In Matthew chapter 25, Jesus tells a few different parables to describe the period of time where we wait for the second coming. After telling a story about not knowing when it will occur, He launches into a story about how we’re supposed to act while we’re waiting. It’s the parable of the talents.
In this case a talent is not a “skill.” Here it’s a weight measurement. Before coins were used widely, it was common to use measures of weight for paying amounts of precious metals during transactions. A talent is about 75 pounds, and the most common precious metal used back then was silver. In the context of the passage, we can consider a talent about 20 year’s worth of minimum wage.
Jesus wants to drive home a point each time He uses a parable. In this one He’s stressing that it’s important not to rest on our laurels in terms of building God’s kingdom while we pass through this life. In the story we have a rich man who’s heading out of town for an undetermined amount of time. He calls three of his servants together and entrusts each of them with a large amount of money (five talents, two talents, or one talent), each according to his ability. Each servant is to work at growing the value of the money he’s been entrusted with while the master is away.
The master eventually returns, and he calls everyone together to see what they’ve been able to accomplish. Both the five-talent and the two-talent servants had gone out, worked hard, and doubled the boss’s money, and he praised them both for it. The third guy hadn’t even tried. He went out and hid the money, rather than even bother to put it in the bank where the boss could collect interest off of the deposit. The one-talent servant started making excuses, portraying himself as being afraid of the ruthless opportunist that he calls his master.
“So let me get this straight,” says the master. “You think I’m a ruthless opportunist…you fear what I’m going to do when I find out how little you’ve done…and still the best you can do is dig a hole and hide the money in the ground somewhere? You didn’t even take the time to go put it in the bank so I could collect interest?” The master takes the talent from this guy, who has proven himself incapable of handling this amount of responsibility, and gives it to the five-talent (now 10-talent) servant, who has demonstrated his ability to handle it.
There are a few things I think are interesting about this parable.
First off, the two diligent servants received exactly the same reward, even though they brought different amounts for their boss. This demonstrates that the reward is based on faithfulness, not results. No matter how little (or how much) you have, be faithful with it. Even if you don’t think it’s much, God can do big things with it if you devote it to God’s plan (remember that Christ used a kid’s lunch to feed a crowd of at least 5,000). It’s important to remember that the master gave to them according to their ability. No matter how much you’ve got, be faithful with it.
Secondly, this parable illustrates the idea that as you prove yourself capable of handling responsibility, you’re entrusted with more of it. When the master gave to them according to their ability, he did it with at least the partial intent to develop and grow their ability. Remember that God doesn’t need to see you demonstrate your ability to do something; He already knows better than you what you’re capable of. Demonstrating an ability to handle responsibility is more for you than for Him. At the end of this parable, there was a servant with 11 talents, a servant with four talents, and a servant with no talents. Just from the few verses we see about these men, we know that the first two didn’t always oversee the amount they eventually ended up with. Looking at your own life, have you grown in trust and capability, to the point where you can look back at past experiences and see how they helped lead to areas of greater responsibility later in life? With your current level of faithfulness, might you one day be placed in charge of 20, or even 50 talents?
This is a parable about the tragedy of missed opportunities. Our King, the master in the parable, is coming one day. We’ll be called to account for the things that have been entrusted to us, and we’ll be held responsible for the faithfulness we’re now demonstrating. In light of that accounting, will you be happy to see the Master return, or are there changes you need to make first?
Matthew 25:14-30 (ESV)
14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’