📊 Matthew 25:21 | The Servant Who Buried It

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Today we put you to the test on what we’ve already covered this week! So if you missed yesterday’s email, you can read it here.

In today’s email…

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His master said to him, "Well ____, ____ and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a ______; I will set you over ____. Enter into the ___ of your ______."

Matthew 25:21

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In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, the master leaves and divides his wealth among three servants: five talents to one, two to another, one to the last — “each according to his ability.”

Then he leaves.

The first two get to work. They put the money in motion and double it. The third, however, digs a hole and hides his master’s talent where nothing bad can happen to it.

And, well…nothing does happen with it.

When the master returns, he settles accounts.

To the first two servants (who doubled what they were given) he says the very same thing, word for word: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Notice that they had different amounts and different returns, but the praise is identical.

The master is not grading the size of the pile. What he’s looking for is faithfulness.

Then the third servant steps up with his explanation:

His perception of the master’s character was wrong. He assumed the worst, and his fear drove him to bury what he should have used.

The master’s answer is blunt, calling the servant a “wicked and slothful servant!”

Slothful is a strong word, and it means more than what most of us think it does. Yes, it encompasses laziness and idleness. But the slothfulness of the third servant was an unwillingness to carry out the master’s entrusted responsibility.

That, Jesus says, is wickedness.

📖 Read Matthew 25:14-30.

A few months back I (Payton) put money into a personal project I was pretty sure would go nowhere. And it mostly didn't. But I keep coming back to what I wrote in my journal that night: "Money dropped, but maybe not lost. I paid for the lesson, and now I know the terrain."

That is the difference between the first two servants and the third. The third one wanted a no-risk option. But if everything were a guarantee, there would be no risk. And if there were no risk, you would never need faith.

He wanted his master's money somewhere nothing could happen to it, so he put it where nothing could happen with it either.

The faithful servants were willing to risk what they were given. They put what they had in motion. And even the servant who could have lost it all heard, "Well done."

🤔 Reflect: Are you putting what God has entrusted you with to work?

🙏 Pray

Father, I see myself in the servant with the shovel. Show me where I have an incorrect view of your character and use it as an excuse to hide. Trade my fear for trust, and help me put into motion what you have placed in my hands. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Click one of the options below to choose your answer. Let’s see how you do…

His master said to him, "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