The Parable Of The Talents

by Jonathan Hinds

“For it is as when a man, going into another country, called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his several ability; and he went on his journey. Straightway he that received the five talents went and traded with them, and made other five talents. In like manner he also that received the two gained other two. But he that received the one went away and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money. Now after a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and maketh a reckoning with them. And he that received the five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: lo, I have gained other five talents. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord. And he also that received the two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: lo, I have gained other two talents. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord. And he also that had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou didst not sow, and gathering where thou didst not scatter; and I was afraid, and went away and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, thou hast thine own. But his lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I did not scatter; thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back mine own with interest. Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him that hath the ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away. And cast ye out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:14-30).

The parable of the talents from Matthew 25:14-30 was told in the city of Jerusalem to Jesus’ disciples who were questioning him about the time of the destruction of the temple and, as they said, “the end of the world” (Matthew 24:1-3). Jesus replied by speaking of the coming of false prophets, the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel, and of multiple warnings of being ready for these events in question to occur. Beginning in Matthew 24:32 through 25:30, Jesus gave admonitions to all who heard his words to always be ready. This includes the parable of the fig tree (Matthew 24:32), the example of the great flood Noah survived (Matthew 24:39), the faithful and wise servant (Matthew 24:44-51), the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13), and is also part of the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30).

The parable of the talents contains other lessons for us to consider. One such lesson is our need to remember our Lord and Master expects his servants to be active and not idle when opportunity arises for work to be done. Each of these servants was given a portion of their master’s goods “according to his several ability” (Matthew 25:15). Who knows better of what we each are capable of doing than God and ourselves? God does not expect us to do more than what is possible to be done, but he does expect us to do all that is possible. This is not meant to say that we can excuse ourselves from certain work by saying, “God just has not given me talent or ability to do this task.” The work must still be accomplished, even if we have not as great a skill at is as someone else. In Romans 12:4-8, the apostle Paul describes how the church, as a body having many members, functions when all will work. He describes how some at that time were given the task of prophesying, others ministering to needs, teaching, exhorting, giving, ruling, even showing mercy to others. But after saying that each person has a task to accomplish, he emphasizes that they are to do this task as superlatively (excellently) as they could. Just as these first two servants in Jesus’ parable did. When given five or two talents they “straightway,” or immediately, set to work trading with them. They did the best they could for their master, and they are called the “good and faithful servants.” Peter speaks of similar matters in I Peter 4:8-11, where he also emphasizes that all are capable and must be fervent in love for their brethren regardless of what else they do for them (ministering and teaching/speaking the word of God).

There are a couple of wonderful examples elsewhere in the scriptures that clearly portray this attitude. Consider the Macedonian saints the apostle Paul mentions in II Corinthians 8:2-4. Paul says of these that they joyfully gave liberally out of their deep poverty. In like manner, Jesus praised the attitude of a poor widow in Mark 12:41-44 whom he noted gave two mites (a very small amount) into the treasury. These people might not have given a large amount in banking terms, but they gave all that they could in service to God.

The all-knowing God that we serve knows and understands what each of us is capable of doing. That is why Moses was instructed to lead the Israelites to Canaan. He was content to live out his life in Midian and used every excuse for his inabilities he could (Exodus 3-4). However, God had told him to meet with Pharaoh and deliver God’s words to Egypt and Israel, and that task he could do. In like manner, Jeremiah tried to refuse God’s orders to be a prophet to the nations when he said “Ah, Lord Jehovah! Behold, I know not how to speak; for I am a child” (Jeremiah 1:6). God responded by saying that was no excuse for not doing what he was commanded and that Jeremiah would go wherever he was sent and say whatever he was told.

“But he that received the one went away and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money” (Matthew 25:18). Notice that the difference in what these three did with the money entrusted to them gives a good picture of Jesus’ teaching on storing up treasures from Matthew 6:19-21. We can see that the first two servants were storing up better things for their master’s home. The third, trusted his lord’s money to the earth. It was lying around to be decayed and we will note later how truly great a loss that is.

“Lord I knew thee, that thou art a hard man…” (Matthew 25:24). How well did this servant really know the Lord? If he knew his Lord that well, he should have realized that he would be very upset and disappointed with his slothfulness and lack of profit on his funds. Neither is our Lord pleased with slothfulness and lack of productivity. This is not to imply that in order to seem productive to the Lord we have to meet certain quotas of labor and responsiveness from the people we speak with. Rather we must be mindful that work is to be done. We might not all be wonderful music composers and song-writers, however we can all contribute to the singing that God expects from all of us. Whether it is in teaching others how to sing better, song-leading, or singing along in services, we all have a part. Similarly with teaching the word of God to others; whether it is preaching a lesson, writing a tract or lesson plan, sending out a lesson to someone to study themselves, inviting others to come to a study of the scriptures with you, or reading scriptures to others, we can all participate in sharing the knowledge of God and his word with others. Regardless of how we view the strength of our ability we have the responsibility and expectation of God to make use of that ability for his profit. Just as neither Jeremiah’s age nor Moses’ weakness of tongue or meek demeanor were excuses to keep them from serving God, neither can we allow such things to hinder our resolve to work with what God has given us and thus fulfill his expectations. We have already seen what the outcome of such attitudes will be. Those who give their best in serving God, can expect to hear “Well done good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over many/a few things, I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Matthew 25:21-22). But those who would excuse themselves from serving God will hear “Cast ye out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30).

“For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away” (Matthew 25:29). In the context of this parable and other times the phrase is used, this refers to those who have worked to earn their abundance. Others that have little, due to their neglect and idleness, often allow what little they have to become weakened or worthless to them. Consider our faith in the context of II Peter 1:5-8. When we work, by diligently studying and through prayer and other means, our faith will grow stronger and we can add to our faith and abound in the virtues and traits that Peter has listed that will keep us from being barren and unfruitful. However if we, through neglect and slothfulness, allow our faith to weaken, we are faced with the real possibility of losing what little we had started with.

Brethren, let us work diligently with what God has provided, in whatever capacity we can. Let us soberly evaluate ourselves and see if we are making use of those abilities that our Lord knows we have. And let us work to improve ourselves in all aspects so that we might be pleasing servants in the eyes of our Lord and Master.