Well Done, My Good and Faithful Servant

Salvation is a gift that we do not earn. But we must also know that while a man’s eternal destiny is either heaven or hell, his reward or his punishment will vary based on his conduct. Last week we noted that Jesus said an unfaithful “servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more” (Lk 12:46-48). The servant who knew his Master’s will but did not act in accord with God’s will shall be assigned to the place of the unfaithful. He was a disciple of the Master, knew His will, and therefore is more culpable than the man who did not know the Master’s will. Both are unfaithful but their eternal punishment will be different. We can imagine that an unfaithful priest or bishop will be punished more severely than an unfaithful man who was barely aware of the Gospel. While ignorance is not an excuse, especially today when everyone has access to the Master’s teaching, the unfaithfulness of the cleric leads to greater eternal punishment even if the ignorant man’s sins were more egregious. After all, “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”

We see this reflected in the Parable of the Talents. In Mathew 25:14-30, five talents are entrusted to one servant, two talents were entrusted to a second servant, and one talent to a third servant. More talents, more money, are entrusted to the first man, less to the second, and less to the third. Thus, more was expected from the first than from the second than from the third. Both the first servant and the second one double the Master’s money by engaging in trade. On the Master’s return, they each give the entire amount back to the Master, the man entrusted with five talents gave the Master all ten talents, and the man entrusted with two talents gave all four talents to the Master. They held nothing back for themselves. The third servant buried the money entrusted to him and gave back the full amount to the Master. While he kept nothing for himself, he was an unprofitable servant. The Master says to him “Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return?” (Mt 25:27). He knew his Master’s will but did not even do the least with what he was entrusted with. Jesus says to the first two servants “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy” (Mt 25:21,23) but regarding the third servant the Master says “throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth” (Mt 25:30).

Jesus tells a similar parable in Luke’s Gospel (Lk 19:11-27) where ten servants were each entrusted with one gold coin and instructed to engage in trade with the coin. One servant traded with the gold coin and made ten more, another did the same but only earned five more, and a third servant hid the coin and did not put the Master’s money to work. Like in the parable from Matthew, this third servant was chastised for not even putting the money in a bank so as to earn interest. The implication is that this third man will suffer eternally for his infidelity because the Master calls him a wicked servant, but this is not explicitly stated. To the other two servants, however, the Master says “Well done, good servant! You have been faithful in this very small matter; take charge of ten cities” (Lk 19:17) and “You, take charge of five cities” (Lk 19:19). They were entrusted with the same gifts but obtained different rewards. This tells us that there are degrees of blessedness in heaven as there are degrees of punishment in hell.

One feature of the parable from Luke’s Gospel that is easily overlooked is the fact that ten servants were entrusted with ten coins, but only three come forward when the Master returns. The other seven are not spoken of at all. The silence suggests that these men took the money for themselves and deserve eternal punishment. Worse than the third man’s punishment? Maybe, maybe not.

—Fr Booth