Our Lord again sounds the note of delay--'After a long time'--an
indefinite phrase which we know carries centuries in its folds, how
many more we know not nor are intended to know. The two faithful
servants present their balance-sheet in identical words, and receive
the same commendation and reward. Their speech is in sharp contrast
with the idle one's excuse, inasmuch as it puts a glad acknowledgment
of the lord's giving in the forefront, as if to teach that the
thankful recognition of his liberality underlies all joyful and
successful service, and deepens while it makes glad the sense of
responsibility. The cords of love are silken; and he who begins with
setting before himself the largeness of Christ's gifts to him, will
not fail in using these so as to increase them. In the light of that
day, the servant sees more clearly than when he was at work the
results of his work. We do not know what the year's profits have
been till stock-taking and balancing-time comes. Here we often say,
'I have laboured in vain.' There we shall say, 'I have gained five
talents.'
The verbatim repetition of the same words to both servants teaches
the great lesson of this parable as contrasted with that of the
pounds, that where there has been the same faithful work, with
different amounts of capital, there will be the same reward. Our
Master does not care about quantity, but about quality and motive.
The slave with a few shillings, enough to stock meagrely a little
stall, may show as much business capacity, diligence, and fidelity,
as if he had millions to work with. Christ rewards not actions, but
the graces which are made visible in actions; and these can be as
well seen in the tiniest as in the largest deeds. The light that
streams through a pin-prick is the same that pours through the
widest window. The crystals of a salt present the same facets,
flashing back the sun at the same angles, whether they be large or
microscopically small. Therefore the judgment of Christ, which is
simply the utterance of fact, takes no heed of the extent but only
of the kind of service, and puts on the same level of recompense all
who, with however widely varying powers, were one in spirit, in
diligence, and devotion. The eulogium on the servants is not
'successful' or 'brilliant,' but 'faithful,' and both alike get it.
The words of the lord fall into three parts. First comes his
generous and hearty praise,--the brief and emphatic monosyllable
'Well,' and the characterisation of the servants as 'good and
faithful.' Praise from Christ's lips is praise indeed; and here He
pours it out in no grudging or scanty measure, but with warmth and
evident delight. His heart glows with pleasure, and His commendation
is musical with the utterance of His own joy in His servants. He
'rejoices over them with singing'; and more gladly than a fond
mother speaks honeyed words of approval to her darling, of whose
goodness she is proud, does He praise these two. When we are tempted
to disparage our slender powers as compared with those of His more
conspicuous servants, and to suppose that all which we do is nought,
let us think of this merciful and loving estimate of our poor
service. For such words from such lips, life itself were wisely
flung away; but such words from such lips will be spoken in
recognition of many a piece of service less high and heroic than a
martyr's. 'Good and faithful' refers not to the more general notion
of goodness, but to the special excellence of a servant, and the
latter word seems to define the former. Fidelity is the grace which
He praises,--manifested in the recognition that the capital was a
loan, given to be traded with for Him, and to be brought back
increased to Him. He is faithful who ever keeps in view, and acts
on, the conditions on which, and the purposes for which, he has
received his spiritual wealth; and 'he who is faithful in that which
is least, is faithful also in much.'
The second part of the lord's words is the appointment to higher
office, as the reward of faithfulness. Here on earth, the tools
come, in the long run, to the hands that can use them, and the best
reward of faithfulness in a narrower sphere is to be lifted to a
wider. Promotion means more to do; and if the world were rightly
organised, the road to advancement would be diligence; and the
higher a man climbed, the wider would be the horizon of his labour.
It is so in Christ's kingdom, and should be so in His visible
Church. It will be so in heaven. Clearly this saying implies the
active theory of the future life, and the continuance in some
ministry of love, unknown to us, of the energies which were trained
in the small transactions of earth. 'If five talents are "a few
things," how great the "many things" will be!' In the parable of the
pounds, the servant is made a ruler; here being 'set over' seems
rather still to point to the place of a steward or servant. The
sphere is enlarged, but the office is unaltered. The manager who
conducted a small trade rightly will be advanced to the
superintendence of a larger business.
'We doubt not that for one so true
There must be other, nobler work to do,'
and that in that work the same law will continue to operate, and
faithfulness be crowned with ever-growing capacities and tasks
through a dateless eternity.
The last words of the lord pass beyond our poor attempts at
commenting. No eye can look undazzled at the sun. When Christ was
near the Cross, He left His disciples a strange bequest at such a
moment,--His joy; and that is their brightest portion here, even
though it be shaded with many sorrows. The enthroned Christ welcomes
all who have known 'the fellowship of His sufferings' into the
fulness of His heavenly joy, unshaded, unbroken, unspeakable; and
they pass into it as into an encompassing atmosphere, or some broad
land of peace and abundance. Sympathy with His purposes leads to
such oneness with Him that His joy is ours, both in its occasions
and in its rapture. 'Thou makest them drink of the river of Thy
pleasures,' and the lord and the servant drink from the same cup.