Matthew 25:24
A plain-spoken deep dive on this verse. Read the chapter →
Finally, the servant who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
JESUS LED AWAY TO PILATE--REMORSE AND SUICIDE OF JUDAS. ( = Mar 15:1; Luk 23:1; Joh 18:28). (Mat 27:1-10) Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned--The condemnation, even though not unexpected, might well fill him with horror. But perhaps this unhappy man expected, that, while he got the bribe, the Lord would miraculously escape, as He had once and again done before, out of His enemies power: and if so, his remorse would come upon him with all the greater keenness. repented himself--but, as the issue too sadly showed, it was "the sorrow of the world, which worketh death" (Co2 7:10). and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders--A remarkable illustration of the power of an awakened conscience. A short time before, the promise of this sordid pelf was temptation enough to his covetous heart to outweigh the most overwhelming obligations of duty and love; now, the possession of it so lashes him that he cannot use it, cannot even keep it!
Open source ↗25:24 I knew you were . . . harsh: A false understanding of his master becomes this servant’s excuse for laziness.
Open source ↗Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
You people of this generation, consider the word of the LORD: “Have I been a wilderness to Israel or a land of dense darkness? Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will come to You no more’?
Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I say?
‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’
But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
“Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?” “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress all your workers.