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?