This parable reveals an ancient way of doing business. In old times wealthy people had servants. They would entrust sums of money to them for investment for a period of time, at the end of the time period an accounting would be made. The wealthy man could legally punish a servant who had been derelict in their financial responsibilities.
In this story the master has three servants who have different abilities. Pursuant to their abilities he entrusts them with varying amounts of money; $100,000, $40,000 and $20,000. The master then leaves for a period of time, when he comes back an accounting is made, the first two guys double their money; $200,000 and $80,000. The guy with the least amount of ability, who was only entrusted with $20,000, said this, “… I was afraid and hid the $20,000 and buried it, here… you have it back”.
The master was greatly displeased with him and said (in part), “… cast out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth”. He didn’t want just the original investment back… he expected more.
There are several lessons in this parable; the first is that every citizen in God’s kingdom has ability. Some have great ability and some have minimal ability. God actively assesses our abilities and gives us work to do based on our abilities and he doesn’t expect more of us than what we can do, but he does expect us to do what we can do.
Another lesson is our motivation to work for God. The “unprofitable servant” was “afraid” of his master and didn’t want to lose the $20 thousand. His fear paralyzed him so that he couldn’t even use his minimal ability. He could have put the money in the bank and gained interest for his master. A minimal profit.
The children of God should not be afraid of God… He loves us after all. He wants us to succeed. Instead of fear we should work for God with the motivation of Love. If we will just trust in him and use our abilities God will reward us.
What is the work God wants us to be involved in? The rest of the chapter identifies that for us. It portrays a great scene of judgment where the sheep (the blessed) will be separated from the goats (the cursed). The sole basis for judgment is how we treat others; the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless stranger, those who lack clothing, the sick and the prisoners.
The work of God is seeing after the needs of others. God wants more than his original investment from us.
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