Trump and the Lazy Assistant

Matthew 25:14-30

There was a CEO preparing to go on a journey, so he summoned his vice presidents and appointed to them the tasks they were to care for. “Here,” he said to one Veep who displayed some business talents, “Take this five thousand dollars. Do what you can to make it profit.” He gave another one two thousand and another one thousand.

The Veep with five thousand walked straight out of the boardroom to the stocks and made wise trades until he doubled the amount given. The Veep with two thousand succeeded in the same way, doubling his given amount. But the Veep with a thousand went home immediately and dug a hole in the ground and put the CEO’s money there. “There,” he thought, “That ought to keep it safe.” Then he played golf in his office, awaiting the CEO’s return.

It took a long while, but eventually the CEO returned to his main office. Then he called them in to look at their accounting books. The Veep with five thousand strode straight up to the CEO and said, “Boss, you gave me five thousand, and I doubled your money! Now you have ten thousand!” The CEO smiled at him and said, “Excellent. You have rewarded my faith in you, you faithful manager. This was but a small test, but I will put you in charge of large companies now, because whoever manages insignificant things well can be entrusted with the important. You will manage with me, in my offices, now.”

The one with two thousand, emboldened, approached the CEO as well and said, “Here, sir, you can see that you gave me two thousand dollars, and I doubled that amount, and am able to give you four thousand.” The CEO responded, “Excellent. You have also rewarded my faith in you, for you, too, are a faithful manager. I will put you in charge of companies as well, because whoever manages insignificant things well can be entrusted with the important. You will also manage with me, in my offices.”

Then the third Veep approached the CEO. “Now,” he said, “I approached your money in a different way. You see, I know you are a strict man, and I hated to think of what would happen if I lost the money you gave me. So I figured that a man of your resources could get something out of nothing, so I just put the money in the ground for safe keeping. Now I’ve dug it up, and here it is.” The Veep handed the CEO the thousand dollars, filthy and mold growing on it.

The CEO turned around and told the Veep, “So, you figured that I could get something out of nothing, eh? Well, then you could have put it in the bank, and at least I would have gotten a bit of interest! You are an idiot! And lazy! All this time, and all I get is some rotting cash, not a cent more than I gave you? You,” and he pointed to one of his personal servants, “take this… cash… and give it to the Veep that has ten thousand. My principle is this—those who have something to offer obtain more, but those with nothing to offer, even what he has will disappear. And throw this man out of here, he’s fired! He can spend his days with those mourning their own corpses in the unemployment line.”

A Harsh Lord

Jesus would often use examples of harsh, even evil, overlords to illustrate how hard-nosed God is in some ways. He uses the example of a ruthless master in Luke 16 and the picture of a corrupt judge in Luke 18. Here, in Matthew 25 (as well as the parallel in Luke 19) he uses the example of a wealthy landowner, who only sees the bottom line. He is so harsh, that if a slave makes no profit on the small amount of money he gives him, then he will throw him out of the household, where he will, at best, be penniless and homeless and, at best, he will be treated as a runaway and killed. He insists that the slave should have at least gotten interest from the money, by which he means that the slave should have gone to the black market, for obtaining interest on a loan was illegal at the time.

What did Jesus give us?

Most interpreters understand this parable to only illustrate God’s view of the resources he has given us. We have received all of our money and possessions from God, they say, and God wants us to increase these resources for the kingdom of God. Thus, if we have money, we should increase it for kingdom use.

The problem with the usual interpretation is that Jesus isn’t describing the Father in this parable, but himself. It is Jesus who is the Lord who is going away for a time and then will judge his servants as to their work while he was away. So we need to think a bit more specifically, without being confused by simplistic Trinitarian thinking. What is it that Jesus gave to us that He wants us to replicate? It is not our finances or our physical resources. Jesus specifically tells us to give these away freely, or to just walk away from them (Mark 10). Rather, he wants us to build up that which He has given us, which is, the gospel.

In other parables, Jesus says that the gospel will multiply itself, like the parable of the sower and the parable of the mustard seed (Mark 4, Matthew 13). And Jesus also said that it is the gospel, the teaching, the will of God, that He gives to his disciples. It is the gospel that we are judged by on the final day. (Matthew 7:21-27; 10: 7-8; 12:48-50) Jesus is not interested in us working with material resources to increase them. Rather, he is interested in us increasing the gospel.

Multiplication Problem

But how do we increase the gospel? Some think that increasing the gospel means winning converts. Certainly speaking the gospel is significant, but the results of that speaking is not in our hands. We cannot force others to listen to the gospel, and other’s response in partly in their own hands, and partly in God’s. Most people, Jesus said, will not pay attention to the gospel (Mark 4, John 6:44). So the “fruit” is not converts. What is Jesus talking about then?

Fearing v. Being Bold

Firstly, the slaves who were praised took chances with what was given them. But the lazy slave was characterized as being afraid to lose what was given. So he took the gospel, put it in pretty books safely guarded on his bookshelf so that he would never lose it. The gospel cannot be accompanied by a spirit of fear, or else we lose the actions the gospel requires of us. We must instead be bold with the gospel, ready to, as the famous philosopher insisted, to “take chances, make mistakes and get messy!” Keeping the gospel safe is not our work. Rather, working with the gospel and pushing it to extremes is our true work.

Listening v. Obedience

The main reaction Jesus wants us to have to the gospel is that of obedience. He distinguishes between those that hear the gospel and those that do it (Matthew 7:24-27). The slave in the parable above heard what his Lord had to say, but he ignored it, preferring his own skewed interpretation of his Lord’s saying rather than what it clearly meant. Jesus, in speaking of the gospel, speaks of believing in Him, it is true. But that is not the end of the requirements of the gospel. Rather, obedience to the gospel requires one to repent of our sins, to surrender one’s possessions, to do good to those who persecute us, and to humbly serve other disciples. Believing is like listening, and the disciple who only believes but never repents, never surrenders, never loves his enemies, never serves is going to be punished by the Lord who spoke the gospel to him or her.

Privatization v. Doing Work

Finally, the slaves who received praise from their Lord took the resources they received and worked with it in the world. By contrast, the lazy slave hid his proceeds. He kept it private, so that his religion was a “personal” one, that was never discussed or proclaimed to others. It was enough for him to know what was true, he didn’t need to tell anyone else. However, Jesus insists that his gospel must be declared publicly and defended publicly (Matthew 10:32-33). But those who hide their faith and even deny it, will be publicly humiliated on the judgment day.

Worse Than A Heretic

So faithfulness to the gospel is characterized by being bold, obeying the gospel and working it in the world, even with those who hate it. But to “believe” in the gospel and yet not respond to it in this way is “laziness” and “faithlessness”. Jesus insists that the disciple who knows the gospel but does not act on it is no true disciple and will be treated accordingly.

According to Jesus, the one who never claimed to obey the gospel, but ended up doing the things the gospel requires will be rewarded. But those who hold dearly to Jesus’ Lordship but never do the works required of it will be judged harshly. This is the difficulty of the Christian faith. It only does us any good if we go all the way with it. If we are but halfway then we are worse than a Hindu or agnostic or even a heretic. At least these live out the convictions of their faith. But Jesus has nothing to do with those who claim Him, but do not walk with Him.

Jesus Doesn’t Accept Hypocrites