The Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost

The Opposite of Faithful:  Lazy
Matthew 25:14-30

As many of you know we, as a parish, had a funeral yesterday. It was a wonderful family affair. It was hard to tell where the Madden family ended and the parish family began. That’s how it’s supposed to be.

There is a line in today’s Gospel that is sometimes associated with memorial services. It may have slipped past you in our current translation.

Just to recap the parable that Jesus tells: A man of considerable resources is going away on a long journey and needs someone to care for his property. He summons three of his own—in some translations they are servants, in others they are slaves, in one they are bondsmen—they are his own. He entrusts his money to them. As Matthew tells the story, it’s a lot of money. More than they might see in a lifetime. Two invest the money they are given; one hides it.

The man returns and settles accounts. To those who invested the money and produced an additional return, the master (in many translations he is called lord) says: “Well done, good and trustworthy slave.” In the King James translation, the lord says, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” To the slave who did nothing with the money he was given, the master says “You wicked and lazy slave.”

This parable is often understood to teach us that we are to use the talents we are given. And it does teach us that. But I want to add weight to that teaching.

We are nearing the end of the church year. Today is the next to last Sunday in the church year. This time of year, the readings and the teaching of the church always focus on judgment. We are prodded to take the measure of our lives. We are called to accountability, to consider the consequences of our way of living.

Next Sunday, the Gospel will be about the Last Judgment. On the whole, I’m more interested in the consequences of our actions that we face in this life than I am in the final judgment. But there is no doubt that Matthew offers this parable against the backdrop of the last judgment. This is serious stuff.
 
In the shadow of judgment, the lord or master’s words to his servants are meant to highlight a stark contrast. Two different ways of living. The phrases are intentionally parallel. Well done, good and faithful servant. You wicked and lazy servant.

Good and faithful.
Wicked and lazy.

Laziness is coupled with wickedness. And this isn’t just physical laziness. It is laziness of life. And laziness is contrasted to faithfulness. This is what really hit me. If you remember nothing else, remember this. In this parable, the opposite of faithful is lazy.

How would you measure laziness? Life-laziness of body and soul? I wonder if we don’t measure it the same way we measure wealth. I can’t city any actual research, but I’ve heard that most people measure wealth as a little more money than they have. No matter what their economic status may be. They do not see themselves as wealthy. Wealth is just a little more than I have. By analogy, laziness is just a little less than I do. I am not lazy. The person who does less than me is lazy.

This parable is not about idleness providing opportunity for the devil. It’s not about all of those sayings and clichés where idle hands lead to the devil’s work. That may be true, but it’s a completely different subject. This parable is about idleness itself being wicked. It is not about wicked acts. A failure to act is equated with wickedness.

Nor is this parable is not about our “talents," about whether or not we nurture our artistic talent or use our talent of patience for good. The word talent occurs in the parable, and it’s easy to slip into talking about our talents even though that’s not what the word means here.

This parable isn’t about some particular individual talent; it is about life. It is about what we do with our lives. The word faithful is sometimes translated trustworthy, as we heard today. A faithful servant is one who is worthy of the life God has entrusted to him or her.

This is another example from the Bible where faith is not about belief. Being faithful is not about holding certain beliefs. Being a faithful servant is about what we do with our lives. Do the actions of our lives illustrate a life worthy of God’s trust? Faithfulness and trustworthiness are the same thing. To live faithfully is to act in a way worthy of God’s trusting us with life.

The alternative to faithful living is laziness. The Greek word translated lazy or (in the King James) slothful describes “those who are slow to act through hesitation, anxiety, negligence or sloth” (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Kittel and Friedrich).

At the end of this parable, the lord describes the lazy slave as “worthless.” A faithful life is a life worthy of God’s trust. A lazy life is worthy of nothing; it is worthless.

One commentator writing on this parable summarized it by saying: “Indolence in the service of the lord is wicked.” He continues: “God’s gift can never be passively possessed” (The Good News according to Matthew, Eduard Schweizer). As long as we are passive, we cannot really know or possess God’s gifts.

God has given us, entrusted us, with the gift of life. We are meant to use that life to enrich the Kingdom of God. This parable is about the Kingdom of God. The activity to which we are all called in life is to enrich the Kingdom of God. The children of God are the Kingdom of God. Enrich the Kingdom of God. That means feeding, teaching, evangelizing, giving, building, creating.

Two starkly different ways of living: Good and faithful. Wicked and lazy. And there are consequences. A good and faithful life leads to joy. Enter into the joy of your lord. Share a life of joy with God.
A life of laziness leads to outer darkness. A life without light, without joy, without God.