Some of us seldom heard the words “well done” as children. Maybe we had parents who were not outwardly affectionate and offered few verbal or nonverbal strokes. Or perhaps we failed to meet our parents’ expectations, or were always compared to another sibling and found wanting.
The classic effect, of course, is inferiority—assuming we’re not capable, adequate or good enough so we shy away from challenges, risks, and opportunities.
Jesus told a famous parable where three different servants were given different amounts of money—five talents, two talents and one talent (Matthew 25:14-30).
The original hearers listening to Jesus would have gasped—a talent was the largest unit in Greek money—about 10,000 denarii, where a denarius was one whole day’s wages. So even the servant given only one talent was given the equivalent of 10,000 days wages, or a whole lifetime’s earnings! That’s grace—Jesus’ story entrusts every servant with an incredible amount.
God has created human beings to be praise-oriented. We never outgrow our need for recognition. Our little children bring their crayon pictures or their Lego creations to us with proud smiles: “Mommy, Daddy, look what I’ve done!” Our creations change over the years but our motives never really do. That’s why we’re always waiting for significant others to tell us “well done!” Jesus knows this about us too.
Listen to the words Jesus puts in the mouths of the first two servants: “Master, you gave me five talents (remember, it’s pure grace—an undeserved gift.) Look! I’ve made five talents more!” Hear the joy of accomplishment? “Lord, I’ve taken the raw material you gave me and done something with it.”
And now the words we’ve been waiting to hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant…”
These servants may not have been the talk of the town. Perhaps they labored in complete obscurity and seeming insignificance until the Master returned.
Only at judgment will we learn who the really faithful servants have been, and I suspect we’ll be surprised: parents who have “hung in there” with a wayward child, persons who kept quietly witnessing to a non-believing friend or those who served others so quietly and inconspicuously no one knew.
And note this well, the servant who doubled his two talents into four talents receives exactly the same praise—word for word—as the servant who brings in ten. Billy Graham, Mother Teresa, you and me—every servant who faithfully uses what they are entrusted with hears the very same “well done.”
With Jesus, justice finally gets its due. (We’ll leave for another time the person given one talent who did not invest it.) With Jesus, no one grabs the credit you might deserve because they’re faster talkers or better at playing the game. With Jesus, numbers aren’t as important as faithfulness.
Think of this: the second servant (given two talents) brought the Master only 40% of what the first servant did and yet receives the very same “well done. Come in to the joy of the Lord! Here’s the honor’s banquet to end all honor’s banquets. It gathers up all the “well done’s” we perhaps never heard into a great celebration.
“Your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (I Cor 15:58) This is good news.
