By His Grace, We Have Meaningful Works to Do
‘ The king said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! So you knew, did you, that I was a severe man, withdrawing what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow?
Why then didn’t you put my money in the bank, so that when I returned I could have collected it with interest?’And he said to his attendants, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has ten.’
But they said to him, ‘Sir, he has ten minas already!’
‘I tell you that everyone who has will be given more, but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.
But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and slaughter them in front of me!’”’
This is a scary end to this parable if you think about it too much. But keep all of the rest of scripture in context.
The exposure here is that the guy knew about his Master, but he didn’t know his Master. He knew enough facts about the master to fear him, but he didn’t know his master well enough to know what he was really like.
There is a point where we know about the universe, powers, some spiritual realm, and it scares us. It can be a little uncomfortable. I think it’s exactly the same as when you see those videoes about how small the Earth is and how big the universe is. Whether through scientific awe or spiritual realization, we have a little existential crisis about where we fit into this thing… and we realize we’re pretty helpless.
That’s where this steward was with his mina. Instead of doing something with what he had, he caved in, stayed enclosed in his own little world, and didn’t do anything. Isn’t it wild that he didn’t even have to be original. If he would have simply copied off of one of the other stewards, that probably would have been enough.
There is a time for rest and restoration and healing and there is a time for getting off your tush and going out there and getting some bruises. It takes wisdom to know the difference. Jesus doesn’t want us burnt-out, but He doesn’t want us to be lazy and closed up into ourselves either.
I try to always interpret scripture through Exodus 34:5-7. God went and said His name so that Moses could hear. It helps put a good perspective on this verse in terms of God’s mercy toward us to save us, and the motivation to serve Him.
5 The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
God’s love and power compels us. We are not meaningless specks, spiritually lost and hopeless in a tremendous galaxy. We are God’s creation that He loves, and He wants to do things with us.