; the other was unhappy. As in the story of Lucifer’s fall, we
don’t have many details to help us understand the wicked servant. We don’t
know why he was unhappy with this deal, why he chose to cast stones on his
master’s character, or why he refused to obey his master. In the end there may
be no satisfactory explanation for why the lazy servant chose to manifest the
spirit of Satan, just as Satan’s spirit of rebellion toward a holy, perfect, and loving
God has no explanation.

What we do know is that the loyalty of the two faithful servants effected proper
stewardship of the talents entrusted. Because stewardship, you see, is not just an
abstract concept that hovers over us Sabbath after Sabbath, reminding us to pay
our tithe and offerings. Stewardship is a lifestyle. It is the lifestyle of one who
accepts God as a loving Maker and Savior. It is the lifestyle of one who accepts
God as owner by creation and redemption.

When we are in this place spiritually, we become naturally passionate about

what matters to Him. The Bible makes it clear that the main purpose and hope of
God is that all will be saved and none will perish (John 3:16). We, then, will
desire to join our interests to His. Being part of the plan of salvation will not be a
burden we don’t want to carry but one we never wish to lay down. The stakes
are too high. The value of our fellow men and women is too great. The cost to
secure salvation was too incredible.

Our perception of God will affect the way we live our lives at every level. If we
see Him as a good God, we will be intentional about caring for all He entrusted to
us: our body, our affections, our relationships, our material possessions, our
time, our money—everything. Alternatively, a careless attitude about our gifts
and neglect to use them in the service of others is likely the result of a rejection
of God as Creator of all things good, including ourselves and our fellow men and
women.

As the parable suggests, such a rejection could stem from a misunderstanding of

God’s character. As one writer succinctly puts it, a “grudge against Christ
underlies all unfaithfulness in the use of spiritual gifts.”[12] It’s logical: why
would I choose to invest my gifts in serving others and seeking their salvation if I
myself don’t understand the value of eternity and holiness and can’t grasp the
beauty and goodness of God?

Choose Your Reward

When we read the parable, we may be tempted to think that the punishment of
the wicked servant is the command of the master. While it is true that the master
orders the punishment to be carried out, in reality the sentence is something the
servant brings upon himself. Ellen White explains this clearly and eloquently:

Many who excuse themselves from Christian effort plead their inability for the
work. But did God make them so incapable? No, never. This inability has been
produced by their own inactivity and perpetuated by their deliberate choice.
Already, in their own characters, they are realizing the result of the sentence,
“Take the talent from him.” The continual misuse of their talents will effectually
quench for them the Holy Spirit, which is the only light. The sentence, “Cast ye
the unprofitable servant into outer darkness,” sets Heaven’s seal to the choice
which they themselves have made for eternity.[13]
The way we live our lives, which includes the stewardship of our gifts, will
determine the trajectory we take—toward heaven or hell. Reward or
punishment will not be a capricious divine decision based on a few instances
when we used or did not use our talents. It will be the final and natural outcome
of our everyday choices.

Starting Eternity Now

“The man traveling into a far country,” writes Ellen White, “represents Christ,
who, when speaking this parable, was soon to depart from this earth to heaven.
The bondservants represent the followers of Christ.”[14] That’s you and me. This
parable is for you and me. It is about you and me. Like the three servants, we too
have received gifts from God. And like the servants, we too are now living in the
absence of the Master.
When He left to be reunited with His Father, Jesus told us what to expect before
the end of time: signs to look for, prophecies to unlock, teachings to carry to the
ends of the earth. Most importantly, He told us to be ready. And He showed us
what it means to be ready.[15] It means seeing every moment of the future,
beginning with the very next beat of your heart, as an opportunity to use your
gifts in the service of others. Not only because in this sinful world we need each
other, but because a heart of service is the heart of God.

We are not called to employ our gifts in the service of others just until Jesus
returns. We are called to serve others with our talents because this is how we
were meant to live always. This is how the redeemed will spend eternity.

Practicing good stewardship is not about earning eternal life. It is about

understanding what eternal life is going to be like and choosing to live its joy and
rewards now. It is the result of understanding who God truly is, longing to be like
Him, and being transformed more and more into His likeness until He returns
with the most beautiful reward on His lips: “Well done, good and faithful servant”
(v. 21).

______

Notes:

[1] Scripture quotations are from the NASB.

[2] Donald A. Hagner, Matthew, Word Bible Commentary (Dallas, Texas: Word
Books, 1995), 735.

[3] John Peter Lange, A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (New York, NY:
Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1915), 444.

[4] Thanks to my sister for pointing this out to me.

[5] Lange, 444.

[6] Hagner, 736.

[7] Philip A. Micklem, Saint Matthew (London: Methuen & Co., 1917), 240.

[8] “Outer darkness” is also used in 8:12; 22:13; “weeping and gnashing of teeth”
is employed in 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51. See Hagner, 736.

[9] Hagner, 736.

[10] Leander E. Keck, gen. ed. The Gospel of Matthew, The New Interpreter’s
Bible Commentary, vol. 8 (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995), 453.

[11] Hagner, 734.

[12] Lange, 441.

[13] Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, 365.

[14] Ibid., 325.

[15] Ibid.

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Tags: Character of God, Service, Stewardship, Talents
About the author

Adelina Alexe
Adelina Alexe is a Ph.D. student in systematic theology at the Seventh-day
Adventist Theological Seminary. She passionately seeks to nurture her
relationship with God and appreciates deep friendships and meaningful
conversation. Adelina enjoys nature, healthy cooking, and painting, and has a
special research interest in narrative theology and hermeneutics.