The Lazy Servants

A Homily for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Have you heard, beloved brethren, from the Gospel just read, the Savior’s parable about the talents? This parable is most instructive. Everyone needs to know its meaning and to remember it always. Incline your ears. Here is its meaning. It speaks of servants to whom a master, setting out for a far country, entrusted his property: to one he gave five talents, to another two, to a third one—each according to his ability[1]. Take note: these servants are us human beings. This master is our Lord Jesus Christ, our Creator, the dispenser of talents, who ascended from us into heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father, and will come again to earth to judge the living and the dead. The property, or the talents, are the faculties and capabilities of the soul, and equally the strength of the body, which God gave us and with which we all act in this age, which we put into circulation as it were, and through which, in the measure of our skill and diligence, we multiply our spiritual wealth. By the talents we should understand as well that service in society which God entrusted to each according to his abilities, or that material wealth which anyone may have. According to the meaning of the parable, whoever received more talents from the Lord ought naturally to do more good for his neighbors, and to improve himself the more in this present life for the life to come—and from whoever received less, less of an account will be demanded. Of the ordinary man they will ask: did he conscientiously labor and conduct his affairs; did the rich man build up his wealth by deception, cunning, and schemes, or by gambling and taking interest; did he himself live, and bring up his children, in the fear of God; did he fulfill the Christian duty of prayer, was he sanctified through the Mysteries, did he give alms? Each one will carry his own burden. Of the priest they will require an account for his service, his teaching, and his life: did he teach his flock the faith and a good life, did he bring them up for eternal life? But now listen further to the parable.

The servant who received five talents (a weight of silver) from his master went off and set to work, and with them gained five more talents; the one who received two gained two others as well, while the one who received one took and buried his master’s talent in the ground—that is, he spent his whole life in senseless, unpardonable laziness; he ate, drank, made merry, enriched himself by every possible means, if only to live pleasantly here, and gave no thought to that life, to faith, to prayer, or to good deeds. Clearly his talent has been buried in the ground, for our talents—that is, our heart, our mental faculties—are not an earthly treasure but a spiritual one, and they are not meant to lie in the ground, not meant to be spent only on earthly pursuits; by their help we ought to become practiced in heavenly, holy ways and to lay hold of eternal life. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, — says the Lord — and where thieves dig through and steal; but store up for yourselves a treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves neither dig through nor steal[2] (that is, perform good deeds not for the sake of the earth and everyday, worldly profits, but for the sake of heaven, of God, of eternity). So then, honor, brethren, to the servants who received five talents and two and multiplied their master’s estate; but shame, utter shame, to the one who received a single talent and out of laziness and stubbornness buried it in the ground. And many are these people unworthy of the name of man who bury their talent in the ground, who only drink, eat, make merry, deceive, steal, and so on. But see what awaits them and the other servants: the time comes to give an account of how the master’s silver has been put to use. The master comes—that is, the Lord, who ascended to heaven—He comes to the Dread Judgment to demand an account from His servants. His servants appear—those to whom talents were entrusted. The one who had received five talents steps forward and shows the master ten talents; then the one who had received two comes and shows four. The Lord, approving each of them for the increase, says: Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over little, over much I will set you: enter into the joy of your master; then the one who had received the single talent steps forward, and what happens? Having done nothing during the master’s absence, when this master arrived, the lazy servant speaks insolent words to Him, calling Him a cruel man who supposedly reaps where he did not sow and gathers where he did not scatter. Is this not what all the lazy, unkind, faithless Christians say, brethren—who, in excuse for their unpardonable laziness, do not labor for the good, for their own formation in the spirit of the Christian faith, but lay the blame on the faith, on the Church, on the Lord Himself, calling the precepts of the faith burdensome and impracticable, and daring to call the gracious Lord a sort of cruel being who demands almost the impossible! O you lazy servants! Look at your fellow servants who received five talents and two: they will convict you. How is it that they multiplied their talents? How is it that they say nothing of this sort to the Lord? But look, brethren, what the lazy servant goes on to say to the Lord: Because You are this and that sort of master, he says, I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground: here is what is Yours. In the ground: where is this? Where, if not in his own sinful flesh, having worn out his strength and abilities in gratifying his passions. Come, brethren, to the grave of the lazy man and sigh over it heavily, heavily; there you will see his only talent buried in the ground as well; he did nothing for heaven, and he carried everything with him into the earth. You spoke the truth, poor man, man worthy of eternal tears! But here is the verdict of the righteous Judge for him and for those like him: Wicked and lazy servant! You knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I did not scatter: therefore you should have given My silver to the traders, and I, when I came, would have received what is Mine with profit. How could the Lord fail to demand from Christians the profit of good deeds, when for their help He has bestowed all the treasures of His assisting and all-effectual grace; how could He fail to demand a profit from the Christian—for the sake, after all, of his own eternal blessedness—when before the Lord the tree brings forth abundant fruit every year, when grain yields gain in the field? Truly the Lord requires the profit that is due: and it is a sin, a grievous sin, for a Christian not to bring forth in his life the fruit of virtue and to remain a barren fig tree, one that only takes up a place fruitlessly.

Finally, hear the judgment passed on the lazy servant: the Lord says: take away therefore the talent from him, and give it to the one who has ten talents; for to everyone who has, it will be given and multiplied; but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Fear, brothers, seizes the soul when you reflect that among Christians there are a great many lazy servants who live carefree, amid pleasures, and give no thought at all to that terrible, everlasting outer darkness where unceasing weeping and gnashing of teeth await them. Lord! Accomplish Your will with us! We pray You, that all the lazy servants may turn back to You in repentance and virtue. But if not—then they are truly worthy of Your awesome yet righteous judgment. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear! Amen.