Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 25:21
His lord said unto him, Well done, [thou] good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
21. ruler over many things ] The privileges of heaven shall be in proportion to the services wrought on earth.
enter thou into the joy of thy lord ] Either (1) share the life of happiness which thy lord enjoys, and which shall be the reward of thy zeal; or (2) the joyous feast; as in the last parable; cp. also Est 9:18-19. (See especially the LXX. version).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ruler over many things – I will promote thee to greater honors and to more important trusts.
Joy of thy lord – In the meantime share the pleasures and enjoyments of his palace; be his companion, and receive the rewards which he has promised thee. The joy of his lord may mean either the festivals and rejoicings at his return, or the rewards which his lord had prepared for his faithful servants. Applied to Christians, it means that they who rightly improve their talents will, at the return of Christ, be promoted to great honors in heaven, and be partakers of the joys of their Lord in the world of glory. See Mat 25:34; also 1Jo 2:28.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
21. His lord said unto him, Welldonea single word, not of bare satisfaction, but of warm anddelighted commendation. And from what Lips!
thou hast been faithful overa few things, I will make thee ruler over many things, &c.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
His Lord said unto him, well done,…. Gospel ministers do not say so to themselves; they know they can do nothing well of themselves, and when they have done all they can, they own they are but unprofitable servants; they acknowledge all they do is owing to the grace of God, and strength of Christ, and that no praise is due to them; nor do they expect or seek for such eulogies from men: but this is said, to show how acceptable a diligent laborious ministry is to Christ, and to encourage industry in the preachers of the word, whose works will follow them, though not go before them:
thou good and faithful servant: such may be said to be good, who have the grace of God implanted in them, some good thing in them towards the Lord God; a good work begun in their hearts, without which men can never be good ministers of Christ; and who have good abilities, not only natural and acquired parts, but ministerial gifts; which are the good things committed to them, and that dwell in them, which they are to keep by the Holy Ghost; and who make a good use of them, and freely communicate and impart their spiritual gifts, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God; and who being employed in a good work, as that of the ministry is, do it well, and abide in it: and such may be said to be “faithful”, who preach the pure Gospel of Christ, and the whole of it; who neither mix it with the inventions of men, nor keep back any part of it from the saints; who seek not to please men, but their Lord and Master; and not their own honour and applause, but his glory; and who abide by him and his cause, notwithstanding all reproaches, afflictions, and persecutions. In such language as this, the Jews used to praise their servants,
“Nmanw bwj vya ywh “O man! good and faithful”, and from whose labour one had x profit.”
Thou hast been faithful over a few things: not as considered in themselves; for the truths of the Gospel which ministers are intrusted with, and in which they are faithful, are neither few, nor inconsiderable; they are the manifold grace of God, and the unsearchable riches of Christ: nor are their gifts mean and despicable; nor are their labours worthless, and of no account; but in comparison of the unseen and eternal things of glory, which are prepared and laid up for them; so that there is no proportion between their works, and the glory that shall be revealed in them:
I will make thee ruler over many things; either on earth, where they shall reign with Christ a thousand years; and when the kingdom, and the dominion, and the greatness of it, will be given to the saints of the Most High; and when they who have turned many to righteousness, shall shine as the stars in that kingdom: or else in heaven, where as kings, they shall inherit the kingdom prepared for them, sit down with Christ in his throne, and wear the never fading crown of glory, life, and righteousness;
enter thou into the joy of our Lord; not their own, or what was of their own procuring, but their Lord’s; which Jehovah the Father has prepared for his people, and gives unto them; which the son possesses for them, and will bestow on them; and which the Holy Spirit makes them meet for; and which will chiefly lie in the enjoyment of Christ their Lord: this happiness of theirs is expressed by “joy”, which will be full and perfect, and without any interruption or mixture; will be unspeakable and glorious, and continue for ever; for when the saints shall enter into it, as into an house or mansion, they shall take possession of it, and abide in it for ever. It was usual with the Jews to express the, happiness of the world to come by “joy”; not only that which is from the Lord, but that with which he himself rejoices with his people: for they say y,
“there is no joy before, or in the presence of the holy blessed God, since the world was created, , “like that joy”, with which he will rejoice with the righteous, in the world to come.”
x T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 16. 2. y Midrash Haneelam in Zohar in Gen. fol. 69. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The joy of thy lord ( ). The word or joy may refer to the feast on the master’s return. So in verse 23.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
(21) I will make thee ruler over many things.Better, I will set thee over many things. The word ruler is not in the Greek. Here again, as in Mat. 24:47, we have a glimpse given us into the future that lies behind the veil. So far as the parable brings before us prominently either the final judgment or that which follows upon each mans death, we see that the reward of faithful work lies not in rest only, bat in enlarged activity. The world to come is thus connected by a law of continuity with that in which we live; and those who have so used their talents as to turn many to righteousness, may find new spheres of action, beyond all our dreams, in that world in which the ties of brotherhood that have been formed on earth are not extinguished, but, so we may reverently believe, multiplied and strengthened.
Enter thou into the joy of thy lord.The words are almost too strong for the framework of the parable. A human master would hardly use such language to his slaves. But here, as yet more in the parable that follows, the reality breaks through the symbol, and we hear the voice of the divine Master speaking to His servants, and He bids them share His joy, for that joy also had its source (as He told them but a few hours later) in loyal and faithful service, in having kept His Fathers commandments (Joh. 15:10-11).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. Well done For, though we are not saved for the merit of our works, (for our sins infinitely overbalance all our good,) yet having been forgiven all our sins by the merits of Christ, all that we have done of good, or avoided of evil, by faith in Christ, our final judge will applaud, and will view in it a merit which he will reward. Few things many things Their merits, at the most favorable reckoning, are few, and have to be rewarded with a surplus over their value. A small faithfulness has a plentiful reward. Ruler over many things Or as it is in Luk 19:17: Have thou authority over ten cities. The words are taken from Eastern customs. A monarch rewards a faithful servant with the government and revenues of a satrapy, or principality of a province, or of a certain number of cities. Enter thou into the joy of thy lord The same favourite, rewarded with the rule and revenue of a distant province, shall reside in the palace of his lord, enjoying the felicity of his favour and sharing the happiness of his royalty.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ ”
And he thus received his Lord’s commendation of ‘well done, good and faithful servant’ (or ‘it is well, good and faithful servant’). Note the description. He was like the faithful and wise servant of Mat 24:45. For this is what the Lord requires of all of us. Faithfulness, goodness and commonsense. The result is that he learns that, because he has been faithful over a few things, the Lord will set him over many things. He is to enter into his Lord’s favour, and share His joy.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 25:21. Well done! The original word , has a peculiar force and energy, far beyond what we can express in English. It was used by auditors or spectators in any public exercise, to express the highest applause, when any part had been excellently performed. By joy is here meant the place appointed for festivals and rejoicings, as is evident from Mat 25:30 where we read, that the wicked servant is cast into outer darkness, in opposition to the lights which illuminated the banqueting-room. Enter thou into the joy, &c. means, “share with me in the pleasures of my palace, and by sitting down at the entertainment which I have prepared, rejoice with me on account of my safe return.” Grotius well observes upon the words over a few things, that even the obedience of Apostles and martyrs which they have manifested through grace, must appear trifling indeed, when compared with the exceeding weight of glory wherewith it shall be rewarded.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Ver. 21. Thou hast been faithful over a few things ] So the Lord calleth the greatest measure of grace here attainable, in comparison of heaven’s holiness and happiness, Ne donis vel bonis nostris efferamur. What is a spark to the sun, a drop to the ocean?
Enter thou into the joy of tby Lord ] A joy too big to enter into us, we must enter into it. A joy more meet for the Lord than the servant. Yet such a Lord do we serve, as will honour his servants with such a joy. Among men it is otherwise, Luk 17:7 ; Gen 15:2-3 1Ki 11:28 ; 1Ki 11:40 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
21. ] In Luke , where see note. (I cannot imagine with Meyer that is to be taken with ., or that it will not bear the sense of ‘Well done!’ Although is the more usual word, we have (see Passow) in later Greek such expressions as , which is as near as possible to that meaning.)
The here is not a feast , as sometimes interpreted, but that joy spoken of Heb 12:2 , and Isa 53:11 that joy of the Lord arising from the completion of his work and labour of love, of which the first Sabbatical rest of the Creator was typical Gen 1:31 ; Gen 2:2 , and of which his faithful ones shall in the end partake: see Heb 4:3-11 ; Rev 3:21 .
Notice the identity of the praise and portion of him who had been faithful in less, with those of the first . The words are, as has been well observed, “not, ‘good and successful servant,’ but ‘good and faithful servant:’ ” and faithfulness does not depend on amount .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 25:21 . , well done! excellent! = in classics, which is the approved reading in Luk 19:17 . Meyer takes it as an adverb, qualifying , but standing in so emphatic a position at the head of the sentence and so far from the word it is supposed to qualify it inevitably has the force of an interjection , devoted and faithful: two prime virtues in the circumstances. On the sense of , vide Mat 20:15 . . , I will set thee over many things. The master means to make extensive use of the talents and energy of one who had shown himself so enthusiastic and trustworthy in a limited sphere. . . . . . This clause seems to be epexegetical of the previous one, or to express the same idea under a different form. has often been taken as referring to a feast given on the occasion of the master’s return (so De Wette, Trench, etc.). Others (Reuss, Meyer, Weiss, Speaker’s Com. ) take it more generally as denoting the master’s state of joy. Thus viewed, the word takes us into the spiritual sphere, the joy of the Lord having nothing in common with the affairs of the bank (Reuss, Hist. Ev. ). Weiss thinks this second description of the reward proceeds from the evangelist interpreting the parable allegorically of Messiah’s return. But we escape this inference if we take the phrase “the joy of thy lord” as = the joy of lordship ( herilis gaudii , Grotius, and Elsner after him). The faithful slave is to be rewarded by admission to fellowship in possession, partnership. Cf. in Heb 3:14 = sharers (“fellows”) with Christ, not merely “partakers of Christ”.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
make = set.
enter. joy. He enters into joy, and joy enters into him.
the joy = the [place of] joy.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
21.] In Luke , -where see note. (I cannot imagine with Meyer that is to be taken with ., or that it will not bear the sense of Well done! Although is the more usual word, we have (see Passow) in later Greek such expressions as , which is as near as possible to that meaning.)
The here is not a feast, as sometimes interpreted, but that joy spoken of Heb 12:2, and Isa 53:11-that joy of the Lord arising from the completion of his work and labour of love, of which the first Sabbatical rest of the Creator was typical-Gen 1:31; Gen 2:2,-and of which his faithful ones shall in the end partake: see Heb 4:3-11; Rev 3:21.
Notice the identity of the praise and portion of him who had been faithful in less, with those of the first. The words are, as has been well observed, not, good and successful servant, but good and faithful servant: and faithfulness does not depend on amount.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 25:21. , well-done) A formula of praising. This praise is mentioned in 1Co 4:5.-, good) opposed to , [1090][1091][1092], in Mat 25:26.-, faithful) opposed to , slothful, in Mat 25:26. Faith drives away sloth.-, few) If five talents are few, how great will be the amount of the , many!-, I will appoint) Thou art fit for more, thou art trusty (frugi), opposed to , unprofitable, in Mat 25:30.-, enter thou!) opposed to , cast ye forth, in Mat 25:30.-, joy) sc. the banquet, the feast:[1093] light, laughter, applause. Cf. Mat 25:30.
[1090] Veronensis, do.
[1091] Vercellensis of the old Itala, or Latin Version before Jeromes, probably made in Africa, in the second century: the Gospels.
[1092] Cantabrigiensis, do.: the Gospels, Acts , , 3 d Ep. John.
[1093] In the original the passage stands thus:-
Convivium, festin: lusum, risum, plausum; where the introduction of the French word FESTIN strikes one as strange.-(I. B.)
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Well done
The Lord’s commendation may be earned by the weakest of His servants; it is given for faithful service.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
The Good and Faithful Servant
Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.Mat 25:21.
The plain ethical purpose of this parable is to teach the need for fidelity to duty in all human concerns. The great idea on which it is based is that man is the depositary of a great trust. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who went into a far country and left his property to be administered by his servants. We have all of us as children been puzzled by the unaccountable fact that God is unseen, and that the Governor of the universe seems to take no active part in its affairs. This is Christs answer to the puzzle: God has delegated the administration of His world to His servant, man. In man there is a Divine capacity for truth, and duty, and righteousness: and still further to guide and strengthen that capacity in its development, God has given him a code of instructions, which goes by the name of the Kingdom of Heaven. Obeying that code of moral law it is in the power of man to administer the world rightly as the vicegerent of God, and to develop his own highest self in the process. Time and talentevery form of human gift and opportunityare part of the wealth of God which is invested in man, and the one business of man in this theatre of human life is to be a faithful steward of the trust reposed in him.
The Text defines
I.The Life that Christ Approves.
II.The Rewards that Christ Dispenses.
I
The Life that Christ Approves
Good and faithful servant. Here are the elements of a great life. Christ does not say a great life is brilliant. He does not say a great life is splendid. He does not say a great life is illustrious. He does not say a great life is heroic. A great life is all these and more, but Christ does not say so. He simply says good and faithful.
1. Goodness is a fundamental and essential element of Christian character. It is a household grace, adapted to every changing circumstance, and to every occasion. Some of the Christian graces seem not to enter into every act of life, but are called out in peculiar emergencies. Patience and resignation exhibit themselves only under the ills of life, or in the dark hour of adversity; but Christian goodness, from whatever position it is viewed, is equally conspicuous.
There is one place where the difference between the good man and the bad man is hidden out of sight, and that is when both are kneeling at the foot of the Cross. But till men are brought there in repentance, the gulf which separates the desire to serve God from the disregard of His will is as wide as from heaven to hell. Nor can we do a greater mischief to our consciences than by trying to teach them that because we are weak therefore all Christian goodness is worth nothing, and there is little to choose between living one way and living the other way. On the contrary, weak as we are, we are expressly told that our goodness is in kind the same as our Lords. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. The little good of which we are capable is for all that in its nature heavenly, and comes directly from the other world. Our weakness may make us incapable of attaining much of it: and our want of earnestness may rob us of still more. But still in its kind it is of heaven and not of earth, and nothing on earth can be compared with it in value. We cannot be as true and just and unselfish as we should be; and we are not as true and just and unselfish as we can be; but for all that, what truth and justice and unselfishness there is upon earth is of the same priceless heavenly quality as shall be found in the other world.1 [Note: Archbishop Temple.]
(1) Good and goodness are used in different senses. We say that fruit is good, when it is agreeable to the sense of taste. An article of husbandry is good, when it is happily adapted to the purposes for which it was constructed. Goodness, as existing in the Deity, embraces that principle which leads the Divine Being to bestow blessings upon His creatures. Goodness, as applied to man, must be taken in a restricted sense; it refers to the moral qualities of his heart. It consists in the possession of the Christian graces. The Apostle has enumerated, Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. The supposed possession of any one grace gives us no right to profess Christian goodness. The Apostle says, Add, lead up, alluding to the chorus in the Grecian dance, where they danced with joined hands. The allusion is a beautiful one, showing the intimate connexion existing between the graces of the Spirit. Where one truly exists, they all exist, and nearly in the same strength and maturity. Christian goodness is necessarily associated with Christian holiness. It implies not merely a state in which the sympathies of human nature are easily excited, and lead to acts of kindness towards the bereaved and distressed, but a state in which fruit is shown unto holiness, and the end eternal life. It is not a mere negative state, in which there is no marked development of unsanctified nature, but the good man, like Barnabas, is full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. When the work of creation was completed, from the beauty and harmony of the parts, and their perfect adaptation to accomplish the Divine purposes, everything was pronounced to be very good. No higher appellation could be given. And man now becomes good only so far as, by the renewal of the Holy Ghost, he bears the impress of his original nature.
In a letter to his youngest boy, James Hinton wrote: If you havent been perfect, you must not be discouraged, but must only try again and the more. And remember, the art is to do at once; delay is the great enemy. If you do at once what you are told, you can hardly imagine how beautifully everything will go. Only think of your ship; you see as soon as ever the wind says to it go, it goes at once. It doesnt wait a moment; and if it did, would it get on well, do you think? You know it wouldnt. Why, it would topple over, and its friend, the wind, in its very help, would only hurt. Now we ought to be like ships before the wind, and the wind should be love, moving us at once. Do you know, the Spirit, Gods own Spirit, is called by the same word that means the wind? And I dare say one reason is that He fills the sails, and that they yield freely and happily to Him, like ships before a favouring breeze.1 [Note: Life and Letters of James Hinton, 215.]
(2) In our ordinary interpretations of this parable, we are in some danger of laying the emphasis on power rather than on character. We say, The servant made the best of his power, and the result was correspondingly large. We draw the practical lesson, The more faithfully you use your talents, the more you will accomplish. We perhaps tend to forget that it is the moral quality of the user that gives character to the result; that a smaller result, as the outcome of faithfulness, is more in Gods eyes than a larger one without it; that to God there is no large result, no good result, without goodness; that God demands interest on character no less than on endowment, and that interest on endowment counts for nothing without interest on character; that quality fixes the rate of interest on quantity. We may go into the other world with the reputation of great or brilliant or efficient men. It will count for nothing if we are not also good men.
We have heard of the Roman who, to show that he could not be dispirited by fear, or intimidated by suffering, calmly placed his right hand upon the burning altar, and there steadily held it, without emotion, until it was consumed. We have heard also of the distinguished martyr of whom it was said, In an unguarded and unhappy hour he had subscribed to doctrines which he did not believe; an act which he afterward deeply repented of, as the greatest miscarriage of his life. And when he was subsequently led to the stake, he stretched out the hand which had been the instrument in this false and discreditable subscription, and, without betraying, either by his countenance or motions, the least sign of weakness, or even of feeling, he held it in the flames till it was entirely consumed. In the one case we admire the man, in the other the moral principles of his heart. Though the acts were similar, the one showed the martial man, the other the good Man 1:2 [Note: O. C. Baker.]
With special clearness Dr. Martineau shows that, as the Greek proverb, which Emerson so aptly quotes, well put it, The Dice of God are always loaded, and goodness must ever in the long run win the victory. It would be difficult to find in English literature a more perfect combination of depth of thought with beauty of expression than is presented in that section of A Study of Religion, in which Dr. Martineau illustrates The Triumphs of force in History, and shows how rude strength always gives way at length before intelligence; how intelligence, when it chiefly subserves the ends of pleasure or of gain, is sure to be worsted in the struggle with moral principle, and how in our present civilization the unobtrusive elements of Christian faith and love are gradually over-mastering all lower and coarser forces and tending to become, in the course of centuries, the dominating influence in the social and political life of humanity.1 [Note: Life and Letters of James Martineau, ii. 442.]
2. Faithfulness imparts the quality which answers Gods test of moral value; and value and award in the Kingdom of God turn upon quality, and not upon quantity. Faithfulness spans the differences of ability. No difference of endowment can put one out of reach of that test. It follows endowment down to its vanishing-point, and binds the possessor of an infinitesimal fraction of a talent to raise his fraction to the highest power as stringently as it binds the holder of five or ten talents. The servant with the smallest capital was condemned simply because he did not use it. On the other hand, endowment never rises out of the atmosphere of faithfulness. No measure of ability ever exempts from duty. No amount of brilliancy compensates for unfaithfulness.
There is no lack of great works going on for our Lord to which we may safely attach ourselves, and in which our talent is rather used by the leaders of the work, invested for us, than left to our own discretion. Just as in the world there is such an endless variety of work needing to be done, that every one finds his niche, so there is no kind of ability that cannot be made use of in the Kingdom of Christ. The parable [of the talents] does not acknowledge any servants who have absolutely nothing; some have little as compared with others, but all have some capacity to forward the interests of the absent master. Is every one of us practically recognizing thisthat there is a part of the work he is expected to do? He may seem to himself to have only one talent, that is not worth speaking about, but that one talent was given that it might be used, and if it be not used, there will be something lacking when reckoning is made which might and ought to have been forthcoming. Certainly there is something you can do, that is unquestionable; there is something that needs to be done which precisely you can do, something by doing which you will please Him whose pleasure in you will fill your nature with gladness. It is given to you to increase your Lords goods.1 [Note: Marcus Dods, The Parables of Our Lord, i. 263.]
3. When we think of the worlds great men, when we get to know them intimately in their lives, there is perhaps nothing so arresting as the fidelity which we discover there. When we are young we are ready to imagine that the great man must be free from common burdens; we think he has no need to plod as we do and face the weary drudgery daily; we picture him light-hearted and inspired, moving with ease where our poor feet are bleeding. In such terms we dream about the great in the days when we know little of them, but as knowledge widens we see how false that is. We see that at the back of everything is will. We come to see how every gift is squandered if it be not clinched with quiet fidelity, until at last we dimly recognize that the very keystone of the arch of genius is something different from all the gifts, that something which we call fidelity.
One of the latest critics of Shakespeare, Professor Bradley, insists upon the faithfulness of Shakespeare. It is the fidelity of Shakespeare, in a mind of extraordinary power, he says, that has really made Shakespeare what he is. The same is true of Sir Walter Scott. It is written on every page of his journal. If there ever was a man who was faithful unto death, faithful to honour, to duty, to work, and to God, it was that hero who so loved his country, and died beside the murmur of the Tweed. Yes, one mark of all the greatest is a fidelity which is sublime. No gifts, no brilliance, no genius can release a man from being faithful. Not in the things we do but how we do them, not in fame but in fidelity, is the true test of a mans work, according to the teaching of our Lord.2 [Note: G. H. Morrison.]
On that great day when the nobility of England assembled in Westminster Abbey before the open tomb in which the body of David Livingstone was to be laid, all eyes were fixed on the quiet, black man, Jacob Wainwright, who stood at the head of the coffin. He was the Zanzibar servant who with his companions had brought his masters body back from the swamp in the heart of Africa where he died, and had delivered him to the representative of the Queen at the seacoast, and had asked as his sole recompense the privilege of attending the body until he could deliver it to his friends in the distant home. Now the service was completed; and as England arose to pay her tribute of honour to the heroic man who had given his life to close the open sore of the world, all eyes were turned to the faithful servant who stood at the head of his grave.1 [Note: H. A. Stimson, The New Things of God, 224.]
II
The Rewards that Christ Dispenses
1. The first word of the Master is a word of recognition and approvalWell done! Fournier names his latest book, Two New Worlds. It is a study of the infra-world and the supra-worlda theory of the wonders of electrons and stars, a mathematical survey of the infinitesimal and the infinite. Now, here are two words that hold more wonders than two worlds. Here is the ultimate pronouncement of God and His universe upon the highest attainment of the human spirit. Well done!
The God of the Holy Scriptures is characteristically generous in His moral estimates of His servants. He pronounces perfect and good men in whom we have no difficulty in seeing moral defect. The epithets are freely applied wherever there is single-hearted devotion to the cause of Godto a Moses, a David, a Job, a Barnabas. And those who serve the Lord of the Kingdom ought to bear this truth in mind. It is well that we think humbly of ourselves, but it is not well that we imagine that God thinks meanly of the best endeavours of His servants. It is injurious as towards Him, and it is degrading in its effect on our own character. Religion, to be an elevating influence, must be a worship of a generous, magnanimous God. Therefore, while in the language of a former parable we say of ourselves we are unprofitable servants, so disclaiming all self-righteous pretensions to merit, let us remember that we serve One who will pronounce on every single-hearted worker, be his position distinguished or obscure, or his success great or small, the honourable sentence, Well done, good and faithful servant.2 [Note: A. B. Bruce, The Parabolic Teaching of Christ, 213.]
2. The faithful servant is given a larger sphere of power and influence. I will set thee over many things. Gods rewards are never arbitrary. They grow out of the struggle that we wage, as the fruit of autumn grows from the flower of spring. All the rewards that we shall ever gain are with us in their rudiments already, just as the doom that awaits some in eternity is germinating in their heart this very hour. We see, in the light of that, why Christ associates faithfulness and rule: Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things. It is because one is the outflow of the other, as is the burn of the spring among the heather. It is because, as flower from the bud, influence blossoms from fidelity.
What is it to be faithful? It is to be full of faith. The man who has no faith is not faith full but faith empty. He is faithless. It is trusting God down to the end of the journey, through storm and sunshine, through adversity and prosperity, through good report and evil report, saying, even with the last breath, Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. It is fidelity. It is being trustworthy as well as trustful. It is trusting God until men can trust me. It is being so loyal to duty, so devoted to truth, so steadfast to principle, that no lure of quick success can tempt me to be faithless. It means that I should rather be defeated than lie, that I should rather fail in business than succeed through dishonesty, that I should rather be broken in fortune and ruined in reputation than compromise my honour. And it is all this, not for a day or a year, or a decade, but for life, not merely when it pays but when it costs, not only when it is applauded but when it is hissed; it is unto death.1 [Note: J. I. Vance, Tendency, 227.]
3. While the reward bears a direct relation to present fidelity, like all Gods gifts it is exceeding abundanta few things, many things. The greatness of God is that He asks so little and gives so much. A missionary left a few pages of the Gospel in an Indian village. Swifter than the arrows he shot from his bow, the message went straight to an Indians heart. Meanwhile, the missionary had travelled on some two hundred miles. But the Indian measured the missionarys footprint, made him a fine pair of moccasins, tracked him over hill and valley until he found him, and gave him the tokens of his gratitude. God always takes the measure of His servants footprint. And though he travel never so far and never so lonely, God will overtake himno, not that, God will go with him, God will sing to him, God will cheer him, God will rest him, God will comfort him, God will richly reward him! Gods remunerations are incalculable! For brass He gives gold, for iron He gives silver, for stones He gives iron, for a few things He gives many things!
The bounty of the Lord gives enlarged opportunity for energy and usefulness. The few things of earth are to be replaced by many things which Divine grace provides for the faithful. The close of the earthly life, which seems as the yielding up at once of the capital and the gain procured by it, is followed by introduction into a new and grander order of things, in which larger possessions and wider opportunities are intrusted to each one. The greater power appears as a wider influence and rule under Gods government. In the everlasting life procured for us by Jesus, a future is prepared for enlarged work and also for extended reward. In the heavenly kingdom, where righteousness reigns in man and extended favour comes from God, life is progressive in ever increasing ratio.1 [Note: H. Calderwood, The Parables of Our Lord, 417.]
4. The faithful servant is admitted into the Masters own joy. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
(1) What is the joy of God? As concerns us, one thing and only oneour goodness. Not our activity, not our intelligence, but to see us growing more and more like Himself, purer, truer, more lovingthis is the sight in us that sends a new current of joy through the perfect happiness of the perfectly happy God. To reach by His grace, by His training, some new measure of His holiness, to recognize it and begin to use it and rejoice in it as His gift; to lift up our hearts with the same happiness as fills His heart when a new temptation is conquered and a new purity reachedthis is to enter into the joy of our Lord.
In one of His most beautiful parables, the Lord gives us a glimpse of one of His joys. A shepherd has lost a sheep. It has wandered on to the wilds, and has missed the flock. The good shepherd goes in search of it. He roams over the storm-swept, rain-beaten moors. He peers into precipitous ravines. He descends into valleys of shadow, where the wild beast has its lair. He trudges high and low, far and wide, gazing with strained vision, and at last he finds his sheep, maybe entangled in the prickly brushwood, or bruised and broken by the rocky boulders of some treacherous ravine. And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulder, rejoicing. That is one of the joys of the Lordthe finding of the lost! Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Can we do it? Stay a moment. Let us follow the shepherd home. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. Could they do it? I know that they could come to his house, and sit down to the feast, and enjoy the good things provided, and fill the house with music and song. But could they really enter into his joy? Suppose that among his neighbours there were some who had been with him upon the wilds, who had dared the dangers of the heights and the terrors of the beasts, who had trudged with tired feet far into the chilly nightwould not these be just the neighbours who would be able to enter into the shepherds joy? To enter into the joy of finding, we must have entered into the pain of seeking. To enter into the joy of my Lord, I too must become a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.1 [Note: J. H. Jowett, Meditations for Quiet Moments, 99.]
(2) A measure of joy accompanies all good and faithful work. The doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. Before the deed reaches completion a wave of heavenly satisfaction and joy breaks over the soul of the doer, which reveals the truth that man is in his element when doing good. Our conscience condemns us when we do an unkind action; we are pained when we fall below our ideal of true manhood; pain accompanies the dirty deed as inevitably as when the body receives a blow. The years, as they roll on, will cause us to lose many an object that we would fain keep, but they will not obliterate the memory of painful actions. Verily we are guilty concerning our brother, said Josephs brethren when they appeared before the ruler of Egypt. There was something, maybe, in the tone of the rulers voice which reminded them of Joseph and of their own dastardly deed. Painful was the recollection and fearsome was the whispering of their guilt concerning their brother. On the other hand, our moral nature approves kindness in the glow of pleasure which begins within in the doing of the deed. The doer becomes conscious of the music of heaven as he goes along his way. The angels of heaven seem to him to be opening doors of pleasure and joy each step he takes, and voices ring out the Divine invitation, Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
Just to recollect His love,
Always true,
Always shining from above,
Always new;
Just to recognize its light
All-enfolding,
Just to claim its present might,
All-upholding;
Just to know it as thine own,
That no power can take away
Is not this enough alone
For the gladness of the day?
(3) The joy of the Lord is reserved in its fulness for the other life. Here His people fight the battle within themselves. With the great simplicity of revelation, St. James tells us the source of all disquiet, from the meanest brawl to world-shaking war: From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of the lusts that war in your members? The soul is without peace until the will rules every other power, and until that will is Christ within. The true kings unto God have known this so well that they have hardly asked for any other dominion.
I cannot describe that joy. It is something to be experienced rather than described. As the rose defines the bush, as the music interprets the musician, as the pure face explains the pure heart behind it, so, in some such way, doth Gods joy in the soul sing of the God who created the soul in His own image. I sometimes think that we have a hint of that joy when God and the soul understand each other in Christ. This picture from life may help us just here. There are in the parsonage two boys between five and six years of age. They are cousins; they are healthy; they are selfish; they are strenuous. You know the rest. The other night, after returning from a preaching engagement in a distant part of the city, I walked up to the bed on which the two lads lay, sound asleep. And the picture that met my eyes was so lovely that I walked away and back again for the third time. There they lay, cheek to cheek, heart to heart, hand in hand, even breathing in perfect unison, folded in the calm and sweet embrace of slumber. Long hours before, they had forgotten their scratched faces. Long hours before, they had forgotten the toys that caused so much misunderstanding. Long hours before, they had forgotten the unkind words they did not mean. Long hours before, they had forgotten their little heartaches and dried their childish tears. Long hours before, they had climbed the white, dreamful hills of sleep, where tearful eyes become tearless, where stormy words melt into peace, where broken toys and broken hearts are mended, where Gods angels brood above restful pillows!
And so there is one placemore tranquil than childhoods sleep, more wonderful than childhoods dreams!where our souls may find whiteness, where our minds may find unity and poise, where our hearts may find forgiveness, where our hot brows may find coolness. And that place is the bosom of Jesus Christ. In Him, through whom Jehovah is reconciling the world unto Himself, the soul and its God come to a perfect understanding. Then are set in motion those deepening currents of joy which will flood us at last into that infinite ocean named the joy of thy Lord!1 [Note: F. E. Shannon, The Souls Atlas, 101.]
The Good and Faithful Servant
Literature
Baker (O. C.), in The Methodist Episcopal Pulpit, 203.
Brooks (P.), Christ the Life and Light, 222.
Dawson (W. J.), The Reproach of Christ, 37.
Farrar (F. W.), Social and Present-Day Questions, 254.
James (J. A.), Sermons, iii. 260.
Jordan (W. G.), The Crown of Individuality, 175.
Jowett (J. H.), Meditations for Quiet Moments, 98.
Llewellyn (D. J.), The Forgotten Sheaf, 99.
Matheson (G.), The Joy of Jesus, 5.
Moule (H. C. G.), Thoughts for the Sundays of the Year, 35.
Moule (H. C. G.), The Secret of the Presence, 194.
Neale (J. M.), Sermons Preached in Sackville College Chapel, i. 301.
New (C.), The Baptism of the Spirit, 289.
Nicoll (W. R.), Ten-Minute Sermons, 115, 268.
Shannon (F. E.), The Souls Atlas, 86.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xxvi. (1880), No. 1541.
Vincent (M. R.), God and Bread, 117.
Christian World Pulpit, lxxiv. 373 (G. H. Morrison); lxxv. 391 (J. S. Robertson).
Expositor, 2nd Ser., vi. 204 (G. Matheson).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
Well: 2Ch 31:20, 2Ch 31:21, Luk 16:10, Rom 2:29, 1Co 4:5, 2Co 5:9, 2Co 10:18, 1Pe 1:7
I will: Mat 25:34-40, Mat 25:46, Mat 10:40-42, Mat 24:47, Luk 12:44, Luk 22:28-30, Rev 2:10, Rev 2:26-28, Rev 3:21, Rev 21:7
enter: Mat 25:23, Psa 16:10, Psa 16:11, Joh 12:26, Joh 14:3, Joh 17:24, Phi 1:23, 2Ti 2:12, Heb 12:2, 1Pe 1:8, Rev 7:17
Reciprocal: Neh 7:2 – a faithful man Psa 111:10 – his praise Pro 22:29 – a man Pro 27:18 – shall be Pro 31:25 – and she Isa 57:2 – He shall Mat 7:21 – shall Luk 19:17 – Well Joh 5:44 – and Rom 5:2 – the glory Rom 8:17 – heirs of 1Co 3:14 – General 1Co 4:2 – that 1Co 4:17 – faithful 2Co 5:8 – present Phi 4:14 – ye have Col 1:7 – a 2Th 2:14 – to 1Ti 3:13 – they Heb 3:5 – faithful Jam 2:8 – ye do 1Pe 4:13 – ye may 3Jo 1:6 – do well Rev 22:3 – but
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
FOUND FAITHFUL
His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Mat 25:21
What we must learn from the saints is to persevere to the end in our struggle. The moral splendour of sanctity is wrapped up in faithfulness; that is the achievement of the saints. That may be yours. Faithfulness is so practical.
I. Faithful to conscience.The still small voice within us says, Do this; leave that. It is worth while, and the earlier the better, being faithful to conscience, for if you do, you are made ruler, not in eternity but now, ruler over an important power. He that wills to do the will of God shall know; being faithful to conscience you are led in the path of truth.
II. Faithful to the higher instincts of life.They come, they go, like the brightness of a dream, like the voice of music, like the flash of the light. There are moments in the drawing-room, in the study, when there comes a voice, a light, an instinct, an inspiration. Oh! to follow it, cost what it may, to follow it with resolution and with power and beautiful desire, is to enter on that grand morality of the saints.
III. Faithful to principles.Principles are truths that do not change, and the beauty of which you see in exalted movements. We have to use them when moments are not exalted, but when common life is upon you and you have to act upon, not what you feel, but what you know.
IV. Faithful to the faith.The faith is the statement of eternal truth, mysterious, awful, saving, half understood, but always blessed; and if we cling to the Creed, and if we hold to the Lords Prayer, and if the Ten Commandments are our guide in moral difficulty, and if we kneel in early mornings before the Presence of the Sacramental gift of Christ; many of us because we have been faithful to the faith have been brought through the darkness into the light.
If you are not faithful to these things, what then? You are faithful to your intellect, faithful to your wishes, or faithful to your passions, but there comes a moment, yes, it is coming quickly, when the intellect and the passions and the wish, like robes of royalty that are no use on the skeleton of the king, when these are torn away and laid into nothingness and where are you yourself? It is worth while to be faithful to yourselves; to be true to ones self it brings one right, for being true to ones self is being true to God.
Canon W. J. Knox Little.
Illustration
(1) A story that riveted my attention when I was yet a boy, a story of that poor young prince of France who never was, although he was called, a king. And when his father died on the scaffold, and his mother in the street of execution was executed by a blind and blasphemous mob, and when that frail form, with the tenderness of a girl, died, her boy was left in the prison of the temple, in the hands of corruptors of his moral life; and they said, We do not kill the Dauphin, but corrupt him, make him as bad and base and detestable as it is possible for us to make him. They did; they poured into the poor boys ears the foulest language, they taught him to speak blasphemous phrases, they tried to fill his will with powers of corruption and weakness; but, so said the old historian that I read with enthusiasm when a boy, he turned upon them sometimes, sometimes when they tried to corrupt him, sprang to his feet, shook his fist in their faces and said, But I was born to be a king. And, my brother, when you are so tempted to fail in faithfulness in a few things, to conscience, to instinct, to the higher thoughts of the faith, to the Divine Friend, may you not in common truth and deep reality turn upon the tempter and say, But I was born to be a king.
(2) I remember the death-bed of a little boy, a sailor in the Navy. I remember hearing how when that sweet child of fifteen, having struggled up against the difficulties of disease for a week, at last lay down to die; how he called for a pencil and paper, and how with the cold sweat of death on that fair young brow, and with a trembling hand of dying in one who had been both strong and beautiful, he said, I must write a letter to him who has been a father to me for these years; it was a short letter, but it exists; it only said just this, and I can vouch for the truth of the story: I have been faithful to what you told me; I have tried to do right; I have said my prayers. O could you wish, my brother, my sister, that your boy could speak clearer than that on the edge of eternity? Interpret it, what does it mean? Faithful in a few things, he had been made ruler over many things, as you may be made. He had been made ruler not only over the issues of the heart in repentance, or the will and the intellect in faith, he had been made ruler of that which we dread, of that which is awful to us all; he had been made as you may be made if you are faithful, ruler of Death, of Death the Destroyer.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
5:21
Good and faithful are the words that signify the lesson in the parable. Jesus combines the application with the telling of the parable by stating the reward awaiting the faithful servant. That reward will be to enter into the Joy of his Lord, which means the joy provided by the Lord to be shared together in heaven.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 25:21. I will set thee over many things. In the kingdom of glory; or on the other theory, during the millenium.
Into the joy of thy Lord. In Luke the official position is recognized in the rule over ten cities, etc.; here the reward has a reference to the personal spiritual life. The joy; the blessed inheritance which Christs servants will have with Him. The reference to a feast seems unnecessary.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Mat 25:21. His lord said unto him, Well done The original word, , well done, has a peculiar force and energy, far beyond what we can express in English. It was used by auditors or spectators in any public exercise, to express the highest applause, when any part had been excellently performed. Doddridge. Good and faithful servant Those that own and honour God now, he will own and confess hereafter, and their diligence and integrity will be found to praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. 1st, Their persons will be accepted. He that now knows their integrity will then bear witness to it; and they that are now found faithful, will then be declared to be Song of Solomon 2 d, Their performances will be accepted, Well done. Christ will call those, and those only, good servants, who have done well; for it is by a patient continuance in well doing that we seek for and obtain this glory and honour: and it is on condition of our doing that which is good, that we shall have praise of the same. Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler, &c. It is usual, in the courts of princes and families of great men, to advance those to higher offices who have been faithful in lower. Christ is a master that will prefer his servants who acquit themselves well. He has honour in store for those that honour him, a crown, a throne, a kingdom. Here they are beggars: in heaven they shall be rulers and princes. Observe, reader, the disproportion between the work and the rewards. There are but few things in which the saints are serviceable to the glory of God, but many things wherein they shall be glorified with God. The charge we receive from God, the work we do for God in this world, is but little, very little, compared with the joy set before us: put together all our services, all our sufferings, all our improvements, all the good we do to others, all we obtain to ourselves, and they are but a few things, next to nothing, not fit to be named the same day with the glory to be revealed. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord The joy which he himself has purchased and provided for his servants; the joy of the redeemed, bought with the sorrow of the Redeemer; the joy which he himself is in possession of, and which he had his eye upon when he endured the cross and despised the shame, Heb 12:2; the joy of which he himself is the fountain and centre; for it is joy in the Lord, who is our exceeding joy. Into this joy glorified saints shall enter, that is, shall have a full and complete possession of it; as the heir, when he comes to age, enters upon his estate. Here the joy of our Lord enters into the saints, in the earnest of the Spirit, but shortly they shall enter into it, and shall be in it to all eternity, possessing fulness of joy and unspeakable pleasures for evermore.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 21
Into the joy of thy lord; into his confidence and favor.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, [thou] good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: {d} enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
(d) Come and receive the fruit of my goodness: now the Lord’s joy is doubled; see Joh 15:11 : that my joy may remain in you, and your joy be fulfilled.