“Good And Faithful Servant”

Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness! Matthew 25:21

In chapter 25 of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells a parable about what life will be like when He returns to earth. This is commonly referred to as the Second Coming.

In the parable, Jesus says that His return will be like the return of a man who went on a journey and entrusted his property to three of his servants. One servant received 5 talents, another received 2 talents, and another 1 talent. Each received talents according to their abilities.

A talent was a unit of measure back then, so we can think of it as a bag of something. It could have been a bag of gold or a bag of silver or a bag of pennies, because pennies still existed back then. Today we can think of talents as the spiritual gifts, or time, or wealth that Jesus entrusts to us until His return.

The first servant immediately put his talents to work and gained 5 more. The second servant also put his talents to work and gained 2 more. The third servant dug a hole and buried his master’s talent.

Then the master returned home and called his servants together to settle accounts with them. The master said to the first two servants:

Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!

However, the master was not pleased with the third servant who buried the talent his master had given him to use. The master said to this servant:

You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned, I would have received it back with interest.

So, take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 25:26-30

Jesus has been away for about 2000 years. But He is coming back. Jesus promised to come back. And when He returns, we would all like Him to say to us:

Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!

In Christ,

Pastor David