Commentary on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2.pdf

<strong>Commentary</strong> on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2
Now the gain which Christ mentions is general usefulness, 692 which illustrates the glory of
God. For, though God is not enriched, and makes no gain, by our labors, yet when every one is
highly profitable to his brethren, and applies advantageously, for their salvation, the gifts which he
has received from God, he is said to yield profit, or gain, to God himself. So highly does our
heavenly Father value the salvation of men, that whatever contributes to it he chooses to place to
his own account. That we may not become weary in doing well, (Galatians 6:9,) Christ declares
that the labor of those who are faithfully employed in their calling will not be useless.
According to Luke, he says that he who gained five pounds obtains the government of five cities;
by which words he informs them, that the glory of his kingdom will be very different at his last
coming from what it now appears. For now 693 we have labor and anxiety in managing, as it were,
the affairs of an absent master; but then he will have at his command an ample and copious supply
of honors, to ennoble and enrich us. The form of expression employed by Matthew is more simple,
Enter thou into the joy of thy master; by which he means that faithful servants, whose discharge
of duty shall meet with his approbation, will share with himself a blessed abundance of all good
things.
But it is asked, What is meant by what is added, Take from him the talent, and give it to him
who hath ten talents? For every kind of trading will then be at an end. I reply, We ought to keep
in remembrance what I formerly mentioned, that those who insist on explaining, with exactness,
every minute phrase, are mistaken. The true meaning is, though slothful and unprofitable servants
are now endued with the gifts of the Spirit, yet they will at length be deprived of them all, that their
wretched and shameful poverty may redound to the glory of the good. Now these slothful persons,
Christ tells us, hide either the talent or the pound in the earth; because, while they consult their
own ease and gratifications, they refuse to submit to any uneasiness; as we see very many who,
while they are privately devoted to themselves and to their own advantage, avoid all the duties of
charity, and have no regard to the general edification. When it is said that the master of the house,
after his return, called the servants to account; as this ought to impart courage to the good, when
they understand that they do not lose their pains, so the indolent and careless, on the other hand,
ought to be struck with no small terror. Let us therefore learn to call ourselves daily to account,
before the Lord come, and make a reckoning with us.
24. I knew thee, that thou art a harsh man. This harshness has nothing to do with the substance
of the parable; and it is an idle speculation in which those indulge, who reason from this passage,
how severely and rigorously God deals with his own people. For Christ did not intend to describe
such rigor, any more than to applaud usury, when he represents the master of the house as saying,
that the money ought to have been deposited with a banker, that it might, at least, gain interest
Christ only means, that there will be no excuse for the indolence of those who both conceal the
692 “C’est le profit ou l’avancement de toute la compagnie des fideles en commun;” — “it is the profit or advancement of the
whole company of believers in common.”
693 “En ce monde;” — “in this world.”
313
John Calvin