Humanists, Socialists and critics of Christianity use Matthew 25:14-28 as a basis for accusing Christianity for being pro rich or capitalistic. I think this is totally untrue considering that Jesus said it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
Lets look at the parable of the lazy servant carefully. 3 servants were given 5,2 and 1 bag of gold respectively. Though the quanity differed, the 1st two servants produced a 100% rate of return on the capital provided and the master commended them both..
The master gave the 3rd servant only 1 bag of gold and from the above 2 observations we can safely conclude that he would had been happy to receive total 2 bags of gold; again a 100% rate of return. An unfair (capitilistic) master would had expected varying level of rate of return from each of the servant.
So what was wrong with the 3rd servant? The master seems to have given him less because he lacked the ability to handle more. Looking at it from the servant's point of view it looks like the servant had a fear of failure because of his laziness. It is interesting to note here that laziness brings fear in our lives. Proverbs 22:13 confirm that.
Apart from fear, the issue with the 3rd servant was: lack of faith in the Master. Had he known (through faith) his master well he would had realised that his master would had forgiven him even if he had produced no return.
This, I think, is the key to understand this parable. Faith in God helps us produce fruit. Faith helps us believe that our God looks at the heart (intentions) and not the result only. Thats the reason why faith is fundamental to Christianity and no form of debate and reasoning can help us understand Jesus.
Lets look at the parable of the lazy servant carefully. 3 servants were given 5,2 and 1 bag of gold respectively. Though the quanity differed, the 1st two servants produced a 100% rate of return on the capital provided and the master commended them both..
The master gave the 3rd servant only 1 bag of gold and from the above 2 observations we can safely conclude that he would had been happy to receive total 2 bags of gold; again a 100% rate of return. An unfair (capitilistic) master would had expected varying level of rate of return from each of the servant.
So what was wrong with the 3rd servant? The master seems to have given him less because he lacked the ability to handle more. Looking at it from the servant's point of view it looks like the servant had a fear of failure because of his laziness. It is interesting to note here that laziness brings fear in our lives. Proverbs 22:13 confirm that.
Apart from fear, the issue with the 3rd servant was: lack of faith in the Master. Had he known (through faith) his master well he would had realised that his master would had forgiven him even if he had produced no return.
This, I think, is the key to understand this parable. Faith in God helps us produce fruit. Faith helps us believe that our God looks at the heart (intentions) and not the result only. Thats the reason why faith is fundamental to Christianity and no form of debate and reasoning can help us understand Jesus.
