"To him that hath shall be given.".
I. The excuse of the slothful servant is the excuse of all lazy people. They cry themselves down lest they should be called upon to work; they avoid the duties of life till the world forgets to ask them to fulfil their duties, though God does not forget. They glide through a useless existence to a forgotten death, having buried themselves before they are buried by man, and they think that their sloth shall be continued beyond the grave that they shall sleep there an eternal sleep; for what hope or faith in endless life can these dead men possess? But they are rudely awakened in the world to come. They find themselves standing before the tribunal of the Lord of utility, the Master of work. He asks for His own with usury. We have here in the parable a particular instance of this class of person, especially applicable to the Pharisee of the period. What was the reason this one-talented man had drifted into idleness and uselessness? One might call it a religious reason; he had gone on arguing about the nature of God, losing himself in speculations as to the character and work of God, instead of making use of what God had given him, till he finally arrived at doing nothing. These are the men and women who make the secularist objection of some weight that thinking of insoluble questions, as they are called, unfits a man for life and work. The objection is fairly made against persons of this kind. For to such the questions will ever remain insoluble. Action, not speculation, finds out God. It is love and justice wrought out in life, not intellectual discussion and argument, which bring heaven near.
II, Let us pass on to the judgment. "Give it to him that hath ten talents." At first sight it seems strange that he that has most should have more; and it was thus it struck the standers-by. "Lord, he hath ten talents." On the contrary, it was strict justice; the sentence was, first, in full accordance with the wisdom we derive from our observations of men; and, secondly, with the laws of the working of the universe. It was a mere sentimental objection. Take, first, that side of it which had to do with the slothful servant. Why take from him his one talent with which he had done no harm? Give it back to him, and let him have another chance. The man who has ten talents has enough already. Yes, he will have another chance when his character has changed, but it will have to be changed by punishment, not by weak tenderness. He must be made to feel his uselessness, forced to alter his view of God and of himself, or else all the giving in the world is only doing men harm. To him that hath it is given. Grace is born from grace; to him who has love more love is given; he who is true can assimilate more truth; he who is pure deepens in purity; and by the working of this law the world is blessed, for the best is given to those who can use it best.
S. A. Brooke, Sermons,2nd series, p. 125.
References: Luke 19:20. H. W. Beecher, Sermons,vol. xxxi., p. 149; J. N. Norton, The King's Ferry-boat,p. 102.