What if the servant cast into outer darkness helps us recognize Jesus? This commentary explores Matthew 25:14–30 through the realities of debt, power, and exploitation, tracing connections between the third servant’s refusal and Jesus’ path to the cross. It asks whose approval we call faithfulness and finds promise in Christ’s mercy for those judged worthless.
As the Assistant to the Bishop for Generosity in the Delaware-Maryland Synod, maybe I shouldn’t be actively negating this text as a stewardship parable. But I think that this text is actually yet another cautionary tale for our disciples and future leaders of the church. Absolute Power You know the phrase. And so does everyone in our pews. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. As soon as the first two slaves have money in their hand, they begin to use it in ways that will gain them more. That was never the instruction of the master, but it’s immediately what they do? Why? Because power consumes us. Wealth and it’s allure consumes us. We see it additionally in the response of the master too. Again, there was never any explicit instruction that the slaves were required to turn a profit. But after the first two slaves produced a profit, then the master expected the third slave to produce a profit as well.
