"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.' "His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest." 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' (Matthew 25:24-30)

The third servant was afraid. He was clearly afraid of the master. He was almost certainly afraid of not having the skill needed to care for the talent. He was afraid of failure.

The third servant did not perceive the talent had truly been given over to him. He was convinced it was a test designed to set him up. Contrast this attitude to that of the prodigal son (Luke 15). In that parable the son fully claims what was given him, misuses it, loses all of it, and in desperation returns to his father's house... where he is welcomed and embraced.

Here the servant digs up what he has hidden and sullenly seeks to return it to the master. The attitude is comparable to the prodigal son's brother. There is no indication that the master reclaims the talents given and earned by the other two servants. Neither does he reclaim the single talent from the sullen servant.

Given the usual translation - wicked and lazy - we hear an angry rebuke in the master's response. The Greek words rhyme: poneros and okneros. This "wicked" is to be busy, distracted, annoyed, and harassed. Rather than lazy think slow, backward, and hesitant. Instead of a sharp tone, hear sadness in the master's voice.

The master is not the cause of weeping and gnashing of teeth, any more than the father was the cause of the prodigal son's poverty.

The cause of abundance and its opposite is not made explicit. In both having and not having the Greek verb is echo. This is a state of holding something, including to hold one's self or find one's self. In the Greek myth of Echo deception and frustration cause the self to recede more and more into loneliness.

Above is the Parable of the Talents in stained glass.