The Scenes⤒🔗

Christ had just finished the parable of the ten virgins in which He had stressed the need to be watchful. Next, He added the parable of the talents so that His disciples would not interpret this watchfulness to be simply a passive wait­ing for His return. To that end, He switched from the festive picture of a wedding to a financial picture of stewards, entrusted with their master's good.

Some imagine that this parable of the talents is the same as the similar-sounding parable of the pounds (Luke 19:11-27). Though there are a number of similarities, there are also quite a few differences. Moreover, the timing and setting of these two parables are noticeably different. There are other parables that, likewise, have similarities, and yet ought to be treated as different parables (e.g., the great supper [Luke 14:15-24], and the wedding feast [Matt. 22:2-14]).

We could summarize the parable as follows: A wealthy man prepared to travel to a far country. Before he left, he entrusted his fortune of eight talents to three servants, accord­ing to their ability. To one he gave three talents; to a second, two talents; and to a third, one talent. Even one talent was a very substantial sum of money, equivalent to twenty years of work for a day-laborer.

The parable tells us that the first two servants traded with their money and gained the equivalent number of tal­ents in addition to the original sum. Meanwhile, the servant who had received the one talent went and dug a hole in the ground and hid it.

When the nobleman returned, he commended the first two servants for their faithfulness and declared to both: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (vv. 21, 23).

How differently it went with the servant with one talent. He tried excusing himself, but in the process cast the blame at the feet of his master. He accused him of being a harsh taskmaster (v. 25). In response, the master pulled the veil off of the man’s pretenses and ordered this unprofitable servant to be sent into outer darkness.

The Substance←⤒🔗

This parable does not teach that we can earn salvation by using our talents to do good deeds. Neither does it teach that people will lose their salvation if they do not work hard enough. Instead, the basic message of this parable concerns steward­ship of kingdom privileges and blessings in light of Christ’s Second Coming.

Many limit the significance of this parable because the word “talent” in our language has the meaning of “special ability.” However, talents in Christ’s time were measurements of money and, in the parable, refer to all the privileges and blessings that the Lord entrusts to those in the professing church. It certainly involves money and abilities, but also time, godly parents, other relationships, freedom in our coun­try, gospel blessings, biblical teaching, and so on.

It does not refer to salvation itself, because the third ser­vant goes lost even with the talent. Instead, it’s like we read in Romans 3:2 about the Jews: “to them were committed the oracles of God.” Likewise, Paul writes elsewhere that to the visible church “pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises” (Rom. 9:4). These privileges are not of themselves saving, and yet the Lord gives them so that, when He returns, greater glory would return to Him.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that we can trade these tal­ents by our own natural ability. Some have stumbled over the fact that the nobleman gave the talents “to every man according to his several ability” (v. 15). They see it suggesting that the Lord considers natural merit in man as the ground to give more to some and less to others. This opinion, however, is unfounded. In the parable, the Lord gives the talents to servants according to their ability that none might excuse themselves that the Lord gave them more or less than they were able to handle.

Despite what the unprofitable servant says, the problem cannot lie in the master. The servant with the two talents did not bury his because he only had two. Nor did the servant with the five talents bury his because he had so many. The point is that the servant with the one talent had a wrong view of his master, and along with that, a wrong view of himself, his talent, and everything else. Nothing in this man’s heart was in the right place, and it shows especially in his view of his master. Likewise, natural man apart from the grace of God remains unproductive and unprofitable with any and all of God’s gifts.

The Savior←⤒🔗

Christ spoke this parable after His triumphal entry into Jerusa­lem. He was getting ready to depart and return to His Father, who had sent Him as His great Servant. While Christ was on the earth, He did whatsoever pleased His Father. At any and every moment, He could have given a God-honoring account of all that He did. To Him, His Father was no harsh taskmas­ter; on the contrary, He glorified Him in everything.

Moreover, as He now was going to suffer and die, He would do so “for the joy that was set before him” (Heb. 12:2). He knew of what He spoke when He said these words to the first two servants: “Enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matt. 25:21, 23). In fact, by His suffering and death, He had pro­cured a people who would enjoy the entrance into that joy of the Lord for His sake.

As He would shortly leave them to enter that joy Himself, He in turn entrusted them with many talents. He gave His Word and His Spirit. In fact, everything we have in creation and providence comes by way of Christ’s hand. Moreover, He gives those who earnestly seek Him the grace, strength, and wisdom that they need to trade with their talents. Meanwhile, He will also send all wicked servants, who neither loved nor honored Him, into outer darkness when He returns.

The Searchlight←⤒🔗

This parable shines a searchlight into our hearts that we might see our lives as we ought. It puts these questions to us:

• Do we begrudge what the Lord has given us?
   
• Do we look over our shoulders and wallow in self-pity?
   
• Do we nurture harsh views of God and what He has allotted us in our lives?
   
• To what extent do we neglect to use the privileges that God has given us?
   
• Do we perhaps fail to see that we have not because we ask not (James 4:2)?
   
• What is our view of God?
   
• Do we realize that there is nothing we have that we have not received (1 Cor. 4:7)?

This parable not only uncovers for us our sinful nature, but it also should spur us on with the help of the Lord to make use of our time and resources – our gospel blessings, our children and other family members, books and periodicals, the Bible and its promises, tracts, our church family, and so on – to the salvation and edification of our own souls and those around us. We would do well to ask ourselves: How is our own view of God perhaps making us bury our talents? What view of God should we have instead?

Though it is certainly true that we cannot save ourselves, if we neglect the mercies that God has surrounded all of us with, we will have no excuse when it is time for God to judge us. Let us especially look to Him who suffered and died to pay for sin and is now in the joy of the Lord, and await His return with eager expectation.

Questions←⤒🔗

1. What talents have you been given? Is it true that everyone in the world has at least some part of a talent?
    
2. Could afflictions that God sends our way also be viewed as talents that we are called on to improve (make use of for good) through God’s enabling grace?
    
3. Read the third servant’s words in verse 24. What emotions, thoughts, and intentions were motivat­ing this servant? What happens in our own lives when we look over our shoulders at others who have been given different responsibilities and priv­ileges in their lives?
    
4. If the two other servants could have put into words their view of their master, how different would it have been to that of the third servant in verse 24? What might they have said of him?
    
5. Some have tried to give spiritual equivalents to the ideas of “trading” and “putting money to the exchangers.” Discuss what graces the Lord is look­ing for from His people while they wait for His Second Coming.
    
6. The parable contrasts “the joy of the Lord” and “weeping and gnashing of teeth” in outer darkness. What do these descriptions of heaven and hell reveal about these places and those who go to each?