WHIPPING THE SLAVE AGAIN
TEXT: MATTHEW 25:14-30
THEME: AN FALSE VIEW OF GOD CAUSES A LACK OF SERVICE.
Should we give the one talent slave in Matthew 25:14-30 another whipping? We can get the whip out and provide another lashing for his lack of faithful service to his master. We can beat him over and over again. We have done this in our typical lessons on this text and we have done this in our sermons on the text so we might as well beat him again for his disobedience. The text indicates that he will be eternally punished for his lack of investment so we should do likewise with this sermon. Let’s give this servant another good hide tanning. We can turn his bottom red and his back blue. Just one more time so he will never forget.
Let us read the text so we know how bad to whip him again. Matthew 25:14-30 states “"For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves, and entrusted his possessions to them. "And to one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. But he who received the one talent went away and dug in the ground, and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those slaves came^ and settled^ accounts with them. And the one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ’Master, you entrusted five talents to me; see, I have gained five more talents.’ His master said to him, ’Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master.’ The one also who had received the two talents came up and said, ’Master, you entrusted to me two talents; see, I have gained two more talents.’ His master said to him, ’Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ’Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed. ’And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground; see, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered and said to him, ’You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I scattered no seed. ’Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. ’Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’ For to everyone who has shall more be given, and he shall have abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. And cast out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
But does this slave deserve the punishment that he receives? Or did he have a good reason to act the way he did? Should we whip him again for his actions? He should be whipped in light of the faithfulness of the other two slaves. A rich master in first century days would typically trust his servants with certain duties to perform. It would not be uncommon for a slave to invest or spend the master’s money on household items or be in charge of the finances of the household. When a master would leave for a trip away from the home, typically the most trusted slaves would have power of attorney over the money. They had the right to handle all the assets and business of the master. This was a common practice in the first century.
Plainly the one talent slave should be beat. Especially, in comparison to the other two slaves. One slave took his five talents of wealth and used them to double the master’s money. The next slave used his two talents and produced two more because each of these slaves was faithful to the master. Even the second slave had less than half of the five talent slave but still produced a 100% return on his talents. In the text it indicates that these slaves traded. This is a continuous action which means that they did more than make one investment and then wait in the returns but rather they made various deals to double their money for the master. These slaves were obedient and did the Lord’s will. But the one slave hid his talent in the ground. He got out his shove and pickaxe and dug a hole and placed his talent into the earth for safe keeping. This was a typical activity for a first century servant. The ground was like the 21 century bank. By hiding the talent in the ground it insured that no one would steal it. This slave genuinely wants to protect this talent for his master’s return.
Granted the fact that he never tried to invest the money like his two fellow slaves, but at least he did not spend it. Nor did he waste it on a sinful lifestyle. There were a lot of worst things he could have done with the money than to save it. Are we not inclined today to save money? Our parents when we were children encouraged us to save our money instead of spend it. Also look at the story of the prodigal son. The prodigal son asked for his inherits and went to the far country and spent it on wild parties, women, and sinful fun. The prodigal returned home and his father embraced him and threw him a party. So why does this slave deserve a whipping? Was what he did really that bad?
Well let’s look at the original meaning of this parable to see if the slave is to be whipped. In chapter 23 Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and scribes. He is rebuking them for their hardness of heart. Jesus in this chapter addresses their hypocritical living. They religious leaders of the day prided themselves on their outward expressions of faith and devotion to God. But Jesus calls these acts pointless. The Pharisees would travel all over the world for one proselyte but in doing so they made him a son of hell like themselves. In chapter 24, Jesus talks about the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the future judgment of God. In chapter 25, Jesus tells about the service that will be required to enter into the Kingdom of God.
The true meaning of the parable of the talents is best looked at through God being the father, the talents are special talents or gifts from God, and the slaves are servants of Christ today. Therefore, God has given us talents to use in his kingdom on earth.
But this does not answer the question of whether or not we should whip the one talent man. But the returning Master seems to be very upset with the one talent man. He blesses the other slaves because the one returned five more talents to him so he gives him even more charge of the affairs of his house while the second slave also produces a return on the money so that master gives him some more talents also. These two slaves now get to enter into the joy of the master. He is pleased with their attitudes as well as their actions in dealing with his wealth.
This is the way the world works. When we have proven ourselves with a smaller task then we are allowed to handle larger projects. For example in my studies at Freed-Hardeman you have to have a Grade Point Average of 3.50 to be allowed to write a Thesis for your Master’s degree. You had to prove that you could handle the typical classroom work before the teachers would let you tackle a major research paper on a topic.
No wonder the one talent slave is in trouble. But why does he hide his talent in the ground. Matthew 25:24-25 gives us the answer. “"And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ’Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed. ’And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground; see, you have what is yours.” The slave was afraid. He was worried about the reaction of his master. He was scared of standing for his master after losing the one talent that was given to him. Can we not identify with this slave? He knew his master reaped where he did not sow and he gathered where he did not sow seed. He was only doing what he thought best with his understanding of his Master. This slave was genuinely afraid. He was afraid of his master’s reactions.
We can relate this fear. This slave is so worried about displeasing his master he ends up doing nothing to be on the safe side. Fear paralysis us in life. We will not get up in preach in front of people because of fear. We do not invest in the stock market because of fear of losing our money. We are afraid to love someone because we are worried about that person not loving us. We reframed from asking that girl out in high school because of the fear of rejection. We are timid in asking others to come to church because of fear. We hesitate in studying with others about the Gospel because of the fear of a broken relationship. This slave did not want to displease his master it was just that fear crippled his actions. This fear that he felt is the same fear we have today. This poor slave was scared stiff by his understanding of his master. Fear was a powerful force back then and it is a powerful force today.
Dr. Covey presents a wonderful story in his book “The 8th Habit.” In this account he tells about Max the sales representative and Max the dog. By of these characters are managed by the boss Mr. Harold. Mr. Harold trains Max the dog to never leave the yard. He takes him to the borders of the yard and tells him to never go past this point. While at work Mr. Harold handles Max the sales representatives in the same way. Max the employee changed a sales procedure to increase productivity. When Mr. Harold heard about this change he went to Max and gave him a tongue leashing and told him to never change anything about the procedures. Max the employee never tried to do anything helpful again. While Max the dog was watching his master one day and Mr. Harold was in his boat. His hat blew off and Max the dog jumped into the water to get his Master’s hat to service him. When Max the dog got back to land, Mr. Harold scolded his dog and punished him for going into the water. One day Mr. Harold was having a company party at his house. Everyone was there eating and having a good time. Mr. Harold was showing everyone his boat when his hat blew off again. This time Max the employee was watching. He started going into the water to get his boss’ hat. Just as he was about to go into the water, you see Max the dog pulling at his pants trying to hold him back. Both Max the dog and Max the sales representative learned to fear their master and only do what he called for. The one talent man had the same image of his master that max the dog and max the employee had of theirs.
But from the text it seems that the Master is ready to whip this slave. He calls him lazy and wicked. He is completely displeased with his actions. He tells this slave that he could have put the money in the bank to receive interest. In the first century the temples would serve as a banking system. Now the master is going to take this one talent and give it to the ten talent man. The master tells this poor servant that this taking and giving with be the practice from now on. The master is even going to cast this unfruitful slave into eternal darkness where there will be gnashing of teeth and constant pain. The one talent man is going to get more than a whipping.
But maybe we should step back and whip the group that really needs it. In this parable Jesus is not whipping the slave but he is slapping the Pharisees in the face. He is talking about the lack of production from the Jewish nation. Jesus is foreshadowing the Gentile mission in the church. He is letting the Jews know that God has blessed them greatly but they have not delivered on God’s gracious gifts. They have hidden their talents and have developed an erroneous concept of God. The Pharisees saw God has a harsh Lord would demand complete perfection and everything. They saw God has a tirade and a legalistic master. So they were fearful of him. This fear caused them to do nothing and stay stagnant. Their legalistic tendency made them into a talent hiding people.
Therefore, God is going to take their blessing of being God’s special people and give it to the Gentiles who will share God’s world through the lands. The Jews will be lost for eternality but the Gentile will enter into the joy of their master. The Jews will lose their place in God’s scheme of redemption while the Gentiles will take their place. Paul states the reason why he is turning from the Jews to the Gentiles in Acts 28. 27-28 “FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, AND WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES; LEST THEY SHOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, AND HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I SHOULD HEAL THEM."’ Let it be known to you therefore, that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will also listen.”
The master rejected the Jews because they hid their talents and will turn to the Gentile. God is only interested in working through those that desire to work for him. In reading a biography on a prominent preacher in the Church, I learned that he had a speech impediment when he was young. But God worked through this and developed him into a great well-know preacher today. In his life he has trained over 2000 preachers through his teaching and instruction. God works through those that work with him.
