Reflections on November 13th: “Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant”

The challenge of Matthew 25 is that our future judgment seems to boil down to what we have done. This seems to counter so much of God’s Word and create a seeming contradiction in the Word. The Matthew 25 pattern, however, is actually quite consistent with the rest of Scripture. Ephesians 2:8-10 is a good example of this consistency. We are saved by grace through faith alone apart from works. This is true. It is also true that such a life will experience verse 10 as well: “For we are [God’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Luther put it this way: “Works infallibly follow justifying faith, since faith is not idle.” (Plass, What Luther Says, 493). Works simply prove that faith is living. We are absolutely saved through faith alone and this faith when lived out produces so many signs that it is living. The parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) demonstrate this principle. The servants (Christians) receive from the master (Jesus) their “talents.” We must understand that while talents were monetary units that here in the parable they symbolize “everything entrusted to us in such a way that it benefits God’s kingdom.” (The Lutheran Study Bible, see the summary note of 25:14-30, 1639). Everything we have is a gift from God and when we receive faith to know this and know this well, everything changes for us. Life is quite simply viewed differently; we use God’s lenses and gain God’s perspective. St. Paul wrote: “Now there is great gain in godliness and contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world (1st Timothy 6:6-7).” This attitude of faith makes us less concerned about self-serving goals because we no longer go along with the colossal false assumption of humanity that what we have (what we employ/use) belongs to us. It doesn’t. The wise servants knew this and their faith in Christ led them to treat what they had as belonging to God and it is meant to be of service to others, especially those in need. God gives to bless; we must use His resources to bless. This is what faith does with the things of the world. The “worthless” servant (Matthew 25:30) was so designated because He had no faith in Christ and his life testified to this sad state. He sat on God’s gifts and the text reveals why: He did not know the only wise God which the Gospel reveals: the gracious God, the generous God, the forgiving God, the compassionate God…the God we know in Christ, but He viewed God as “hard” (v 24). When God is viewed this way, we do not know Him as the gift-giver so that what we see in this world is for us, only us and we lose our way and our lives become worthless. But Christ came to redeem our worthless lives by giving all He had — even His royal blood — to save us from our self-serving sin. In Him, you are forgiven and in Him you see just how much you have been given. In Christ, you quite simply cannot just sit on His gifts. You invest them, you share them, you spread them, and what happens next is God’s work. Even through hardship, He keeps you supplied and at the end He will say to you who are clothed with Christ’s righteousness: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master (Matthew 25:21).” In Christ, Dr. Espinosa

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