What does Matthew 25:28 mean?

The master in Jesus' story is delighted with his first two servants (Matthew 25:20–23) and disgusted with the third (Matthew 25:24–27). The first pair doubled the money he left with them before leaving town on a long journey. The third servant, though, buried the single talent he'd been given. Then he returned it to the master with a lame excuse about being afraid. The master has called out this excuse and revealed the truth: the third servant is sinful and lazy.

We don't often think of "laziness" as a sin on the same level as adultery, murder, or theft. Jesus' parable, though, shows that it can be characterized as wicked. The term translated "slothful" implies a moral failure, not merely something caused by fatigue or weakness. A lack of effort driven by immorality brings disastrous consequences. He has also shown that fear is not an excuse for inaction when action has been demanded by the Lord. Further, a stubborn refusal to obey the master implies someone who's not a true servant, at all, but rather a pretender waiting to be found out (Matthew 25:30).

Jesus describes the master as applying what some have called the "kingdom rule" to the situation, a concept expanded on in the following verse (Matthew 25:29). He orders the one talent taken from the slothful servant and given to the one who has the ten talents. This is also logical: the one with the ten talents (Matthew 25:16) is likely to make the most of what was squandered by the wicked servant.