The Parable of the Talents
August 10, 2003
Dear Friends,
In the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25, we have a man who divides up his wealth among his servants with the intent that they earn a profit on the money invested in each of them. We are told “And, to one, indeed, gave he five talents, and, to another, two, and, to another, one,—to each according to his particular ability, and went from home.” The typical analysis of the parable is that each of us has been given different abilities – intelligence, personality, appearance, etc. – which are the basis for our return to our heavenly Father. The principle being illustrated is “…unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.” (Luke 12:48)
I am going to suggest that the meaning of the parable is a little different than that. We equate “talent” meaning ability to the monetary unit called a talent even though the words have no connection in the original Greek and this is what confuses us. A wise master would not divide up his wealth in such a manner. The parable is set in a business transaction so we must understand it in its context. Talent is one of several factors that you consider in business performance, but is not the sole indicator. A wise manager would never divvy up the assets of a company on talent alone. The wise manager would consider past performance, experience, integrity, reliability and so forth in addition to raw talent or natural ability. In fact, a wise manager would probably put significantly more weight on these attributes rather than natural ability. Who wants to entrust precious assets to someone who is not trustworthy or is lazy or has consistently failed to live up to their abilities?
The talents in the Parable of the Talents are not our natural ability, but are our ability to produce fruit for God. The parable bears this out as the master only gives one talent to the “wicked and slothful servant” not because this fellow was in the shallow end of the gene pool, but because he was and had been in the past a “wicked and slothful servant.” The master had little expectations of this fellow based on his history and so committed to him just a few of his assets. This guy was not motivated by love of his Master nor desire to please him but was motivated by fear. His focus was not bringing his Master gain, his focus was on not messing up. He had a ridiculous view of his Master seeing him as a “hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown.” Yet, if he truly viewed him as reaping where he did not sow, shouldn’t this sluggard have realized that the would certainly expect to gain where he had sowed!
The moral of the parable, I would suggest, is the servants of the Master need to be looking for opportunities to serve and do them well when they come up. These do not have to be highly skilled areas initially. In the very next parable, the point is brought home when he says to the wicked and slothful servants “I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.” You don’t have to be highly intelligent, beautiful and rich to serve God, you just have to be willing to serve.
Some servants will be better producers than others. “But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” (Matt. 13:23) However, the reward is commensurate with the effort. “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.” (Matt. 19:29) This being the case, what faithful servant wouldn’t be eager to serve?
Service can come in a multitude of forms — some requiring well-honed skills and others just a willing body — but our incredible reward will be the opportunity for greater service in the Kingdom of God…..forever.
Have a great week!
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