“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
“After a long time the master of these servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
“The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see I have gained two more.’
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ Matthew 25:14-30
My teacher in 6th grade was Mr. Cundari. He was the first male teacher I had in school. And while he could be tough on us (he used to make us write out a whole page of our history textbook if we misbehaved - I can still remember the page about “The Island of Formosa,”) I liked him because he let us play softball at recess. He was also the high school basketball coach in our town and I used to go to those games and dream about someday playing ball for Coach Cundari.
That year our gym teacher organized an intramural basketball tournament between the boys of all the different 6th grade classes. We didn’t have coaches. We just kind of organized ourselves in the chaotic way 6th grade boys do that sort of thing. My team made it to the championship game – which was held at lunch time in front of the whole student body. I remember the game started poorly for us – we were behind at one point 9-0 and things looked grim. But then I called a timeout and told my teammates that for the rest of the game we would apply a full court press – I did NOT want to lose that game in front of all those kids! We went out and scored like 19 points in a row and won the 6th grade intramural championship. But what I remember most is walking off after the game and seeing Mr. Cundari step out of the bleachers and stick his hand out – as he shook my hand he said, “Good job.” And I remembered seeing him do the same thing to his players after the high school varsity games. “Good job.” Just two words – but I have remembered them for over 40 years!
Jesus is teaching us that God is not only the God of the generous gift but he is also the God of the settled account. At the end of this earthly life, the God who created us and invested us with his own resources will hold each of us accountable for what we have done with his resources. Now, it’s important to say that Jesus is not talking about salvation here. Salvation is a gift from God; we receive it by grace, not by anything we do to earn it! But the Bible indicates that Jesus will indeed reward those who have been faithful in service and obedience. While we do not fully know what that reward will be – perhaps certain kinds of service in heaven – we do know that the first words we want to hear from our Master as he welcomes us into his eternal kingdom are, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
Ask the Lord to remind you often to live with his reward in mind!
Brian Coffey
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