There is one other point about the unfaithful servant we should review before continuing with the parable.
Considering that Christ is teaching the parable and that the parable is about the kingdom of heaven, the unfaithful servant’s portrayal of Christ is particularly troubling. In Matthew 25:24-25, we read:
“And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’”
The unfaithful servant embodies an attitude toward God in general that many no doubt hold. The attitude is that God is unjust or harsh, will not be loving, and expects too much. This topic could easily sidetrack us off into the weeds, so we will focus just on the unfaithful servant.
1. There is a mutual trust required. While the master trusted the servants with his possessions, the servants were to trust the master in return. The unfaithful servant did not trust the master, while overlooking that the master trusted the servant enough to place one talent into his care.
2. The master would have dealt righteously with the servant had there been obedience. Had the servant acted prudently, the master would have shown love and genuine care in response.
3. The harsh judgment in response to the servant’s inaction does not validate or justify the servant’s objection. Rather, the servant omitted action and then gave the master less than what was required. Thus, the master’s response in judgment was based on the servant’s behavior.
I believe a large portion of humanity views Christ through a similar lens. Christ will require far too much, following Christ will be too painful, or cutting away part of self to follow Christ will be unbearable. I often think of Linus from the Charlie Brown cartoons here. Lucy wants to wash his blanket, but Linus refuses to let go. Lucy attempts to convince Linus that a clean blanket will be for the better, but Linus continues to refuse.
The blanket may be filthy, but the blanket is comfortable. Parting with it for just one hour will be too painful, and the price is too high to have a clean blanket.
My sin may be destructive, but there is a certain sense of comfortableness and control that I do not want to disturb in letting go of the sin. I may be holding onto bitterness or emotional hurts, but exposing them to Christ’s healing touch will be too painful. Therefore, I continue to suppress the bitterness and hurt.
These are the paths to spiritual blindness. When we refuse to trust Christ, we do so to our own detriment. Contrary to our perception of Christ, His touch brings love and healing and is not harsh.
I was an angry and bitter teenager, and the bitterness continued to plague me into my 30s. The Lord began chipping away at the deep-seated bitterness, and ultimately, I surrendered myself to the Lord. In that surrender, I had to acknowledge that there were many unknowns. How would I have my deepest desires fulfilled? How can I feel accepted? How will I deal with disappointment? What happens if my deepest needs and hopes are unmet?
These are all questions I had to face in surrendering to the Lord. My decision was to trust in His goodness, mercy, and righteousness. In Revelation 21:23, we read, “And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.”
It is clear that in heaven we will depend upon Christ for everything. In doing so, we must trust in His goodness, love, mercy, power, and righteousness. 1 John 3:16 says, “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
We can trust Christ and depend upon Him because of His love, and His love was displayed upon the cross. We need not wonder whether He truly loves us for such love was displayed upon the cross. When Christ died for us on the cross, He demonstrated that His whole being entirely has our best interest at heart.
Thus, to portray Christ as a harsh master and One who will mishandle our longings, hurts, and fears is completely misguided. That is not to say that His healing touch carries no pain. The doctor inflicted pain when threading stitches into my wounded thumb; that pain, however, was necessary for healing to occur. Without healing pain, the pain from an infected thumb would have been greater.
We must look past the healing touch and trust that the Master’s finished work in our hearts will be beautiful, complete, and wonderful.
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