NOVEMBER 30, 2023
“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.” (Matthew 25:21)
The parables were teaching tools often used by Jesus to break down challenging Spiritual concepts into easily accessible terms. These were often applicable to things that the audience at the time dealt with and are still highly relevant today. Jesus uses two parables in this chapter to illustrate a state of constant readiness for His return after He has gone. His followers should be working for Him while they wait. They must not be like the foolish young women who missed a wedding feast because they forgot oil for their lamps. They must be like the servants who doubled their master’s investments while He was away. Jesus concludes with a third descriptive passage, showing how He will judge between the righteous and evil when He returns as King.
Matthew 25:14-30 compares the kingdom of heaven to three servants of a wealthy master. Each was given resources – the master’s assets – and commanded to do business with them while he was away. Two servants apply the supplied funds and double the sums the master leaves with them. They are richly rewarded when he comes back. The third servant buries the money and does nothing with it out of supposed fear of the master. The master condemns his laziness and evil, casting him out. Jesus’ servants must work diligently for Him while waiting for His return, not wasting the talents and resources they have been given.
The parable is meant to instruct Jesus’ servants on how to live while awaiting His return. The master in the story left town after giving these three servants large sums of tradable “cash.” These are counted using the measure of “talents.” A single talent might have been as much as a common laborer could earn in twenty years. Now, the master has returned, after a long time, to see what they had done with the money that He had entrusted to them.
The first servant makes his report, having used his master’s five talents to earn another five talents. The master trusted the servant with great wealth and the servant earned the equivalent wealth for his master.
Now, the master responds. He calls the man a good and faithful servant and tells him, “Well done,” rewarding him in two ways. First, he tells the servant that because he has been faithful over little, he will make him responsible for much more. Second, he welcomes the servant to share in his own personal joy. In other words, the master includes the servant in a closer connection to himself, managing more of his own estate and walking in a joyful relationship with him.
Jesus shows that those who use what He gives them to increase what is His will also be rewarded with more significant opportunities and joy when He returns. We need to use the things we’re given in order to further the kingdom of God, and therefore, we will have the right to enter into the joy of the Lord.
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