God's Take on Faithfulness

When I think of things that displease God - things that arouse His anger, or His wrath - I usually think of vile, wicked things. I think of sin and disobedience. That's probably fairly typical.
But this morning as I was reading a couple of Jesus' parables, I noticed something.

In the parable of the prodigal son, a man's son took part of his father's wealth and blew it on riotous living. Sex, drugs and rock n' roll. He wasted every dime. It was enough to make anyone angry. But the young man's father simply waited patiently, longing for the boy's return. When this wayward son finally did come home, there was no wrath, no fury at all.
Instead, the father threw a party. His boy was home.

In Matthew 25, Jesus told another parable. In this one, a wealthy man was leaving for a long journey. Before going he left a portion of his wealth with some of his servants to manage. With one servant he left five talents, with another two, and with a third he left a single talent.
The first servant went to work investing and doubled his investment. The second did equally well in his finacial decisions. But the third simply buried the money.
When the master returned he called in the servants to give account. Whe he saw the profits of the first two servants, he rewarded them each handsomely. "Well done, good and faithful servants!" But when the third servant came in and confessed that he was afraid and hid the talent, the master erupted in anger. "You wicked, lazy servant. Take away the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten. And cast this worthless servant into outer darkness."

One blew what he was given on sinful living. The other was afraid so he hid what he was given. One came home with nothing in his pockets. The other returned with exactly what he had to begin with. One found a father filled with joy. The other faced the fury of his master. One was given a party. The other was given the boot.

It almost seems kind of mixed up to me. I guess it's a good indication of how God looks at the faithful stewardship of His people.