God's View of Stewardship

Jesus’ parables prompt us to think. The story I have in mind today is about a wealthy man who gave three of his servants some bags of gold, as the New International Version renders it (see Matthew 25:14-30). He gave the first servant five bags, the second two bags, and the third a single bag. Then he went away.

The Anglican bishop, N. T. Wright, helps us understand this story. In his user-friendly commentary titled Matthew for Everyone, he says that each talent (or bag of gold) was worth about what a laborer could earn in fifteen years—not a small amount of money.

Wright also believes that Jesus was targeting the scribes and Pharisees when he described that third servant, the one who buried his gold. God had given Israel’s leaders the Law of Moses and the Temple as the sign of God’s presence among them. They had been commanded to use that resource to be a light to the nations of the world. Instead, they kept that light to themselves. Now their master, Jesus Christ, had returned and was asking them to give an account of their stewardship.

Wright believes that the other two servants are those who hear the call of Jesus and develop what Israel was given, so that now it turns into something new and beautiful. Followers of Jesus are a light to the nations (Matthew 5:14). We are like the mustard seed, which starts small and grows large (Matthew 13:31-32).

The good news is that the first two servants were rewarded for investing their master’s money wisely. The master said to both of them separately, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”

What does this story have to do with us? We are followers of Jesus; and we have been given resources, each according to our ability. Jesus instructs us to use God’s resources wisely.

This story prompts us to think about God’s view of stewardship:

 God owns everything.

 God entrusts a measure of his wealth to each of us according to our ability.

 God prompts us to prudently invest that which he has given us.

 God will reward us for using our God-given assets wisely.