Faithful servant
Matthew Chapters 24 – 25
We often joke that the penalty for doing your job well at work is to get more work, but it sounds like it works the same way in the economy of the kingdom of God. We like to think of God’s work as more of a blessing than a penalty, though.
We usually think of the parable in 25:1-30 as the parable of the talents. The NIV translates it as “bags of gold,” but in any case it’s a significant amount of money—more than you would expect a servant to be handling.
For whatever reason though, each of three servants is entrusted with a specific amount: five bags of gold, two bags or gold or one bag of gold.
The first two prove themselves faithful and both double their master’s money while he is gone. For that, they are given additional responsibilities and invited to share their master’s happiness.
The third, though, only got one bag of gold, but did nothing with it. He simply buried it until the master returned, not even getting the interest payment the bankers would have given for it.
Notice that he tries to blame the master for his failure, claiming the master is a “hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.”
This reminds me of a co-worker at a long-ago job who never did a lot of work, but did a lot of complaining about how unfair and unreasonable the boss was. Not surprisingly, that finally turned into complaining about how unfair and unreasonable it was when he got fired. Some people seem determined to find fault and to fail.
It’s not hard to see how that plays out in religious terms. We can choose to look at the many ways God has blessed us, or focus intently on those blessings we have wanted but not received. One leads us to work for the building of the kingdom. One does not.

Friday meditation

Proverbs 26:8-10
Like tying a stone in a sling is the giving of honor to a fool.
Like a thornbush in a drunkard’s hand is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
Like an archer who wounds at random is one who hires a fool or any passer-by.

Prayer focus
May I be found to be a good and faithful servant.

-Rev. Mark Fleming