Talents

I’m sure many people, if they have been around church for any length of time, will have heard at least one sermon on the parable of the talents. But here’s a question. What is it really teaching? Is it simply a story about people making the most of what they have? Well, maybe that’s a part of it, but is there more to it than that? I suspect there is.

To really unpack the meaning behind Jesus’ story, we probably need to ask some basic questions. What audience was Jesus addressing when He told the parable? Whom do the characters in the parable represent? In other words, whom does Jesus want to hear and be challenged by this story? We do have to ask what it meant at the time before we can go on to ask what it means to us.

The parable comes in Matthew’s gospel, after Jesus had been speaking out against the Jewish religious leaders, who seemingly didn’t practice what they preached (Matthew 23:3). It also comes after Jesus’ warning that the whole Jewish religious machinery, including its magnificent temple, would be destroyed within a generation (Matthew 24:34).

Jesus then goes on to tell this parable, among a couple of others, warning about the need to be ready for what is coming.

So, in this particular parable about the talents, the real emphasis seems to be on the one who was given a single talent to invest on his master’s behalf. It was actually a considerable amount of money in those days. This is the man who, instead of investing the talent, chose to bury what he had been given because he had a very poor view of the master he served.

So, whom Jesus was speaking to here? Whom was He addressing? Who were those who were not using the amazing blessing they had been entrusted with because they failed to understand the goodness of their master?

Often, in these kinds of parables, the ‘master’ would seem to refer to The Master, God Himself. So, following on from what comes before this parable, the ‘one entrusted’ seems to refer to those who had been entrusted with the Law and the Temple. In other words, it was the same religious leaders Jesus had just been criticising! If we look at the parable from this perspective, then what we see is a warning. It’s a warning to those who had been entrusted with the precious gift of knowing God. They were being warned not to squander it, or they would have to face the consequences.

Next, we might ask whom the ones entrusted with the ten talents and the five talents might be. Could they represent the ones who are entering the kingdom anew and who are being far more productive with their faith in Jesus? If so, it would be wise for the master to invest in them rather than the others.

If this is the case, the parable stands as a warning to all of us not to be like those who have been entrusted with much, but who don’t then use that to invest for God’s in-breaking Kingdom. The challenge, then, is to be like those who have been entrusted with so very much, and who go on to use everything they have to further the Kingdom’s growth.

Which one of the characters do you most want to be like today?