The Parable of the Talents

Matthew 25: 14-30 (November 16, 2008)

1) The Text

14“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ 21His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 22And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ 23His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 24Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; 25so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? 27Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 28So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 30As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

2) The Context

While we often use "talents" to refer to one's abilities, the word in this text refers to a very large sum of money -- between 75-96 pounds of silver. It would take nearly 20 years of work at the basic wage of 1 denarius a day to equal 1 talent. The master was very, very generous to all the slaves -- even the one who received only one talent.
When the master "gives" (paradidomi) his property to the slaves, does the money then belong to the slaves -- thus presenting God as being very generous? Or are the slaves just managers of their master's money -- thus presenting the slaves as stewards of what belongs to God? The verb paradidomi usually means, "to give or hand over" and seems to imply, "giving up control of." The slaves don't appear to give back any of the money to their master when he has returned. The one talent of the third slave is given to the first, not kept by the master. In contrast to this view, the third slave obviously considered the one talent as always belonging to the master. So rather than think of this text primarily as a stewardship parable, our first approach might be to consider it a parable about the graciousness of the master and our response to that. Even the one who received "little" received a whole lot of money.

3) Interpretation

This passage is another example of Jesus choosing the common and ordinary things of life as a teaching vehicle. Once again, Jesus took his parable from everyday, common life. We have heard a parable about a wedding banquet, masters and slaves, and about sheep and goats. These were common experiences for the average Jewish person from their everyday life. We often interpret this parable as an invitation to use the gifts that God has given to us in such a way that is pleasing to God. We all know that God has given each one of us differing gifts, as represented by the varying talents that God has given to each person.
In our society, talent is not a measure of an amount of silver but of the gifts/resources/abilities that God has given to each one of us. Notice that the “five talent” person and the “two talent” person did not get into psychological games about who had the most talent. They didn’t get into games about “I am superior because God gave me five talents” or “I am half as good because God gave me only two talents.” Both people realized that their master had lent them resources and they were both to use these resources to benefit their master. That was simple and clear.
But, one slave buried the gift that the master had given him. It seems that this slave was embarrassed that God gave him only one talent and so he went and buried the talent that God had given him. Remember this talent was not meager in and of itself: it was worth three years of wage. Three years of wages is a considerable sum of money. But compared to the servants who had been given fifteen years of wages or six years of wages, the gift of three years of wages seemed meager to the person who was given one talent.
Similarly, God has been generous to all of us, including those who feel that God has not given them sufficient gifts. Even so, we as human beings can bury treasures/resources that God has given each one of us. We can minimize God’s gifts to us and complain. But the parable challenges us not to sit on the life of God in us. That is a variant on the Matthean theme of keeping the oil in supply, living from the life of God and not sitting back in complacency on the basis of status or, here, not snuffing out the flame because our narrow values will not allow us to keep up with God's generosity. If the modern use of talents has any relation to the text, it is at the level of allowing God's life to do its adventures with us and putting our talents (our natural abilities) at God's disposal. The talents of the parable are really about God's life and power, not about our natural abilities. But the appropriate response is to allow God's investing hand to employ our abilities.
The tragedy is that many people are afraid of losing or endangering God and so seek to protect God from adventures, to resist attempts at radical inclusion that might, they fear, compromise God's purity and holiness. Protecting God is a variant of not trusting God. Matthew wants his hearers to share God's adventure of inclusiveness. "God's mercy never ends" is a way of saying grace has capital, love is rich. We need to encourage people to stop putting God under the mattress. As we begin to trust allowing God to move through us, our lives change as individuals and our communities have a better chance of change.

4) Thought Exercise

What are the gifts/resources/abilities that God has given to you?

How are you using them in such a way that pleases God?