the lord of that bondman shall come in a day when he does not expect it, and in an hour he knows not of,
This verse falls on a servant who told himself there was still time. Commentators ask why the master's arrival takes him by surprise, and what had already happened in his heart.
The ruin starts with a private calculation, not a public denial. One writer traces it to what the servant prefers to believe.
On what does his ruin depend? "In his heart" the evil servant says, "My lord delays." This refers to what is deep and real — the heart's indifference to the coming of the Master. He believes what he likes, and what he likes is that the Lord should delay His coming.
This postponement is hard to spot. Nobody argues against the return at all.
"But if that servant says in his heart, My lord delays his coming" — this is pretty much the position of the professing church. It is not that men say, He will not come. They do not look for Him as a present thing. It is one in the place of a servant who says, "My Lord delays," and then his Lord comes when he does not expect Him.
One writer ties the lost expectation to the sudden arrival. Giving up the hope does not slow the Lord down.
How sad the soul's state where Christ's coming is unwelcome, and the servant does what his heart likes! In this way the hope loses its separating power, and loses its attraction to Him who is coming and to His word. Violence follows towards his fellow servants, who become annoying to him, while the world and its pleasures become pleasant company. Can any words sketch more vividly the practical ruin of Christendom, whose first symptom was the heart's plea, My Lord delays His coming? This will not hold His coming back. It will only hasten His unexpected arrival. He will punish the servant's disloyalty and give him his portion with the faithless, despite all his boasting in Christian privileges.
A few verses earlier the same master comes and finds a servant at work. The difference lies in how each servant meets that arrival.
We must not confuse the coming in verse 46 with the coming in verse 50. The faithful and wise servant is living in the expectation of his Lord's return. He does all his service in view of that moment, and he longs for it. To the evil servant, the coming is an event both unexpected and unwanted.
Nothing in the sentence lets him step out of the role he took. He called Him "my lord," and the Lord deals with him on that footing.
Here the Lord treats the servant as a servant, but as an evil one, a hypocrite. He considers himself so too. He says "My Lord" — he is so dealt with — the Lord of that servant. What a lesson for the professing church, and particularly for its hierarchical part! What makes this more striking is that the Lord treats him as the same servant in position. The other servant will be set over all his Lord's goods.
The judgment tells you what this servant was, not only what he did.
Verses 50-51 show that the "evil servant" here is not a man failing badly yet true underneath. He is a man who is completely false. His Lord will judge him and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites because he is a hypocrite. He is banished under judgment to his own company.
The unknown hour shapes how a servant works today.
In this way the coming of Christ is a double motive to faithfulness. It encourages the faithful, and it warns the careless servant. The first will say with joyful expectation, "My Lord is at hand, and so I must seek to be diligent before He comes." The second, if he thinks at all, will say, "What will my Lord say if He finds me, at His coming, both careless and unfaithful?"
- Heart — The collapse begins with a sentence said inside, never preached out loud. The servant stops looking for his Lord as a present thing.
- Hope — Once the hope loses its separating power, the world turns into pleasant company. Fellow servants turn into an annoyance.
- Hour — He set his own clock, so the master arrives on a day and an hour he never allowed for. Dropping the hope does not delay the coming.
- Place — The Lord judges him in the very position he claimed. He said "my lord," and the Lord holds him to it.
- Exposure — The coming does not catch a true man on a bad day. It unmasks a false one and gives him the company he belonged to.
and shall cut him in two and appoint his portion with the hypocrites there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
The master had trusted this servant with the whole household; now the sentence names his real company: the hypocrites. Two questions follow: who is this man, and what started him on this road?
The verdict is not a harsh punishment for a good man who slipped. It names what he already was.
Verses 50-51 show that the "evil servant" in view is not a man who fails badly and yet is true at heart. He is a man who is completely false. His Lord will judge him and give him his portion with the hypocrites, because he is a hypocrite. Judgment sends him to his own company. When the Lord unmasks and judges the hypocrite, there is weeping and gnashing of teeth indeed.
Trace the collapse back and it begins in one private thought, not in the open sins that follow.
What does the Lord point to as the occasion, if not the cause, of such a ruinous fall? The evil servant "says to himself, 'My master is delayed.'" No one shows the evil of unfaithfulness more than a faithless man who claims the name of Christ. Here the Lord puts His finger on the heart that sets aside His own coming again as a living, practical truth. Once that hope is dropped, the heart can soon learn to value the world and keep company with it, and to look down on Christ's household and mistreat it.
This man holds the same position as the servant the master puts in charge of all he owns. Position guarantees nothing. The Lord judges by character.
Here the Lord treats the servant as a servant, but as an evil one, as a hypocrite. The man counts himself a servant too. He says "My Lord" — and he is dealt with on that footing, as the Lord of that servant. What a lesson for the church that professes His name, and especially for its ranks of leaders! What makes this more striking is that the Lord treats him as the same servant, in position, as the other one, who will be made ruler over all his Lord's goods. More than that, He treats him as the same servant, changed in character.
His portion is not with bad servants only, but with hypocrites. The reason lies in how much he had been given.
God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, and against the unrighteousness of people who hold the truth in unrighteousness. The Jew, if wicked, is worse than the Gentile. The man who professes to be a Christian, if evil, is more guilty than either. His portion will be, not with servants only, but with the hypocrites.
Only Matthew records this closing phrase in the New Testament. He uses it again and again, and always about one type of person.
Weeping and gnashing of teeth! We draw attention to this phrase. In the New Testament only Matthew uses it (Matt. 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30), and always about people who have brushed aside the offer of grace… They will see the very people they looked down on inside the kingdom, together with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the prophets. It is a kingdom they had heard of, but will never enter. So they will weep and gnash their teeth. In that way they will show everlasting sorrow and regret for their folly in rejecting the salvation offered to them in this life.
Some have read this verse as a temporary correction for a believer. One writer tests that idea against what Scripture says God's chastening is for.
Scripture tells us that "when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world" (1 Cor. 11:32). Now suppose a believer got his portion with the hypocrites. Suppose he was thrown into outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, or into the lake of fire. Would he be condemned with the world? Are outer darkness and the lake of fire not the portion of sinners who never repent? Are these judgments punishment, or correction? God's chastening is always corrective, and there is not an element of punishment in it.
- The thought — It all begins in the heart that says the Lord delays. Once that hope is dropped, the world looks attractive and Christ's household becomes a target.
- The place — He holds the very same position as the servant who is rewarded. What differs is character, not office or title.
- The mask — He is called a servant, but judged as a hypocrite, and he knows himself to be one. The coming of the Lord simply removes the disguise.
- The portion — Not with bad servants only, but with hypocrites. Privilege raises guilt: an evil man who claims the name of Christ is more guilty than Jew or Gentile.
- The sorrow — Throughout Matthew, weeping and gnashing of teeth belongs to those who brushed aside the offer of grace. It is punishment, not correction, and it does not end.