Hard Man?

             Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. (Matthew 25:14-18)

You know the rest of the story. How would you describe the king? The third servant does so this way: “Master, I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.” (Matthew 25:24-25)

I have to admit, there’s at least a little third servant in me. First, there are the comparisons – both positive and negative. I’m sometimes jealous of those who have been given such ability, so much opportunity. They’re ten times the person I am. Why should I bother with even trying? And sometimes, I am grateful that I have been given so little – because then when I fail, it doesn’t matter as much. And no matter what, God’s going to be disappointed because He’s a “hard man.”

It's easy to fall into these two traps. As you read, where does your mind focus? On the bags/gold/talents? On the servants? On the man? I tend to skim through “each according to his ability.” It’s not about the servants, it’s about a greedy man delegating the responsibility for getting more money. But what if it’s not that? What if it’s about the man giving three servants/students an opportunity to work with him.

What if the whole thing is about cooperation? There’s no indication that the man hired/bought the servants ten seconds before he handed them money and left. The third servant had his impressions about what the man was like. So he trained them before the story begins. The man doesn’t command the servants to generate money out of the air. He gives them money – potentially a lot of money (how big were the bags?) He gives them time without breathing down their necks and micromanaging every step of the way.

In The Divine Conspiracy, Prof. Willard wrote of Frank Laubach (missionary, literacy advocate, statesman) starting an experiment in which he turned his mind to Christ for one second out of each minute and learned how to work in cooperation with a cooperative Creator. My mind sets off a red alert at this idea – do I have a timer go off every minute of the day? How can one in one second turn one’s mind to Christ? I can’t! I can’t! God’s a “hard man” to expect such!

Have I tried? Um – no. Is this a command? No. Could I set a timer once per hour, or whenever I heat up a cup of tea or coffee and spend a minute focusing on God? Maybe. More importantly, could I focus on God as something other than the “hard man” who focuses solely on how much profit He gains, or how miserably I fail? Could I choose to think of Him as cooperative? Maybe. Can I at least be open to working cooperatively with Him? Or am I too interested in point out all the ways that He has either not done what I wanted, or I have not done what I think He wanted (or what I wanted)?

Could I at least start catching and casting my cares on Him instead of fussing about them for ten minutes…hours…days…months before I think of talking to Him about them? Can I be half as cooperative as I’d like Him to be?