What Jesus Sees
Read Matthew 25:14-30.
The NIV calls this the "Parable of the Bags of Gold." (Remember that the section titles are not inspired nor are they in the original text.) That's an interesting choice. Is the parable about the gold...or is it about what the servants do with the gold? Is this parable about eight bags of gold or three servants? Or is it, ultimately, about one servant?
I'm captured this reading by the third servant. We know the first two did what the master expected them to do: they found ways to increase what they had been given. Both of the first two doubled what had originally been given to them. They used the resources they had and ultimately had more to give back to the master than he had at first given them.
It's the third servant, though, that I can't take my eyes off this morning. He is, apparently, not as trustworthy to begin with as the other two. The parable says that the master gave to each according to his ability (25:15), and while that doesn't come off sounding good in our "everyone gets the same trophy" society, that is the way it is. Regardless, the master gives this servant one bag of gold and expects him to provide some kind of return. You know the story though. The servant, afraid, hides the bag so that he won't lose it and when the master returns, he gives him back his bag of gold, untouched, not lost, safe.
The end of the story is tragic. Because the servant has not used whatever gifts he has, the master throws him out and takes his bag of gold from him. "You're done here," the master says, giving the bag of gold to the first servant. "You should have used what you had been given for some good, for my service."
Look at how the servant describes himself: afraid, hiding, and (though the word isn't there, it's implied) safe.
But look at how the master describes the servant: wicked, lazy and worthless.
Now, let's not be too quick to allegorize this parable, assigning each role to someone in "the real world." Obviously the "master" in some way represents God, but the master also has qualities we know God doesn't possess. Jesus didn't intend for us to do a one-to-one comparison between the story and the real world. What strikes me, though, is the difference in the perceptions between the master and the servant. While the servant thought he was doing what the master wanted (or at least what would protect him from the master's wrath), he couldn't have been more wrong.
Here's the point of the parable: use what you have been given in service to the master, or risk losing it all.
The third servant learned that painfully, eternally. The difference between how we see ourselves (giving only enough of what we have so that it doesn't hurt or doesn't feel like a sacrifice) and how Jesus sees us (would he use any of those same words to describe you or me?) can be vast. We hold back, we hide, we play it safe—and how much ministry doesn't get done because we are more like the third servant than we want to admit?
Let me personalize that: how much ministry doesn't get done because I am more like that third servant than I want to admit?
The NIV calls this the "Parable of the Bags of Gold." (Remember that the section titles are not inspired nor are they in the original text.) That's an interesting choice. Is the parable about the gold...or is it about what the servants do with the gold? Is this parable about eight bags of gold or three servants? Or is it, ultimately, about one servant?
I'm captured this reading by the third servant. We know the first two did what the master expected them to do: they found ways to increase what they had been given. Both of the first two doubled what had originally been given to them. They used the resources they had and ultimately had more to give back to the master than he had at first given them.
It's the third servant, though, that I can't take my eyes off this morning. He is, apparently, not as trustworthy to begin with as the other two. The parable says that the master gave to each according to his ability (25:15), and while that doesn't come off sounding good in our "everyone gets the same trophy" society, that is the way it is. Regardless, the master gives this servant one bag of gold and expects him to provide some kind of return. You know the story though. The servant, afraid, hides the bag so that he won't lose it and when the master returns, he gives him back his bag of gold, untouched, not lost, safe.
The end of the story is tragic. Because the servant has not used whatever gifts he has, the master throws him out and takes his bag of gold from him. "You're done here," the master says, giving the bag of gold to the first servant. "You should have used what you had been given for some good, for my service."
Look at how the servant describes himself: afraid, hiding, and (though the word isn't there, it's implied) safe.
But look at how the master describes the servant: wicked, lazy and worthless.
Now, let's not be too quick to allegorize this parable, assigning each role to someone in "the real world." Obviously the "master" in some way represents God, but the master also has qualities we know God doesn't possess. Jesus didn't intend for us to do a one-to-one comparison between the story and the real world. What strikes me, though, is the difference in the perceptions between the master and the servant. While the servant thought he was doing what the master wanted (or at least what would protect him from the master's wrath), he couldn't have been more wrong.
Here's the point of the parable: use what you have been given in service to the master, or risk losing it all.
The third servant learned that painfully, eternally. The difference between how we see ourselves (giving only enough of what we have so that it doesn't hurt or doesn't feel like a sacrifice) and how Jesus sees us (would he use any of those same words to describe you or me?) can be vast. We hold back, we hide, we play it safe—and how much ministry doesn't get done because we are more like the third servant than we want to admit?
Let me personalize that: how much ministry doesn't get done because I am more like that third servant than I want to admit?
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