The Talents

The Talents

Matthew 25:14-30

Jesus continues His emphasis on preparedness for His return. In 25:1-13 He encouraged us to be anxiously waiting for His return. He also warned that if one was not ready when Christ returned there would be no second chance. In this section the focus is on working. Works are a result of faith, not the cause of it. Good works do not produce faith but true faith produces good works. Therefore it is vitally important that those that claim to know Christ have good works. We know this section as the Parable of the Talents. It goes a little further than the parables Jesus has been giving in this section (24:42-ff). Christ has told us to be watching and waiting eagerly for His coming. Here He shows us that He expects us not only to ready internally, but also to use what he gives us to make a profit for the kingdom of God.

Let’s define some of the parts of this story so we can understand it a little better.

* The owner of the servants represents Christ.

* The servants represent people that claim to be Christians.

* The journey represents the time between Christ ascending to the father and His return to earth.

* The talents represent the opportunity/ability God gives.

v.14 The kingdom of heaven is simply the rule of God. Jesus uses the analogy of a king and his servants to explain God’s expectations of His servants. The man in this story was obviously a rich and powerful man. Perhaps because of his prominence he had to leave the country. Leaving the country then was not like it is today. One could not jump on a plane and complete the trip within a few days. The distance of his trip was he reason for his delay in returning. The man’s business would have to continue in his absence. Therefore, he calls his trusted servants to his side for help.

Some may wonder why this man would trust his possessions with his servants. It was not an uncommon thing. In fact, sometimes servants in the Roman world were more educated than their masters. Servants often functioned as overseers. They could even have the authority to make important financial decisions; much like a person today can receive power of attorney. As I mentioned earlier, he business had to continue in the owner’s absence. He had to have folks he could trust with his goods and property.

v.15 Three servants are mentioned. They are each given a specific amount of talents. “Talents” were simply a measure of weight. In this context the talents represented money. In Jesus’ day the value of a coin was determined by two things: its composition and its weight. A gold coin was the most valuable, a silver coin was less valuable than a gold coin and a bronze or copper coin was the least valuable.

The master gives one of the servant’s five talents, another two talents and still another one talent. Note in verse 15 that the talents were given according to the ability of the servant. This suggests that the master knew his servants. He knew what he could trust them with. Some were better at handling money than the others. Some had more ability.

v.16-17 The servant that received five talents immediately went to work when the master left. Verse 16 says he went and “traded” with them. That’s a general term that carries the idea of engaging in work and continuing to do so. The servant that received the most talents proved to be worthy of that honor. He worked hard for the master. His worked paid off as well. He doubled the money.

The servant that received two talents did a good job as well. He used those two talents and got a return. In fact, like the servant that received five talents, he doubled his as well. So while these two men may not have earned the same amount of money they did in fact get and equal percentage of profit.

v.18 Now we come to the servant that received only one talent. Notice what he does. He digs a hole and hides the money in it. Now that was not uncommon. There were banks in those days but access to those banks was not as safe or easy as it is today. And this servant could have deposited his money in a bank. But it was not uncommon for folks to bury valuable items in that day. Matthew 13:44 describes the kingdom of God like a treasure that was hidden by burying it in a field. I have to say that it does seem that this man at least wanted to make sure he didn’t lose the talent. But it seems to me that the servants understood that it was expected of them to get a return. So he should have known not to bury the talent.

v.19 In this verse I think we see a hint that there will be a considerable amount of time that passes between the ascension of Christ and the second coming. It says “After a long time”. So the master returns home and notice what his priority was when he got there. He wanted to see how much money he made. He wanted to reckon with his servants. I want to interject something here. When Christ comes the first thing He will do is settle all accounts.

v.20 The first to come is the servant that received the five talents. He seems to be anxious to meet his master. He brought the five talents he had been entrusted with as well as five more to give to the master. He is an example of a servant that held nothing back for his master.

v.21 The response of the master to the servant is an encouraging one. He tells him “Well done!” He compliments his character as well calling him a “good and faithful servant”. He then rewards the servant by making him “ruler over many things”. In other words, he increased his responsibility which would increase the servants return as well. Notice also that the servant’s actions increased the master’s joy. The servant is told to “enter into the joy of thy lord”. Servant and master experience heightened joy because of the servant’s faithfulness.

v.22-23 The servant that was entrusted with two talents is rewarded as well. He enters into the joy of his lord as the first servant did. So far we have happy servants and a happy master. The master gave a job to do and the servants fulfilled their responsibility. But all of that is about to change.

v.24-25 Immediately we see the excuses the third servant has. He has quiet a story. He begins by telling the master about himself. Notice what he says he knew about the master.

*I knew you were a hard man. Nothing in the text suggests that the master was a hard man. The reek word describes someone hat has a harsh and inhuman character. The servant is saying that the master is an evil and inconsiderate man.

* I knew you were a greedy man. “Reaping where you did not sow” and “gathering where you did not strew” represent a person taking profit that does not belong to them. The servant is really calling the master greedy and he is calling him a thief as well. He is suggesting that the master uses his influence for personal gain and results to immoral behavior when it benefits himself.

*I was afraid of you. He doesn’t sound too afraid as he lays out his accusations against the master’s character! It is interesting to me that while the servant accuses the maser, and recognizes his own failure he never appeals to the master for mercy. He never shows any type of remorse.

After his passionate accusations against the master the servant reveals what he did with the talent. He hid it in the earth. He still has it, but he has not made a profit with it. His reasoning was that he was so afraid of the master that he buried it. he didn’t want to lose the talent and then face the master.

v.26-27 Now we have the response of the master. And it is a pretty serious one. He calls the servant “wicked and slothful”. His wickedness is revealed in how he accused the master of being an inhuman, greedy thief. The master in this story was anything but that. His laziness is seen in that he did nothing with the talent he received except bury it. There is some sarcasm in this verse as well. The master says “thou knewest that I reap where I have not sowed and gather where I have not strewed”. He is saying “if you really believed I was like that you would not have buried the money.” I mean, if the wicked servant believed the master expected a return on goods that did not belong to him he would certainly believe the master expected a return on goods that did belong to him.

The master tells the servant what he ought to have done. He should have at the very least invested the money. He could have done that in one of the Roman banks. By depositing the money he would have received probably about a 6 % return by interest. At least then the master would have gotten some return on his money. If the master had wanted the money buried he could have done that himself!

v.28-30 Now judgment is exercised on the wicked servant. He master commands that the talent given to him be taken from him and given to the servant that was originally given five. Jesus then explains that those that have been faithful will be rewarded with abundance but those that have not been faithful will not be rewarded and what they have will be taken from them as well. The master then commands that the wicked servant be cast into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Clearly Jesus has gone beyond the mere physical aspect of this parable now. With the closing words Jesus makes it clear that he is making a distinction between the lost and the saved with this parable. Let’s consider some thoughts as we understand that.

The servants represent those that profess to be Christians. Just as the ten virgins in the previous parable did. There will always be people that claim to know Christ but do not actually know Him. It will be difficult for us to distinguish between the two, but at the coming of the Lord it will be revealed.

True believers work while the Master is away. That is the clear distinction in this parable. The first two servants were busy investing what had been entrusted to them for the good of their master. That is how true believers are. We are concerned about what our Master has called us to do. We are motivated by more than anything, the love for our Master. But we also understand that we will be rewarded by Him. And that motivates us as well. There are not levels of heaven. All believers go to the same heaven. But there are levels of responsibility and reward in heaven. Our level of faithfulness on this earth determines our measure of reward and our role in the eternal kingdom. The more faithful we are the more glory we will be able to give God and the more joy we will experience ourselves. That is a motivator for the true believer.

Unbelievers in the church have a false view of who God is. The third servant in this parable saw the master as unloving and unkind. He was wrong, but that was his perception. The point is, he didn’t know the master. There are people in the church that do not know God. Knowing God is equated with eternal life (John 17:3). If a person does not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ then they will have a false understanding of who God is. It is nothing to turn on the TV today and hear unbelievers say demeaning things about God. It may surprise us but there are unbelievers in our church that think the same things we hear agnostics and atheists say. It is no wonder that such people do not work for God. There is a clear connection between not knowing god and not working for Him. Those that are slothful in the things of the Lord should take that to heart.

All of the excuses in the world will not convince God to let the unbeliever into heaven. In the end, the unbeliever will suffer loss and the believer will be rewarded. That’s that. It cannot and will not be changed. If we are not working for the Lord it could be because we are wicked and lazy like the servant in this parable. Jesus point is that when he returns the wicked and slothful will be distinguished from the faithful by the works that they engaged in. Let us be faithful in waiting, watching and working for the Lord as these last few parables in Mathew have been teaching us.