And another came, saying, [My] Lord, lo, [there is] thy mina, which I have kept laid up in a towel.
The third servant comes back with nothing gained. His pound is safe, wrapped in a cloth, and unused. His words are polite, yet he is the one servant this parable counts as a failure. Why should keeping something safe count as failure?
The pound was not his own. It came from the master, and it came with a purpose.
The ten servants of the nobleman stand for us today. We are disciples placed in responsible testimony, called to fulfil a sacred trust: representing Him while He is away... How serious and holy a trust! Each servant receives the same amount of money. This is unlike Matthew 25:15, where the talents given to each differ in number according to ability... it would seem that the pounds (or minas) picture "the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).
The cloth he chose has a name in the original Greek. That name tells its own story about the man.
Grasping grace is also what makes a servant able to work. We see the opposite in the servant who bore no fruit, and his own words will indeed judge him. His words are only an excuse for laziness. "Instead of working up a sweat for his lord's interests, he had hidden the entrusted money in the soudarion — literally a 'sweat-cloth' — which he now had no use for at all."
Why hide it? One writer points to shame, and adds that a man who will not trade with his Master's money will still trade with his own.
But one servant hid his pound in a napkin. It was a burden to him, something he may even have been ashamed of. After all, the gospel of God looks like folly to the wise of this world. So he put it out of sight — out of his own sight, and out of his fellow servants' sight too. If he did any business at all, he did it with his own worthless coin, and for his own gain.
In the next verse the servant calls his Master hard. Those who know Him answer that this is not the Master they know.
Is the Lord a harsh Man, a hard Master, reaping where He has never sown, and demanding where He has never given? Who among all of us who know Him will give Him such a character? No, we have other things to say of Him; we have proved Him to be exactly the reverse of this... Our service has been poor and faulty, often we have thought more of ourselves in it than we did of the Master whom we serve. But this has not changed Him. His tender pity has not failed. Our very blunders have become the occasions for showing a grace that is as constant as it is free.
Nothing was lost. The failure lay somewhere else, and the Master answers the excuse in the servant's own words.
The third servant did not waste the money, did not make off with it, and was not unfaithful to the trust of the money. But he was not faithful to the confidence that the trust implied. Why give him money to put in a napkin? ... "For I feared you" is the word of a bad and unfaithful heart, of a guilty conscience. The Lord judges on the conduct that was due, on the estimate formed by the heart itself. On its own showing, the responsibility existed, the money was there; where was the conduct that should have followed? All the gaining of spiritual capacity remains, and is even added to, in those who have been faithful. In the unfaithful, the gift bestowed is taken away.
Who is this servant meant to picture? One writer answers with a very ordinary example.
But one servant made no gain whatever. His excuse was foolish... This is the case of one who claims to be a Christian, but has no true respect for the Lord Jesus: he is not a child of God at all. He may have a Bible, but keeps it unopened on a shelf. It does not mean enough to him to cause him to share its precious truths with others, because he has a critical attitude toward its Author.
Still, this servant is not the same as the open enemies later in the parable.
The unfaithful servant is not called an enemy, though no doubt he was no friend of the Son, and was dealt with righteously.
- Trust. Every servant received the same pound — a sacred trust to represent an absent Master. No one can plead that he got too little.
- Cloth. The handkerchief was a working man's sweat-cloth, useless to a servant who never broke a sweat.
- Shame. He hid the pound because he was ashamed of it, and traded instead with his own worthless coin, for himself.
- Slander. His excuse described a hard Master. Those who know Him tell of constant grace, even over their blunders.
- Verdict. His own account condemns him: the trust was real, the conduct never followed — and the unused gift is taken away.
For I feared thee because thou art a harsh man thou takest up what thou hast not laid down, and thou reapest what thou hast not sowed.
The servant who gained nothing hands back his pound with an excuse, and the excuse accuses his master. His words raise the parable's real question: what is your Lord like, and what will you do with what He has given you?
The servant does not offer a report of his work. He describes his master's character instead. One writer calls that description slander.
There is, sadly, a dark side to this parable. One man returned his pound to the Lord wrapped up in a napkin. He wanted to excuse his complete indifference to the claims of his absent Master. So he slandered His character like this: "I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow." This wicked servant stands for Christendom's Christians in name only. They never dream of using their powers and possessions for Him whose name they bear.
The servant claims knowledge of his master. One writer asks whether anyone who knows the Lord could ever say such a thing to His face.
This servant did not know the Lord at all; out of his own mouth we will judge him. "I knew," he said, "that you were a severe man." Did he know? Did he not declare his ignorance the moment he opened his mouth? Who among you who know the Lord will go down on your knees and say to Him, "I know that You are a severe man"? No, you have other things to say of Him. You have seen no frowns on His brow. You have heard no hard words from His lips. The tenderest heart in the universe beats in His breast, and you have proved it so. Your service has been full of failure. You have often blundered. But those very blunders have become chances for Him to show His grace to you.
Set this servant beside a man who did know his Master's character. Jonah fled from his errand because he was sure God would show mercy.
What was it that Jonah had said in "my country"? Why did he want to flee to Tarshish? He tells us himself: "I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster." What a glorious character! How true it was, and is! Yes, Jonah truly knew his God. You will recall that another could say, "I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man." How little this servant knew his Master!
This false view of God is not one man's oddity. One writer finds the same thought in every human heart.
God makes Himself known to us as the "God of all grace". He sets us in the place of "tasting that He is gracious." How hard it is for us to believe this, that the Lord is gracious. The natural feeling of our hearts is, "I know that you are a severe man." We all naturally fail to understand the grace of God.
The charge is that his master claims what he never earned. Yet the servant himself took no trouble to earn anything at all.
People hold hard thoughts of God. They forget or despise His gifts. They treat His demands as unfair claims on them. They look on Him as "a severe man," taking what He did not deposit and reaping what He did not sow. And yet man is inconsistent, as usual. He judges God as demanding more than is due, but he has taken no trouble to earn anything for Him. So he is judged out of his own mouth, and condemned as an unprofitable servant.
This man is not careless about the future. He is careful — but only about himself. One writer sets him against Zacchaeus.
In the unprofitable servant we see a picture of the young ruler, and in the other servants we see Zacchaeus. The moral difference between them is this. The unprofitable servant does acknowledge, in a religious way, that a day of judgment and reckoning is serious. He is careful, for his own sake, to guard against it in the way he thinks best. He lays up his Lord's pound in a napkin, dreading the account he may later have to give of it. But that is all. He has no heart for Christ or His service at all.
- Fear — the servant acted out of dread, not love. He dreaded a master he had invented.
- Slander — he did not report failure. He attacked the character of the One who trusted him, and that charge condemned him.
- Ignorance — his claim to know his master showed how little he knew Him. Jonah fled because he knew God was gracious.
- Nature — this false picture of God is common. The untaught heart imagines a hard God, not a gracious one.
- Emptiness — a religion that guards itself against the day of reckoning has no heart for Christ. It produces nothing and keeps nothing.
He says to him, Out of thy mouth will I judge thee, wicked bondman thou knewest that *I* am a harsh man, taking up what I have not laid down and reaping what I have not sowed.
The third servant hands the money back untouched and blames his master's hard character. The master answers by turning that same excuse into the sentence.
The reckoning takes back what this servant was given, and then turns to the master's enemies. One writer notes that the failed servant is not counted among them.
The one who was fearful and unbelieving has his mina taken from him. Then come the enemies. The unfaithful servant is not called an enemy. No doubt he was no friend of the Son, and he was dealt with righteously.
The excuse carries its own answer. One writer shows that the complaint and the conduct do not fit together. (Older translations read "an austere man" where the ESV has "a severe man".)
People hold hard thoughts of God. They forget or despise His gifts. They treat what He asks as unreasonable demands. They look on Him as "a severe man," taking up what He had not laid down, reaping what He had not sown. And yet people are inconsistent as always. They judge God as demanding more than is due, and yet they have taken no pains to earn anything for Him. So He judges them out of their own mouth, and condemns them as unprofitable servants.
The word sounds strong for a man who only did nothing. But he did do something: he told a lie about his master.
To excuse his complete indifference to the claims of his absent Master, he slandered His character like this: "I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow." This wicked servant stands for the people in the Christian world who are Christians in name only. They never dream of using their powers and possessions for Him whose name they bear. All such will find themselves rejected in the great day. Their judgment is richly deserved, if only for the way they twisted the character of Him who is infinitely gracious and good.
The master repeats the servant's own claim: you knew. One writer asks whether he knew anything at all, and tests his words against what those who know the Lord say of Him.
This servant did not know the Lord at all; out of his own mouth we will judge him. "I knew," he said, "that you were a severe man." Did he know? Did he not declare his ignorance the moment he opened his mouth? Which of you who know the Lord will go down on your knees before Him tonight and say, "I know that You are a severe man"? No, you have other things to say of Him. You have seen no frowns on His face. You have heard no hard words from His lips. The tenderest heart in the universe beats in His breast, and you have proved it so. Your service has been full of failure. You have often blundered. But those very blunders have become opportunities for Him to show you His grace.
One writer applies the same rule to anyone who claims the Christian name today.
If people take up Christian ground, God accepts them at their own valuation for the purposes of His holy judgment, and condemns them out of their own mouth like the wicked servant of Luke 19:22.
The pattern goes back to the first excuses ever made. One writer recalls Adam and Eve: God passed sentence and never answered them.
The Judge of all the earth will do right. He will be justified when He speaks and clear when He judges. Out of our own mouth will He condemn. Eve pleaded the serpent's trickery. Adam pleaded Eve's gift to him. The Lord God did not stoop to answer their pleas. And who of us today does not declare Him right in passing that sentence without replying to those excuses?
- His own words. The master needs no new evidence. The servant's own excuse becomes the sentence.
- His own picture of God. Calling the Master severe was slander. That twisted picture of One who is infinitely gracious earns the judgment on its own.
- His own inconsistency. He complained the Master demanded too much, yet took no trouble to earn anything for Him.
- His own ignorance. Nobody who knows the Lord speaks of Him that way. Those who know Him tell of no frowns, no hard words, and blunders met with grace.
- His own valuation. Anyone who takes Christian ground is held to the account he gives of God — so the question now is simple: do I know Him, and am I using what He gave me for Him?
And why didst thou not give my money to [the] bank; and *I* should have received it, at my coming, with interest?
The master does not argue with the servant's excuse. He turns the servant's own words back on him. If fear was the real motive, one safe and lazy option was still open: the bank. The servant did not take it.
Older translations use the word "usury" here. It did not mean then what it means now:
This word does not mean in Scripture, as it does now, excessive interest, but simply interest of any kind. The Israelites were forbidden to take interest from their fellow Israelites. The law always assumed the borrower was poor, since otherwise he would not need to borrow. To foreigners, however, they were allowed to lend at interest. The New Testament mentions usury only in the parables of the Talents and the Pounds. There the master blamed the servant for not putting the gifts to use, so that he might have received his own back with interest.
Notice what the master does not ask. He does not demand energy or success. He asks only that the servant hand the money to someone who would use it. One writer finds comfort in that:
There was one that hid his talent. Now notice the Lord's reply, for your comfort. "Why then did you not put my money in the bank?" He did not say, "Why have you not traded with it?" I may not have the energy and activity of my brother, but the Lord would say here, "Well, do not be afraid; if you have not the energy to go out and serve Me, at any rate own Me, and put My money into the bank." I love that "bank." If I have not my brother's energy in service, at least let me own that I am not my own, but bought with a price.
The servant's excuse became the trap that caught him. If his description of his master were true, his conduct still made no sense:
But one servant made no gain at all. His excuse was foolish. It showed his critical attitude toward the nobleman, and that attitude was unjustified. It also showed his stupidity. He did not even deposit the mina in the bank, though he did consider his master "austere." He was judged out of his own mouth. This is the case of one who claims to be a Christian but has no true respect for the Lord Jesus... He may have a Bible, but keeps it unopened on a shelf. It does not mean enough to him to make him share its precious truths with others, because he has a critical attitude toward its Author.
Behind the unused pound lies a false picture of the master. Those who know Him would never describe Him that way:
This servant did not know the Lord at all. "I knew," he said, "that you were an austere man." Did he know? Did he not declare his ignorance the moment he opened his mouth? Who among you who know the Lord will go down on your knees and say to Him, "I know that You are an austere man"? No, you have other things to say of Him. You have seen no frowns on His brow; you have heard no hard words from His lips; the tenderest heart in the universe beats in His breast, and you have proved it so. Your service has been full of failure. You have often blundered. But those very blunders have become chances for His grace to show itself to you.
Commentators differ on how far the loss goes. Some read this servant as a professing Christian in name only, whose end is rejection:
This wicked servant stands for the people in Christendom who are Christians in name only. They never dream of using their powers and possessions for Him whose name they bear. All such will find themselves completely rejected in the great day.
Others compare this with the parable of the talents and note that Luke's account stops short of casting the servant out:
In the similar parable recorded in Luke 19, the servants differ in their degrees of zeal and faithfulness, and each receives a reward to match. The servant with one pound suffers loss, but he is not ejected into outer darkness. It is worth noting that in both cases the failure is with the man entrusted with the least. If we probe our own hearts, we shall recognise that when we are only capable of small things our tendency is to do nothing.
- Trust — His problem was not weak ability. It was a false view of his Master. He called harsh the One whose heart is tender toward failing servants.
- Excuse — His own words convicted him. If the Master were truly severe, the bank was the obvious move.
- Minimum — The Master asks for the least: put the money in the bank. Even a servant with no energy for public service can still own that he is not his own, but bought with a price.
- Small — In both parables the failure lies with the man trusted with the least. When we can only do small things, our tendency is to do nothing.
- Loss — The servant who never used his pound suffers loss. Commentators differ on whether Luke's account goes as far as final rejection.
And he said to those that stood by, Take from him the mina and give [it] to him who has the ten minas.
The master's last word about the unfaithful servant is not a threat. It is a transfer. He hands the unused sum to the servant who already has the most. Commentators take up three questions here. What does the mina stand for? Why does an idle servant lose it? And why does the richest servant receive it? (Some writers below call the coin by its older English name, a pound.)
In Luke's parable every servant receives the same sum. So the difference at the end lies wholly in the servants. One writer sets Luke's parable beside the similar one in Matthew.
Matthew shows the sovereignty and the wisdom of the giver, who varies His gifts to fit the ability of His servants. Luke shows more the responsibility of the servants. They each receive the same sum, and one gains more by it, for his master, than the other does.
Since the sum is the same for all, it cannot stand for natural ability. One writer ties it to the theme of Luke's Gospel: God made known in His grace. On that view every believer holds it, however small he feels.
You may be very small in your own eyes, and hardly able to claim the place of a servant at all. Yet the pound has been given to you as well as to those who appear great and gifted. You are responsible to be active with it just as they are. I suggest that the pound represents the way the Gospel of Luke presents God to us, as glorious in His grace. The knowledge of this is given to us; it has shone into our hearts from the face of Jesus Christ.
Others describe the mina as the chance to serve. Everyone who professes to follow Christ receives it, and the time for using it runs out.
The mina represents the opportunity for service given to each professed disciple... The use each servant makes of his opportunity will decide his place and service later on... So we see how just the award is: "Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas." Now is the time of testing in service. The one who does not use his opportunity will lose it for ever. The one who has used his best will have the greatest opportunity later.
The servant lost the mina because of what he thought of the giver. His excuse was an accusation, and one writer says the slander alone deserved judgement.
He wanted an excuse for his complete indifference to the claims of his absent Master, so he slandered His character: "I feared you, because you are an austere man: you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow." This wicked servant stands for people who are Christians in name only. They never dream of using their powers and possessions for Him whose name they bear... They fully deserve their judgement, if only for their miserable twisting of the character of One who is infinitely gracious and good.
In the next verse the bystanders protest that the man already has ten. One detail answers them: the master let the faithful servant keep what he had earned for him. It also answers the charge that the Master is austere.
The man had gained the ten minas for his master. It rightly belonged to his master once he brought it in, yet the servant was still holding it! His master let him keep it! What we honestly gain for the Lord we really gain for ourselves. How far He is from being an austere master! ... The one who proves faithful in valuing what God gives will receive more. The one who places no value on God's grace will lose even what he could have used to gain more.
The same writer looks past this life to what follows.
What we gain spiritually here, in spiritual intelligence and in the knowledge of God in power, is not lost in the other world. On the contrary, we receive more, and receive the glory of the inheritance in proportion to our work. All is grace.
- One mina each. Luke's parable gives every servant the same sum. The test at the end is not ability but use.
- The mina is grace known. It stands for the knowledge of God in His grace, and the chance to serve. The smallest believer holds it as truly as the most gifted.
- Trading is now. This life is the time of testing. The servant who never uses his chance loses it for ever. The one who uses it best gains the most later.
- Slander cost him. He did not lose the mina through weakness. He lost it through a false view of his Master, calling One who is gracious and good an austere man.
- Gain is kept. The master let the faithful servant keep all he earned, and gave him the idle man's mina too. What we gain for the Lord we truly gain — and all of it is grace.
And they said to him, Lord, he has ten minas.
The bystanders break in here. The master has just taken the idle servant's mina and given it to the man who earned the most. Their protest asks the question the parable answers: why does the Lord give more to the one who already has much?
These words are an aside. The master is not speaking; the onlookers are. One writer points out what their surprise shows: the successful servant was still holding the money he had earned for his lord.
Notice the aside in verse 25: "And they said to him, 'Lord, he has ten minas!'" The man had gained the ten minas for his master. It rightly belonged to his master once he brought it in, and yet the servant still had it! He was allowed to keep it! What we gain honestly for the Lord we really gain for ourselves. How far He is from being a harsh master! This man received everything he had gained, plus the Lord's praise, plus authority over ten cities, plus the mina that the other man had not valued!
The objection meant to expose unfairness ends up showing generosity instead.
One writer looks past the story to what a believer keeps after this life ends.
That which we gain spiritually here, in spiritual intelligence and in the knowledge of God in power, is not lost in the other world. On the contrary we receive more, and the glory of the inheritance is given us in proportion to our work. All is grace.
What was each servant handed? One writer reads the parable inside Luke's Gospel and says what the coin stands for.
This parable is not like the parable of the Talents in Matthew's Gospel. There the number of talents matched the ability of each servant. Here each servant is given one pound. The pound is that great treasure which the Lord brought into the world. It is the knowledge of God in His grace. Luke's Gospel opens this up for us in a special way.
(Older translations call the coin a "pound"; the ESV keeps the Greek word "mina.")
The bystanders see a gap between the man with ten and the man with none, and it looks like favouritism. But the gap was not there at the start.
But in the second passage, Luke 19, the nobleman calls his ten servants before him and gives them ten pounds in equal portions. They all started on exactly the same level.
Everyone started level, so the gap at the end is not about ability. One writer says what it does measure.
Rewards are not handed out according to gift, but on the ground of devotedness... The amount given to each depends on the sovereignty of the Giver; devotedness is the exercise of the one who receives.
Does this scene put a person's standing with God at risk? One writer keeps two things apart.
When He comes to the world, and His people take their places with Him and share in His government, then dignities, honours and rewards for work will find their place. It will be "You shall have authority over ten cities" — "you are to be over five cities." But other things are never gained by any work of ours, and so they are never lost by it either. These are salvation, righteousness, the child's place with the Father, membership of the body of Christ, our relationship to Christ as His bride, and even our being kings and priests to His God and Father. Christ has obtained them for us, and grace gives them — grace, and grace alone.
So what should we be trading with now?
Let us have no doubt or question about this: we can only gain by trading with the pound. The knowledge of God revealed by Christ Jesus, now told out in the gospel, is the only thing that can bring people to God and subdue them to Christ. Everything else will fail, however convincing and popular it seems... Knowing this, may we long to keep putting it into circulation "until He comes."
- The gift — every servant got the same pound: the knowledge of God in His grace, given equally, not by ability.
- The trading — the capital was the same for all. So the difference at the end measures devotedness, not talent.
- The gain — what we gain here is not lost in the other world. The servant kept his ten, and the inheritance matches the work.
- The protest — "he has ten already" was meant to expose unfairness. It showed the master's generosity instead.
- The limit — cities and authority reward work. Salvation and the child's place with the Father are never earned and never lost. All is grace.
For I say unto you, that to every one that has shall be given; but from him that has not, that even which he has shall be taken from him.
These words close the parable of the pounds: the master takes the unused pound from the servant who hid it and hands it to the man who already had ten. The rule sounds unfair — so what does a person "have" here, and how can anything be taken from someone who has nothing?
The saying belongs to a story about a master who goes away. His absence is not empty time.
The time of the kingdom would come, and all His enemies would be destroyed. But first comes a period of His absence, which would test the faithfulness and diligence of His servants. The master entrusts the same sum to each servant, so the difference in the result came from their diligence and skill, or the lack of it. The servant who did nothing only showed that he did not really know his Master. In the end he not only missed the reward — he suffered loss.
Every servant received the same sum — a pound, which some translations call a mina. So what is it?
The knowledge of God in the infinite grace of His heart is the silver pound, and our Lord has committed it to us. It is a great treasure and is so described in 2 Corinthians 4. "For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." This is the silver pound, and we are responsible to put it in circulation on our Lord's behalf, and to trade with it for Him until He comes.
The reward is not more money but more room to serve. And it does not stop when this life ends.
The pound stands for the opportunity to serve, given to everyone who claims to be His disciple. In this all are alike. What each gains shows the use each has made of it. And the servant's use of his opportunity decides his place and service later on. Service is not limited to this world, though its character will change. The master made the servant who traded during his absence a ruler when he returned. So we see the justice of the award: "Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas." Now is the time of testing in service. Whoever does not use his opportunity will lose it for ever. Whoever has used his best will have the greatest opportunity later.
Notice where the ten pounds end up. What the servant gained for his master stayed in his own hands.
The man had gained the ten minas for his master. It belonged to his master when he brought it in, yet the servant still held it! His master let him keep it! What we honestly gain for the Lord we truly gain for ourselves. How far He is from being a harsh master! This man received all he had gained, plus the Lord's praise, plus authority over ten cities, plus the mina that the other man had not valued! The one who proves faithful in valuing what God gives will receive more. The one who places no value on God's grace will lose even the gift he might have gained more with.
The third servant kept his pound, yet the verse counts him among those who "have not." His idleness came from how he pictured his master.
In this parable the wicked servant is not cast into outer darkness; he loses even what he had. The subject here is reward. If he had hard thoughts of his Master, he should at least have acted on them in a legal way, if he could not act according to grace. But under grace, not knowing grace takes away the sense of responsibility. The man does nothing. Under law it is not so. A man who is truly under law will work and toil out of fear.
No servant is locked into the size of his first gift.
Suppose we have only one talent. Every day's believing use of it will carry us some way towards two. We are not shut in by the limits of God's first gift. We may shut ourselves in — and by hiding our talent in the ground, lose both what we have and the power to gain more.
- Same trust. Every servant starts with one pound — the knowledge of God in His grace — so nobody can plead a smaller share.
- Use decides. The pound grows only when you put it to work. The difference between servants is diligence, not ability.
- Use enlarges. Use opens into more: ten cities for ten pounds, and service that carries on past this life.
- Disuse empties. The man who hid his pound thought his master harsh. That false picture killed his sense of responsibility.
- Disuse forfeits. He loses the gift and every gain it could have made. The loss here is reward. The faithful servant keeps all he gained — and receives the idle man's pound too.