Apathy=Wickedness

Most of the time, persons who are task-avoidant can provide a logical reason for their unwillingness to work. The servant has presented a strong indictment against the master (Matthew 25:24-25, paraphrase mine): Master, I have decided that I am not interested in performing according to the ability you know I have within me. Master, I have a problem with the way you do things and therefore I refuse to support your agenda. Master, I am afraid of you and therefore I will do nothing. Master, since I was reluctant to invest your money I did absolutely nothing with it- well no, I did do one thing: I dug a hole and buried it. Master, I am giving you a zero percent return on what you have given me.

Apathy. Hole-digging aside, apathy gives the lie that it is the easy way out. But the master returns a stronger indictment against the servant: You wicked and lazy servant... Pastor Sam has offered some additional reflection on this indictment, which I will attempt to summarize in the remainder of this paragraph. Pastor Sam noted that we tend to relegate the word 'wicked' to those who engage in active evil, but Jesus uses the word to describe those who embrace inactivity in opposition to the mandate of God. As Jesus tells the parable, it is clear that He has a problem with people who, having been entrusted with God's property, do nothing with it. Or do the wrong thing with it. To make matters worse, there was probably some unknown servant (in the background of the story) who got no talents, but who would have performed better than the wicked servant.

We serve a God of multiplication. A single marigold flowerhead can contain over 50 seeds (yes, I counted this myself). In tithing we give God ten percent, and He promises to open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing we cannot contain. God's first mandate to man, recorded in Genesis 1, is a simple order: Be fruitful. Multiply. Increase in number.

As was said in Sunday's sermon, doing nothing is dangerous. In God's economy, doing nothing is an affront to His agenda and earns you the label wicked- an enemy of God. It is also an affront to the body of Christ, which is designed to live with all its parts functioning. What part of God's estate have you been entrusted with? Are you spending your energies digging a hole to hide the very thing God has asked you to invest and increase?

In the language of the first century, "talent" was a sum of money. Interestingly, all the parables in Matthew 25 involve money. I think that is something we can reflect on in tomorrow's blog.