Holy Week 2018: Tuesday

Each day from Palm Sunday until Easter, we’ll publish a short devotional to help prepare your heart for Resurrection Sunday. For each devotional, we recommend opening with a short prayer for illumination, reading the text for the day, spending a few moments meditating on it, reading the devotional, and then closing with a prayer.

Matthew 25:14-30

Mathew devotes two entire chapters to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. He understood that the parables Jesus shared with the disciples should be received with the same urgency that they felt in the Garden of Olives. You may have heard the parable of the talents many times before, but I implore you to see it with an open heart and fresh set of eyes today.

Jesus knows that He is soon to leave His disciples and wants them to know how to be prepared for His return. He says, “For it is just like a man about to go on a journey (verse 14),” the man gives portions of his estate to three servants, who each make a choice about what to do with their master’s money. One day they all know this money will have to be accounted for and that they will be judged on the way they managed it. After a long time, the master returns and the accounts are settled.

What does this parable teach us about living our lives today as we await Christ’s return? What has God entrusted you with?

We have a great responsibility to use the abilities and resources that God has blessed us with. Notice that in this story the master does not give each of his servants the same amount of money. The servant who received five talents returns with five more talents and the servant who received two talents returns with two more talents. At first glance, it seems the first servant was more productive than the second servant but mathematically they experienced the same growth! Their master was pleased to see that what he gave them had doubled in sized because of their proactivity in planning ahead!

How often do you think about planning ahead when it comes to your relationship with Christ?

Jesus also talks about the third servant who presents his master the single coin he received at the beginning. Even here we can learn something about how to prepare for Christ’s return. Jesus uses the third servant in this story as an example of what happens when we sell ourselves short – better yet, when we sell GOD short. The third servant viewed the master as a harsh and unrelenting taskmaster, and the servant’s fear caused him to make unwise choices as he prepared for the day of return, but this is NOT the way we should view our Father in heaven!

Jesus will return, and we must give an account of the responsibilities we inherited when He left the earth.

Are you letting your gifts lie dormant or do you invest them in others?

Each servant presented their master with the results of what they had been entrusted with. They all have a chance to tell their own stories about what they did with the money, but in the end, their master had the final word. When the first servant demonstrates that he has managed his affairs well, the master invites the faithful servant to share in the master’s happiness (Matthew 25:21).

Our view of Christ’s return is sometimes so centered on God’s judgment that we have overlooked the joy of His return for those who have prepared. When he returns, Jesus will look for those who are prepared and invite them into His joy! Of course, there will be judgment, but the Master seeks to share His happiness with those who have long awaited His coming.

Are you content with letting your inheritance begin and end with yourself or are you proactively thinking about your next opportunity to invest in God’s kingdom?


Written by Garrett Hill