The Parable of Talents [Matt 25b]

THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS

Matthew 25:14-30

 Key Verse: 25:21

Introduction:

On the previous parable Jesus taught about 10 virgins who were waiting for the coming of the bridegroom. In this parable, five virgins had enough oil for their lamps that could last long enough into the time when the bridegroom came. But the rest five did not have enough oil to light up until the bridegroom came and they were shut out of the kingdom of God.

It is very distressing to face such last minute drop out of God’s eternal blessing. One thing we know that the oil is not simple faith that we are talking about. It is something tangible that could light up through the darkest night till the bridegroom comes.

In today’s parable, Jesus talks about servants gaining five talents. One who did not gain any talent was thrown out of the kingdom of God while the other two gained were welcomed to the kingdom of God. 

Here again in this passage, Jesus is talking about gaining something tangible, that one can produce as visible product, it may be called talents or ‘profit’. What is the talent that we believers are to produce?  If one does not make additional talent, whatever it may be, he will be thrown out of the kingdom of God. What does it mean to us?

1. A man and three servants [14-15]

There was a man going on a journey. He had three servants. Before he went on his journey, he entrusted his asset to three of his servants. To the first one he gave 5 talents, the next one he gave two talents, the third one he gave one talent. Here talent is a measurement of weight. One talent is about 6000 denarii. If one denarii is one day’s wage, then it would mount to almost 20 years wage of an average man. This means even one talent is a huge sum of money. [$600,000-2,000,000]  This man entrusted such a large sum of money to his servants. Actually it is not easy to entrust one’s asset to his servants. When he did this, this means that he trusted three servants. One thing that we have to note is that he did not give each the same amount of money. He gave each according to their ability. This means that he did not give the first one 5 talents because he loved more or trusted more than the other two. At the same token he gave the last one one talent not because he did not trust him as he trusted the first one but because he knew that he could handle the one talent according to his ability. How can one entrust his asset mounting to more than 1000,000 dollars unless he trust the person. So the man trusted the first one, the second one, and he trusted the third one to whom he gave one talent as much as he did to the first one.

One thing that we must notice is the reason why the owner entrusted such large sum of money to these people. He wanted his money to grow and multiply even in his absence!

Then what did each of these servants do?

2. Three servants handle their talents [16-18]

The first one who received five talents went at once. He lost no time and worked on the money and earned five talents more.

What did the second one do? V17 says, he also did the same things. He worked on his two talents and earned two more talents. There was no difference between the first one and the second one. These two wasted no time and worked on what they were given and gained more.

But the third one was different. He dug a hole in the ground and hid the money. Here the bible does not say anything about the mind of this person. Only what these two did, his actions are described. 

What can we know about the minds of these people through these actions? Nothing! We can conjecture about their minds through their actions.  I am pretty sure that if I ask 10 people, I will get ten different opinions. So for us, it is almost impossible to know with certainty why each of these three did what they did.

But one thing we know, the action and its outcome always reflect what went on in the depth of their minds. There comes a time when each of these three has to express why they did what they did. It is the time of accounting.

The man returned after a long journey and had settlement with each of these three. Since all of them received such large sum of money, they have no choice but to come to him and answer what they did with those money.

3. The man settles his account with the three [19-28]
1. the two, one who received five talents and the one who received two talents

V19. ¹⁹ "After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them

 After a long time the master returned. So each of them had enough time to work on the money and earn more. We know that there is a process of learning; we have not known all the pitfalls of life from the beginning. As we grow and mature, we learn necessary things and we repent of our wrongs and change our life style. Over the course of life, I learned one thing about how deal with the things of life. When I am not sure what to do, I use to delay my decision. More often than not, I let things sly by without any decision or I wait until I have no choice but to make decision. Such lack or delaying of decision is the other side of lack of faith or confidence. Fear is at the driver’s seat. Pray and making decision early is better than delaying and making no decision at all even if such early decision may bring undesired outcome.

After a long time the master came back. A long time is a time to do all these trials and mistakes and still have time to learn the truth about life and put into action to gain more of the original investment. So no one can say that it was too short to make any meaningful and effective investment.

As he came back, he is going to be in charge of his entire asset. He will have his direct supervision on his servants including the talents that he entrusted to his servants. The time has come and the first one presented to the master.

V20b,   'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.'

This man was happy for the fact that the master trusted him and entrusted him a huge sum of money of his own to take care. He was happy in the fact that the master had confidence in him, his goodness, his ability and his loyalty. It is very happy that one is being trusted by his master. In this trust relationship, comes the best of what he is. The master gave him this trust and this man took it by faith and thankfulness. In such faith in thankfulness, he can be the best he can be. It is just a matter of time for him to produce crop. It is shown in his action. He immediately worked on what the master entrusted to him, gaining five more talents. It is not just what happens to be. Rather it is a sure outcome in such man as this.

What did the second man who received two talents do?

²² "The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.

This man also was happy to present his work. As we noted earlier, he also went immediately to work on the two talents.   He could have said this: can you believe that I was given less than half of this guy received? What does he think of me? Am I a jerk in his eyes? NO! He did not have any unhappiness for the fact that he just received only two talents instead of five. He also was thankful of his master who trusted him and entrusted such a large sum of money to him. He had no problem to gain two more talents and presented this to his master in joy and happiness. Within him also is the axis of trust and love between the master and his servant.

Jesus said of such things:

John 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

Here Jesus said this in two ways: remain in me and then you will bear much fruit. Remain in his love and then your joy will be complete.

This two men bore much fruit because they were remain with the master in love and in trust.

2. But what about the last one? vv 24-25

²⁴ "Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵ So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'

First he understood his master as a hard man. Here ‘hard’ is the same word used to describe the Pharaoh’s hardened heart. Pharaoh in his hardened hart drove his Israel slaves harshly to produce bricks. He hardened his heart that he refused to let Israel go even after 9 plagues from God. When one feels that he has no room to work of his own  and is simply driven by harshness of his master, he cannot function properly and he cannot utilize all of his ability. So he said, v25

²⁵ So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'

Fear dominated his feelings and his mind is frozen, his heart is frozen and he thought only one thing, how can I avoid the wrath of my master! He devised a plan; the most secure plan he thought! Dig the ground and hide it until the master comes. There is no axis of trust and love created between this man and the master. There is no confidence and no trust. There are only fear and obligation that he has to meet to his master. Why? Is it because he received just one talent instead of two or five? Probably so! If he read this as no confidence and lack of love from the mater, then he was surely wrong! Be reminded that the talent is Master's and he does not have to give out even one talent! Also even one talent is such a huge money, mounting more than one million dollar! How many of us would have one million dollar throughout our lives? When one does not trust the Master, and think that he has only obligation to pay him back, then he is driven by only one thing! How can I escape from the punishment of the demanding master? As long as I found a mean to escape from his punishment, then I can do what I like to do, enjoying myself! 

What drives you do the things that you do every day? Is your emotions and feeling filled with fear and uncertainty or obligation and are they driven to meet daily quarters? Or are they driven by thankfulness, love and trust? You are here to worship the Lord; What motivated you to come and worship? Thank you Lord! I come here because the trust and love that you have shown to me! This must be our response!

Paul said this: ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them-- yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

Ephesians 3:8 Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

Here he claimed that he worked harder then all of them. This is genuinely true. Paul worked harder than any men could imagine as it is recorded in Acts. But it was not his own ability or power. It was the grace of God that energized him to do what he did. The outcome is astounding. Truly he produced more than 5 talents in his life. He was forgiven much and he worked harder. [⁴⁷ Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” Luke 7:47]

I like to think a little more about talents:

Then what is the talent that the master gave his servants? Three things may be possible:

1.      Man’s capability or ability to produce something—i.e. the primary constitution of a man : this may be not since this message is to the one who accepted Jesus and decided to look forward to the kingdom of God. Whatever it is, it must be particular to the one who received God’s message of salvation. This must not be something everyone has as basic blessing of God.

2.      Secondary endowment in terms of one’s life conditions—being born in wealth or poverty or athletic family or family of Doctor, godly or ungodly parents… being black, while or oriental, … in godly family… ; or what God has given on or after one have accepted Christ. It is possible but most of the time, these secondary provisions are not there when they received Christ and takes some time to gain more provisions. These conditions of the world make little impact on the work that God wants to achieve.

God’s blessing given freely to each person through Jesus—Paul; richness of God’s blessing given to Paul worked hard; not Paul’s power or ability according to 1 Cor 15:10. 1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them-- yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

: 1 Peter 1:7 These have come so that your faith-- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

It is more clearer as we review these passages that describes God’s gift of salvation

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Ephesians 1:18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

Ephesians 2:6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace

As shown in these verses, God in his great mercy and love, he has given us forgiveness. This is huge and the most worthy thing.

God demonstrated openly and unambiguously his love for all sinners. He declared his love for us through his Son Jesus. His love is seen with clarity, power and depth in the cross of Jesus, how he suffered and how he died so that our sins may be forgiven. He did this while still we are sinners. God is reaching out his hand to us in love. He extended his arms of love and trust so that we may trust him and we may know his love and we may have confidence in his forgiveness. Confidence in God’s grace is the most important asset for us. In some sense this is the riches of the asset that God entrusted to us.

Also what each one of us received is different as Paul said in Romans:

Romans 12:3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

What does this grace do in our lives?

Ephesians 3:16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,

Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

It give us strength and meets our needs.

The trust and love of God was first created in and through Jesus. Before this, there were only fear and anxiety in men’s part in their relationship with God the master. This has been because of God’s holiness and judgment of sin in his holiness and men has no quality to be with God and be loved by Him. But God in his mercy extended his grace and imparted his goodness to us in Jesus. So Jesus His son is the token of his love, extension of his trust to us. We are to take this and be confident in his love and trust. We have to show this by working on the talent that God gave to us.

So how one understands the master is important. Having trust and love in the master is important. The axis between the master and the servant in trust and love is the key to make the servant’s life profitable. Once there was a student who was in school for five years. Yet he was barely finishing sophomore classes.  He studied the Bible and came to believe Jesus. He was filled with so much joy and happiness. His mind was focused and he graduated the school in three years. So the relationship in trust and love between the master and the servant is paramount importance for the servant to work on the asset he received from the master. John describes in this way:

John 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. ⁸ This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Let’ see what the master view all these? In his side what is the most important thing?

3. Master’s response

To the first one, the master responded this way:

²¹ "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'

The master was so happy and praised him as good and faithful servant. He is ‘good’ and he is ‘faithful’. The master knew with certainty that this man knows how to reciprocate the love with love and truth with truth. The master was happy that he understand what it means to entrust such a large sum of money. He read it correctly in faith as the master’s goodness and trust for him. He did not doubt Master's love and trust without any reservation. So he put all that he had into the talents and worked on it. The master was happy that he know well the talent is the Master’s and yet he worked hard to gains more talents not for him but for the Master. His loyalty to the Master is fully proven without any trace of doubt. He did  his best in diligence and hard work.  This is what it means to be good and faithful. Accept God’s love as shown in Christ and work all things in and with this trust.

He characterized this more in this way: You have been faithful with a few things; This man accepted the talents with thankfulness and worked on the talents diligently so as to bring about more talents. This is what it means to be faithful.

Here one’s faithfulness is seen or expressed not in words but in actions. What one does shows what he has in his heart. If one has faith in his heart, then his action will show it invariably. Faith will surely reveal itself in action. But doubt and fear always yield its fruit—its fruit is unproductiveness.

When God gave us richness of his grace in Christ, he meant to produce more through what he vested in each of our lives. Faith makes the beginning of our relationship with our Lord and works in our lives and carried us until we meet him. 

What about the second one who received the two talents?

²³ "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'

The master said the same thing as he did to the first one. The master was as happy as he was with the one who brought him five more talents. His happiness is not with the amount that he gained but with the person for his good and faithfulness. This man showed his goodness and his faithfulness as he worked on his talents.

As we see here, the emphasis of the Master is not the amount that they gained but that they were good and faithful. Their goodness and faithfulness is revealed in what they yielded from their work; the gain!

Then what is the ultimate purpose of the master? Gaining as many talents as he can get is the goal?

As we see in v 21, the master did two things: he entrusted more of his asset to the faithful servants; the one who got five and the one who got two. Also he wanted these two servants to share master’s happiness. The master’s happiness is to make these servants as his partners in His business and have them enjoy the happiness of Mater himself.

Becoming the partner of the Master, having joy of the master… this is the ultimate goal of the master.

God blessed us with his talents. He wants each of us to be his partners in His work. He wants us to be part of his joy and his blessing.  

Then what is the talent exactly that one has to work on and will produce by faith?

Jesus mentioned who is the good and faithful servant in Matt 24:45-47. The faithful servant is the one who feed God’s household in a proper time. So in God’s perspective, the best and faithful servant is the one who feed food for life to his household. Simply speaking, one who feeds the words of God to God’s people in time is the best servant.

Such similar conclusion is seen in Jesus prayer for Peter.  When peter was restored and willing to serve Jesus, he said to Peter three times; feed my lamb, feed my sheep, take care of my sheep if he has genuine love.

The asset that God gave us is God’s blessing in forgiving our sins. Also he gave us the truth and power in the knowledge of the words of God. When we work on this blessed knowledge of salvation, we will surely produce without failure. It is a matter faith and a matter of diligence in work on this faith. Implementation of the truth that we received in our lives will surely yield much gain.

What about the one who failed to produce? Why couldn’t he? What might be the outcome of such failure??

4. Master's response to the one who did not gain any talent.

²⁶ "His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? ²⁷ Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

The master characterized this man as wicked and lazy.

He is wicked because he did not accept the master’s trust as he was given. The master loved him and trusted him that he entrusted such a large sum of money to him. He failed to see the master’s mind; his love and his trust for him. Master did not have any hidden motives and schemes in giving out such large amount of his asset to this man.

He is lazy and he did not want to work on the talent he was given. He wanted to enjoy his own life as he liked. Lazy person never bear anything:

Proverbs 10:4 Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.

Proverbs 12:27 The lazy man does not roast his game, but the diligent man prizes his possessions.

This man blamed his master of being too hard and demanding more than one can produce and that he judges harshly. This reasoning even cannot stand because he could have put the talent in the bank and gained interest at least. What is the true picture of him? It is his wickedness and his laziness.

But in his inner being, wickedness and laziness were at play. All these come from his distrust in the Master. He did not or could not take the master’s love as it is. He could not trust the master’s good will. He has his own understanding, his own will and his own desire. He is wicked and he is lazy in the Master’s business! He wanted to do what he cares and what he wanted to do instead of working on Master's asset! He seems to be good and smart! He can escape the wrath of the master and at the same time he can enjoy his own riches. James describes more pointedly of such man:

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. ²⁰ You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? ²¹ Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. James 2: 18-22

Paul says similar things in his letter to Corinth.

1 Corinthians 3:12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, ¹³ his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. ¹⁴ If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. ¹⁵ If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

What we produce tells us what we have in our inner being. If one’s faith is genuine and of God, then he will surely produce God’s product in his life. If not, he will not produce any godly product. This is shown in this man. Additionally gained five talents or two talents do not save them but they are the proof of what they believe.

To such man , what was the reward?

²⁸ "'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. There is no reward for such man.  Whatever he had was taken from him and be given to others. He has no masters’ asset at all. He cannot join in master’s happiness.

²⁹ For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.

The master rules this verdict: The verdict is clear: when one has faith and express that faith in action, then he will be given more and more. But anyone who does not act on what he has, then even what he had will be taken away. God has given each of us talents according to our ability. There is no conditions attached and no prerequisite to receive this basic talents. But once we receive this, we must show our faith by working on it diligently and faithfully.

We have received a tremendous blessing from God. We received all that we have and we are. Our health, our intelligence, our material riches. In addition we received salvation through his son Jesus. This is an amazing blessing, guaranteeing our place in the kingdom of God. This talent far outweighs all other talents.

When one does not take it by faith and work on it, then the outcome is serious!

³⁰ And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

He will be excluded from the master’s quarters. He will be thrown out and suffer in darkness. There will be only weeping and gnashing of teeth. There won’t be any more changes or recourses.

Conclusion

1.      It deals with life-living rather than having faith

a.      It encompasses the whole life until Jesus comes: the final conclusion of life is what happens when one meet Christ. ; in this regard, one’s perspective over his or her life is important. The focus of life is the time when we meet Christ. In this perspective all must be designed and worked out.

b.      It is not just what I am now; though it is related. It is what I am doing and what I will do throughout my life until we see Him again.

2.      Producing more talents

a.      God’s investment on my life is not just for me to enjoy easy and good life. He want us to produce as the proof of our faith in Him

b.      It surely involves work in diligence even hard work.

c.       God want crop or yield; what we produce as we live is the final outcome measurement of what we are before Him.

3.      Faith and producing crop or yield?

a.      Faith is closely related to the way how one produce crop or yield

b.      Faith is the beginning and carries one through the period; the goal is to produce crop or yield by or through the power of faith.

4.      God’s ultimate purpose for us is to be his partners in work and in joy and happiness.

What can or should we do then?

1.      We received that talent through our faith. It is God’s grace in forgiving our sins and giving us guaranteeing the eternal life.  It is as valuable as one talent.. more than a million dollar.

2.      When one truly appreciate this blessing from God and know God’s love and trust as well as His hope in entrusting this, he can work on this diligently and faithfully. Here the key is love and trust in loyalty to our master Jesus. When we have these, we will bear much fruit, as much as what we have received.

3.       What is that fruit?

a.      What we can find in the lives of the disciples is the preaching of the Gospel and bearing many spiritual children: Peter’s sermon yielded 3000 believers. Paul’s life of mission bore witness in many cities and yielded many believers.

b.      From Matt 24—the ideal servant who keeps vigil until Jesus comes: that vigil is in form of feeding God’s household at a proper time, i.e feeding the word of God

c.       Jesus’ command to Peter: feeding his sheep  in threefold. [John 21]

4.      We can be witnesses; showing ourselves to be Jesus’ disciples!

a.      Keep always distinctive nature as Jesus’ disciples

b.      Undeterred loyalty to Jesus as the Lord in words and in life and actions.

c.       God’s grace in Jesus is the main theme and talk of one’s life: I did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as ransom for many.

d.      We have to be Jesus disciples in our work and with our friends and in our school and in our family: