The Third Servant

Reading: Matthew 25:14–30

Introduction to the Sermon

This morning I am going to do something a little different. There is much written about the parable we just heard, so I am going to retell the parable three times from the perspective of the same character: the third servant, the one described as the worthless slave. He is the one thrown out into the outer darkness. In each retelling I will be shifting the experience of the character based on three different interpretations.

In the first understanding the interpretation is about how we should use our gifts and abilities. This may be the most comfortable interpretation for we who live in a Western capitalist society. It is the interpretation that I have heard most often, but it is also the one that I have the greatest issues with.

In the second telling I will shift the perspective to approach the parable from the idea that the talents are more about the gift of faith and how we are called to share it.[1] The servant in this telling is seeking to be protective of the gift of faith he has been given.

Finally, I will move to an interpretation for which I have the greatest sympathy. In this version the third servant is presented as having a prophetic voice. In this interpretation Jesus is being critical not of the third servant but of the behaviour of the wealthy master.[2]

As you listen, notice which servant you find yourself wanting to defend, and which one you want to argue with.

Retelling 1 – Fear

(Pick up the trowel, remove the money bag. Crouch low, hunched.)

Part 1 – Burying the talent

So here I am with one talent. You may not think that one is much, but it is probably more than a labourer could earn in five years of work. It is more money than I have ever seen. At least 6,000 denarii!

So, I have decided to bury it. Why? You may ask. Well, it is what the Rabbis have taught us. I know that the law teaches burying entrusted money is the proper way to keep it safe. Anyone knows that as a servant I cannot be found liable if it is lost, if I have buried it.[3]

I do know what the other servants are doing. But each of us was given an amount according to our ability. Clearly the master does not trust me, and I am afraid of losing what I have. No, more than that. I am terrified. What will happen if I try to make a profit but lose it?

Being a slave, I know that what has been given to me is not mine, and I simply do not have the capacity of those others to make it into more. I cannot compete with their gifts, their abilities, their talents. They are so much better than me. I fear getting it wrong.

So, buried it is safe. Buried I am safe.

I’m not being lazy, you know. I’m just afraid of getting it wrong. I’m doing my best.

(Stand up, place the trowel down.)

See, now the master is returning. Surely, I do not need to be afraid. Surely, I have done the best thing, the safest option.

(Move to the other side of the plinth.)

Part 2 – After the confrontation

I am to be thrown out into the outer darkness. I was right to fear him. For I knew that he was a harsh man, reaping where he does not sow and gathering where he does not scatter. I was afraid.

Let’s face it, the other two had more than I did to start with, and they were more capable than I am. They have been rewarded. Did you hear what the master said to them? ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.’ They were always better than me. I was never enough. I knew it, and now he knows it too.

And then he told me, “You ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return, I would have received what was my own with interest.” Even the bankers would have been better than my hole in the ground. Whatever I did, it would have been wrong.

It is terrifying to hear him say, “To those who have, more will be given!” How could I compete? How could I compare? What a dreadful predicament, that I would need to prove myself to my master. To prove my worth to him or be cast aside as unworthy. Is that what God is like too?

(Move to centre, pick up the trowel and take the Bible from the suitcase.)

Retelling 2 – Cautious with a sacred gift

(Bible tied closed with string. Hold it close, cradled.)

Part 1 – Burying the talent

So here I am with one talent. You may not think that one is much, but it is probably more than a labourer could earn in five years of work. It is more money than I have ever seen. At least 6,000 denarii! It represents the faith that the master has entrusted me with. It is the faith that I carry.

So, I have decided to bury it. Why? You may ask. Well, it is what the Rabbis have taught us. I know that the law teaches burying entrusted money is the proper way to keep it safe. Anyone knows that as a servant I cannot be found liable if it is lost, if I have buried it. I will protect this gift that has been given to me.

I have heard what the other servants are doing. They are risking so much. But each of us was given an amount according to our ability. They are growing the kingdom’s wealth by sharing it with others. But clearly the master does not trust me with much. Even though the gift feels generous, it is beyond me. What has been given was given to me. It is mine. It is precious to me. I will keep it protected for myself. I will keep it hidden and I will keep it safe.[4]

Buried, it is protected. Buried, it will be preserved. And buried, I can return it to the master in the faith in which I received it.

(Stand up.)

See, now the master is returning. Surely I have done the best thing, the safest option. I have held on to my faith, and I have protected and preserved the traditions.

(Move to the other side of the plinth.)

Part 2 – After the confrontation

I am to be thrown out into the outer darkness. How can this be so? I did say that I knew he was a harsh man, reaping where he does not sow and gathering where he does not scatter. But I am confused by his teaching. A gift was given in faith, and I returned the gift intact.

The other two have been rewarded. Did you hear what the master said to them? ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.’

Their gift, given in faith, was doubled and shared, not protected. But they had a greater amount given to them from the start, and they were trusted with so much more. Is this what slaves are meant to do? Are we to take what ability and power we have been given and use them to increase the influence of the master’s kingdom and wealth on earth?

Rather than follow the teaching of the Rabbis, the master told me I should have broken our laws: “You ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest.” How was I to understand that I could give my gift of faith away to others to earn interest? How can this even work?

I don’t understand what he means when he says, “To those who have, more will be given!” If only I had understood better what was expected. If only I had known. But even then, how could I compete? How could I compare? What a confusing predicament, that I would need to prove myself to my master. I did not know that I had to earn my place by risking what I was given to protect.

And yet… I keep thinking of all the people who never came near it while it was buried. Was the faith given to me so I could keep it… or so I could give it away?

(Move to centre, pick up the trowel and take the whistle from the suitcase.)

Retelling 3 – Conversion from exploited to prophetic

(Whistle. Stand upright.)

Part 1 – Burying the talent

So here I am with one talent. You may not think that one is much, but it is probably more than a labourer could earn in five years of work. It is more money than I have ever seen. At least 6,000 denarii! And I was given the least. Altogether the master handed out eight talents – more than a labourer could earn in many lifetimes – and still he wants more. His wealth is beyond what a person could spend in a lifetime. He may as well be a billionaire!

So, I have decided to bury it. Why? You may ask. Well, it is what the Rabbis have taught us. I know that the law teaches burying entrusted money is the proper way to keep it safe. But more than that, I can no longer play the game he wants me to play. If I turn my hand to making more money from this talent, it is not me who benefits. He will get richer and I will not.[5]

I have heard what the other servants are doing. They too were given an amount according to their ability. They are growing the master’s wealth through their dealings. I know, because for years I did exactly what they are doing. I was good at it. I told myself it was just how things are.[6]

But no more. Regardless of how much the master trusted me with, the thought of giving him even more makes me feel ill. How will the other slaves in the master’s house view what I am doing? How will other poor people benefit? He is not doing the work. In the end, it is only on the backs of the workers and slaves that the master’s wealth is growing. I will not play this game anymore. I will not be part of these systems of exploitation. This is my conversion; this is the way I must follow.

Buried, I am not losing it but keeping it for him. Buried, I am not continuing to play the game, but I am still keeping the law.

(Stand up.)

See, now the master is returning. See, I will step out bravely. I will use my prophetic words and challenge his behaviour.

(Move to the other side of the plinth.)

Part 2 – After the confrontation

I am to be thrown out into the outer darkness. Was not Jeremiah thrown into the pit for speaking the truth? [7] I declared the truth as I saw it: that he was a harsh man, reaping where he does not sow and gathering where he does not scatter. I blew the whistle, and I called him out.

The other two have been rewarded. Did you hear what the master said to them? ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.’ They believe they are free. I believed it too. But even if they are given more, it is not their wealth; it is his. This is a system in which we slave away so a tiny number of people can benefit and grow wealthy without doing any of the work. Yes, they were clever. Yes, they made more money, but it is not theirs, and they are still his servants. They are still his slaves.

As for me, I have repented of these old ways. I have turned from these ways that manipulate those who don’t have anything so that those who have much can have more. I have stood my ground.

In my master’s greed, he told me I should have broken our laws: “You ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return, I would have received what was my own with interest”. The law clearly forbids us to take interest from our own people.[8] This desperation for more makes me feel ill. When do the wealthy come to understand that they already have more than enough?

It seemed such a cliché when he said, “To those who have, more will be given!” Of course, that is how the system works. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Can we even see it? Do we even understand?

As I look at my destination, I wonder who I will find. If the darkness out there is anything like the streets of this world, I will find the hungry and the thirsty. I will see people who appear to be strangers, people who are naked and in need of clothing. Maybe I will see prisoners and the sick.[9]

Whoever I see, I have followed the way of one who taught me to love my neighbour.

(Move to centre, lay the whistle down, pause.)

Conclusion to the Sermon

How Jesus told this parable, and what his aim was, may be lost in the sands of time. Matthew retells the story for his community, as does Luke.

Many scholars hear in Luke’s nobleman, who travels to a distant country to receive royal power, an echo of Archelaus, a wealthy royal and a son of Herod the Great.[10] It may be that Luke’s version of this parable is a clearer critique of the exploitation of the poor by the wealthy. But Archelaus is not absent from Matthew either: it was because Archelaus ruled in Judea that Joseph took his family to Nazareth.[11]

Matthew’s retelling is contested in its meaning, and I have presented three potential understandings. Each has something to say. The first servant is honest about fear. The second rightly treasures faith. But how you or I hear a story is shaped by our culture and our biases. Every reading of this parable is an interpretation, including mine. We bring our place in the world, our fears and our hopes to the text, and the text reads us back. That isn’t a reason to stop reading; it’s a reason to read humbly, and to keep listening.

I have already indicated my preference for the third version. This is because the first retelling can move towards a prosperity or punishment view of God, and the second towards a concept of salvation by our works. The third seems to me more consistent with Matthew’s Jesus, who declares in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the poor in spirit … blessed are those who mourn … blessed are the meek … blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,”[12] and who, in the very next passage, says that whenever we fed the hungry, welcomed the stranger or visited the prisoner, we did it to him.[13]

I suspect God is larger than any of these three tellings. What we can do is test them against the Christ we know. Christ who blessed the poor, who identified himself with the hungry and the prisoner, and who was himself cast out.

Before you choose, notice what all three tellings share: the gift came first, before anyone had earned anything. Notice also which servant you most wanted to defend, and which one you most wanted to argue with.

The good news of Jesus is not always a comfortable platitude, but a reminder of grace and a challenge to the ways of the world.

(Silence. The three objects remain on the plinth; the suitcase is left open.)

Notes

1.    On the talents as faith, the kingdom or the life of God within us, rather than natural abilities: William Loader, “First Thoughts on Matthew 25:14–30”; Ian Paul, “Is God a ruthless exploiter of our talents in Matthew 25?”; Joachim Jeremias, The Parables of Jesus, pp. 58–63.

2.    On the master as an exploitative elite and the third servant as a whistleblower, see: William R. Herzog II, Parables as Subversive Speech, Rohrbaugh, Richard L. “A Peasant Reading of the Parable of the Talents/Pounds: A Text of Terror? ”Biblical Theology Bulletin 23 (1993): 32–9; Justin S. Ukpong, “The Parable of the Talents (Matt 25:14–30): Commendation or Critique of Exploitation?” p. 191.

3.    Babylonian Talmud, Bava Metzia 42a: Shmuel rules that money can only be properly guarded by burying it in the earth, and a bailee who does so is not liable for its loss. Compare the law of entrusted goods in Exodus 22:7–13. Note that the Talmud was compiled well after the time of Jesus, though it is generally taken to reflect older practice.

4.    On the third servant as one who guards the tradition rather than sharing it: Jeremias, The Parables of Jesus, pp. 58–63; Loader, “First Thoughts on Matthew 25:14–30” (on “protecting God” as a form of not trusting God). Compare Luke 19:20, where the servant wraps the money in a cloth.

5.    On wealth in a “limited good” peasant economy, where gain for one meant loss for another: Rohrbaugh, Herzog, or Ukpong, p. 193.

6.    On the servants as retainers of the elite, and the possibility that peasant hearers would not have seen the third servant as a hero: Joel R. Wohlgemut, “Entrusted Money” (Matthew 25:14–28), as discussed in Ukpong; Herzog, p. 160.

7.    Jeremiah 38:6.

8.    Deuteronomy 23:19–20; see also Exodus 22:25; Leviticus 25:35–37; Psalm 15:5; Ezekiel 18:8, 13.

9.    Matthew 25:35–36.

10.                   Luke 19:12–14, 27. On Archelaus’ journey to Rome, the delegation sent to oppose him, and his rule, see Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 17 and Jewish War 2. See also Alyce McKenzie, “No Time for Timidity”; Ernest van Eck, “Do not question my honour.”

11.                   Matthew 2:22.

12.                   Matthew 5:3–6.

13.                   Matthew 25:31–46, especially v. 40.

Bibliography

Primary sources

•        Babylonian Talmud, Bava Metzia 42a. Sefaria · My Jewish Learning summary

•        Josephus. Jewish Antiquities, book 17; Jewish War, book 2.

Scholarly works

•        Herzog, William R., II. Parables as Subversive Speech: Jesus as Pedagogue of the Oppressed. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1994.

•        Jeremias, Joachim. The Parables of Jesus. 3rd rev. ed. Translated by S. H. Hooke. London: SCM, 1972.

•        Rohrbaugh, Richard L. “A Peasant Reading of the Parable of the Talents/Pounds: A Text of Terror?” Biblical Theology Bulletin 23, no. 1 (1993): 32–39. doi.org/10.1177/014610799302300105

•        Ukpong, Justin S. “The Parable of the Talents (Matt 25:14–30): Commendation or Critique of Exploitation? A Social-Historical and Theological Reading.” Neotestamentica 46, no. 1 (2012): 190–207.

•        Van Eck, Ernest. “Do not question my honour: A social-scientific reading of the parable of the minas (Lk 19:12b–24, 27).” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 67, no. 3 (2011), Art. #977. doi.org/10.4102/hts.v67i3.977

•        Wohlgemut, Joel R. “Entrusted Money (Matthew 25:14–28).” In Jesus and His Parables: Interpreting the Parables of Jesus Today, edited by V. George Shillington. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1997.

Online commentary

•        Loader, William. “First Thoughts on Passages from Matthew in the Lectionary: Pentecost 23, Matthew 25:14–30.” billloader.com

•        McKenzie, Alyce. “No Time for Timidity: Reflections on Matthew 25 and Luke 19.” Patheos, November 2011. patheos.com

•        Paul, Ian. “Is God a ruthless exploiter of our talents in Matthew 25?” Psephizo. psephizo.com