Crop Thief

 The Third Slave - Whistle Blower

Matthew 25:14-30

The boss goes on vacation. He gives his three slaves some money to invest. 

The Master or Boss was most hated by the farmers of Jesus day. He is a CROP THIEF the most hated criminal in peasant agriculture. He forced his slaves to work harder  working in the fields.

 There was no other way to invest. No stocks, bonds, T-Bills to increase his wealth. They had to toil in the fields. He was hated as much as the wicked tax collector who got rich by inflated the taxes collected.  

The first two slaves toiled for the money and made a profit. The third guy buries the money in the ground.

When the boss comes back he wants to know what  his slaves did with the money. The first two turn over the profits. The third slave says:

Lord, I know you are an hard man, You reap where you  have not sown, and gathered where you have not sown: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there you have what is yours.

He challenges and blows the whistle on his boss.

The boss replies, “Listen Buster, you should have worked harder in the fields and returned my money with interest.

The boss takes the slaves money and gives it to the first slave. He then says for those who have money, more shall be given, but those who don’t have money, what they have will be taken away. Then he fires the third slave.

The boss seems right to our contemporary thinking. I give you jobs and money and you should give me profits.

But the third slave is the whistle blower.

Boss you are a hard guy. You take money without working for it. 

In this story the Crop thief landlord reaps where he didn't sow, and the third servant is a whistle-blower who has unmasked the master' for what he is. He is a crop thief who profits by exploitation. He takes the money he has gained by exploitation. He squanders profits in wasteful excess.

 Hence, the third servant is punished for speaking the truth, and not for failing to make a profit.

My reading of this Parable is that we must act in solidarity with others when confronting social, political, and economic injustices. We cannot do it alone. We need our brothers and sisters.

Grape pickers in California fought together to form unions where they were assured not only more money, but toilets, lunch breaks and medical care.

School teachers formed unions to get comparable wages to basket ball players and doctors.

Nurses in California unionised to get better wages and fewer back breaking hours and professional treatment.

Hotel workers banded together to get better wages and a fairer spread of house. A working mother was expected to work from 8 to noon, take hours off without pay and be back anther job from 4-8 PM. How can they provide proper child care?

The stories that Jesus told are not simple moral tales. They deal with social and political issues of his time and ours.

RWC