servant of God is so exceeding great, that in comparison with it even the five talents appear as “few”. The just man will receive a “good measure (of reward) pressed down and shaken together” (Luke 6, 38), and will have a share in the eternal joy and majesty of our Lord Jesus, whom he served faithfully on earth.
The slothful servant did not correspond with grace and made no use of it, and used his natural gifts only in the service of the world. His faith was a dead faith, without love and without zeal. He excused himself by pleading that Almighty God was “hard”, that His commandments were too difficult to keep, and that He required what it was impossible to give. His harangue and excuses, however, profited him nothing, because the very fact of his knowing that God’s judgments are severe, ought to have made him exert himself to keep His laws. If he had corresponded with the grace he had received, he would have merited further grace, and would have been praised and rewarded. But he was slothful, did not profit by grace, and thus lost what grace he had (as we see lukewarm Christians lose even the gift of faith), and was thrust out of the kingdom of grace into the exterior darkness of hell.
The chief lessons to be learnt from this parable are as follows:
1. Faith alone does not suffice for salvation, which must be won by good works.
2. At the judgment every Christian will have to give an account of the use he has made of his natural and supernatural gifts. The slothful servant was called wicked and was condemned, simply because he left undone that which he ought to have done.
3. God is our Lord and Master, and we are His servants. He is a most gracious Lord, for He gives His servants more and more grace as they need it, and rewards them with everlasting happiness.
Almsgiving. The poor are God’s bankers. Alms are a safe investment and bring in the highest interest, for God rewards them with an eternal recompense.
Application. Everything you have is a gift of God, and a talent committed to your charge. Even your good works are not your own, because without God’s grace you can do nothing. Only your sins are quite your own and your own work. Do not therefore boast of your understanding, memory &c., but be humble, and remember that you will one day have to give an account of them. “And what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Cor. 4, 7.) Make a resolution not to say one word to-day in your own praise.
