A Good Servant
April 8, 2021
A Good Servant is referred to the sixth Sabbath of the Great Lent mentioned in the parable of the three talents in Mathew’s Gospel. Our Lord Jesus Christ told the story to the disciples for He would to illustrate His teachings about the need to use talents and gifts faithfully.
The story is read and recited in the Church highlighting the good deeds of the servants who have been rewarded for their faithfulness and hard work. Readings and chants of Saint Yared related to the story are recited throughout the week. (Matthew 25:14-30)
In the Apostasy era, Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples a story about a rich man who gave his servants some talents. A talent was a large amount of money. The man gave one servant five talents. He gave another servant two talents; He gave a third servant one talent. Then the man went on a journey. The servant with five talents worked hard. He earned five more talents. He now had ten talents. The servant with one talent buried it in the ground. He was afraid he would lose it. He did not work to earn any more talents. When the man came back, he asked the servants what they had done with his talents. The first servant brought him ten talents. The man was happy. He made the servant a leader over many things and told him to be joyful. The second servant brought the man four talents. This also made the man happy. He made the second servant a leader over many things and told him to be joyful. The third servant gave the man back the talent he had buried. The man was not happy. He said the servant was lazy. He should have worked hard to earn more talents. The man took the talent from the third servant and gave it to the first servant. Then he sent the lazy servant away. The man in the story is like Lord Jesus. We are like the servants and he will judge how we each use the gifts we have been given. (Mathew 25:14-30)
The servant who received one talent was not condemned for failing to enrich the five-talent; he was condemned because he didn’t yield with what he was given. The meaning of the parable extends far beyond financial investments. God has given each person a wide variety of gifts, and He expects us to employ those gifts in His service. It is not acceptable merely to put those gifts on a closet shelf and ignore them. Like the three servants, we do not have gifts of the same degree; the return God expects of us is corresponding with the gifts we have been given.
The gifts we receive from God include skills, abilities, family connections, social positions, education, experiences, and more. The point of the parable is that we are to use whatever we have been given for God’s purposes. The severe consequences to the unproductive servant, far beyond anything triggered by mere business mediocrity, tell us that we are to invest our lives, not waste them.