<p>19:22 <i>He said to him: Out of your own mouth will I judge you, you wicked servant- </i>The Lord&rsquo;s only other reference to a wicked servant is in the parable of the wicked servant who runs up a huge debt, is forgiven, and then refuses to forgive a far smaller debt, putting the debtor in prison (Mt. 18:32). The two men are clearly intended to be compared. The one of Mt. 18:32 was dishonest with his Lord&rsquo;s money for how else did he amass such a huge debt to his Lord? Was it not that he was found out for dishonesty?; he was materialistic in the extreme; and he was incredibly ungrateful and unforgiving. He committed many sins. The &ldquo;wicked servant&rdquo; here does nothing wrong, is not overtly materialistic; but his sin of omission, meant that in reality he had done just the same as the man who committed so much wrong.</p><p>The Lord&rsquo;s parable was clearly alluding to a contemporary Jewish rabbinic parable later recorded in the Zohar Chadash, folio 47: &ldquo;A certain king gave a deposit to three of his servants: the first kept it; the second lost it; the third spoiled one part of it, and gave the rest to another to keep. After some time, the king came and demanded the deposit. Him who had preserved it, the king praised, and made him governor of his house. Him who had lost it, he delivered to utter destruction, so that both his name and his possessions were blotted out. To the third, who had spoiled a part and given the rest to another to keep, the king said, Keep him, and let him not go out of my house, till we see what the other shall do to whom he has entrusted a part: if he shall make a proper use of it, this man shall be restored to liberty; if not, he also shall be punished&rdquo;. The point of contrast is that the Lord is far more demanding. The Jewish story praised the man who simply preserved the deposit. The Lord Jesus condemned the same man for doing nothing positive with it. The third man in the Jewish parable was given the possibility of repentance. But the third man in the Lord&rsquo;s parable was condemned with no possibility of changing the verdict- for this life is our sole time of responsibility. The Lord is purposefully alluding to this parable, and deconstructing it. Passivity, &lsquo;holding on to the faith&rsquo; in a passive sense, much glorified by both Judaism and Protestant Christianity, is what may be glorified in human religion; but it&rsquo;s exactly this attitude which will be the ground of condemnation.</p><p><i>You thought that I am a hard man, demanding back what I did not deposit, and reaping that which I did not sow?</i>- The Lord&rsquo;s response could actually be translated as meaning: &lsquo;You really? saw Me reap where I did not sow&hellip;?&rsquo;. The process of reaping definitely refers to the last judgment, and so the man had no basis upon which to make this claim, because he had never actually &lsquo;seen&rsquo; the Lord act like that. But I prefer to understand the Lord as taking the man&rsquo;s ideas and working with them, without specifically correcting them- and saying that even if the man&rsquo;s understanding of Him was correct, then He expected him to act appropriately to that understanding. Instead of doing nothing.</p><p>The metaphor of a man travelling into a far country is a sign of His recognition that on one level, that is indeed how it will appear to us. And clearly the idea is based upon the experience of absent landlords, who left their estates in the hands of their servants and went away to enjoy the good life in some better part of the Roman empire. Such landlords were despised as non-patriotic and disinterested in the welfare of their people. And yet the Lord consciously employs this image concerning Himself. He is not ultimately like that, but through this choice of imagery He gives a nod of recognition towards the fact that indeed this is how it will appear to some. Joseph likewise appeared tough and disinterested to his brothers, when beneath that mask his heart was bursting for them; His whole plan of action was simply to lead them to repentance.</p>