After forty years, they called him a good and faithful servant.
a good and faithful servant
idiomSomeone praised for loyal, diligent, and dependable service.
Origin
The phrase is the master's commendation in the Parable of the Talents, Matthew 25:21: well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things. It is spoken to the servants who put their master's money to work rather than hiding it.
Within the parable the praise rewards not brilliance but reliability and diligence with what one has been entrusted — being trustworthy in small things as the qualification for larger ones.
In English a good and faithful servant is a warm tribute to steady, loyal service, often used at retirements and memorials, sometimes lightly to mark long and uncomplaining devotion to a job or a cause.
The tribute honoured her as a good and faithful servant who had kept the library running for three decades.
At the retirement dinner the chairman raised his glass to a good and faithful servant, a man who had never sought the spotlight yet whose quiet reliability had held the department together through crisis after crisis.
The short stories Jesus told to make a point.
- 01
good Samaritan (idiom)
A person who helps someone in distress out of their own good nature.
- 02
the prodigal son (idiom)
Someone who returns, chastened and repentant, after a period of reckless or wasteful living.
- 03
the eleventh hour (idiom)
The very last possible moment before a deadline or a decisive event.
- 04
separate the wheat from the chaff (idiom)
To select only that which is of value.
- 05
a house built on sand (idiom)
A plan or venture with no solid foundation, liable to collapse under pressure.
- 06
the widow's mite (idiom)
A small gift that represents a great sacrifice for the person who gives it.