The Parable of the Talents⤒🔗

The subject of this parable is much like that of the Parable of the Ten Virgins. Again it speaks about someone who is absent and returning. Again a separation takes place in the end. The emphasis in this parable, however, does not lie on watchfulness but on activity. The ten virgins were supposed to be waiting for the coming of the bridegroom. Nothing else was expected of them. The Parable of the Talents shows us that the waiting Christian also works. He has a task in this world. The last two parables complement each other.

Jesus gives us in this parable a picture of a man who is going to a foreign country. Before leaving he calls his servants, and entrusts them with his belongings. This arrangement between masters and servants was not uncommon in ancient times. What these belongings are is specified in the next verse. He gives one or more talents to each servant. A talent represents a certain weight of sil­ver or gold, worth about fourteen hundred dollars. This master is not only rich, but also wise. He does not divide the money equally among his servants. He gives to each servant according to his ability. The one would be more able to trade with it than the other. Thus he gives to the first servant five talents, to the second two talents, and to the third servant one talent. Immediately after this the master departs.

The man travelling into a far country is Jesus. After His resurrection He went up to heaven and is now there until His return. This description is a correction of the disciples' misplaced belief that Jesus was about to establish His kingdom in Israel. In reality, the journey of the master spans many centuries! Jesus has not returned yet. He is still in heaven. One day He will return.

The servants are those who profess Christ as their Lord and Saviour. They make up the visible church on earth. This parable teaches us that all professing Christians have received something from God. We all have "talents" entrusted to our charge. The word talent is generally applied to people with remarkable abilities or gifts. "That is a talented person," we say. We should, however, take the talents in this parable in a broader sense. They apply to all baptized persons without distinction. We are all talented people! Our mind, our affections, our will, our memory are included in this, but also our money, our time, our gifts, our influence, our health. Calvin says about the tal­ents: "By this term Christ does not distinguish between natural gifts and the gifts of the Spirit; for we have neither power nor skill which ought not to be acknowledged as having been received from God." Matthew Poole remarks, "I see no reason to restrain these gifts to such as flow from Christ as Mediator, but rather choose to interpret it generally of all the gifts of God, whether of providence or grace." Anything by which we may glorify God is a talent.

Let us notice that God gives to each man as He pleases. Not everyone has the same gifts and in the same measure. Life would be quite monotonous if that were so. One has intellectual abilities; the other has social or leadership skills. Someone else may have an artistic talent. Again, another person is gifted with a strong memory. That does not mean that one person is inferior to the other. If you have received five talents, don't be proud, for "what hast thou that thou didst not receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7). To show off our knowledge or artistic talent is adorning self with "borrowed plumes." If you have received only one talent, don't be jealous of the person with two or five. Rather, look at the one you have received! The Lord has had a wise reason for giving you the gift you have. Let us glorify God in the fact that He has distributed a diversity of gifts among men. This goes for our natural life as well as our spiritual life. Read, for example, Ephesians 4:7 and 1 Corinthians 12:11.

The purpose for which the master gives these talents is that his servants trade with them during his absence. This is what we read next. Each servant does something with it. But what a difference there is among them! The first servant with five talents traded with them and thus added five talents to them. The second servant gained two more talents. Both doubled their money. Not the number of talents is the important thing, but the effort of the servants to gain others. Not the amount of abilities is what counts, but what we do with them. In the parable, the first two servants increased their sum 100%!

Some make great use of their gifts for the profit of their Master. Others make no use at all of them to that end. They neglect all opportunities of glorifying God.

In our parable the third person does nothing with his talent. The only thing he does is to dig a hole in the ground and hide his talent in it. He might have thought to himself, "Although this is not the proper use of my talent, my master cannot complain that he has lost it. In the ground no one will find it!"

It would be wrong to conclude that the person with the most "talents" will automatically make the best use of them. It happens often that people with one talent gain another one, and that people with five talents bury them in the ground. The reason why precisely the servant with one talent hid it in the ground may be to teach us that we are equally responsible, even if we have few gifts.

Why does this servant hide his talent? Is he afraid that he will lose it? Is there some noble motive behind it? He himself will say in the end, "Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed" (verse 24). He blames his master for not using his gift! That this is a poor excuse appears from his master's response. He calls him "a wicked and slothful (lazy) servant"!

Why was it so bad what he did? Because it was "his lord's money" (verse 18). If it had been his own, it would have been OK. But it was not his own! All that is entrusted to us is "the Lord's money," it is His gift. Many people live as if their life, their gifts, their belongings are their own. They act as sovereign masters. "The baptized Bible-despiser, the prayer-neglecter, and the Sabbath-breaker; the unbelieving, the sensual, and the earthly-minded; the trifler, the thoughtless and the pleasure-seeker; the money-lover, the covetous, and the self-indulgent — all, all are alike burying their Lord's money in the ground" (J. C. Ryle). God has lent them much, but they make Him no return. The words of Daniel to Belshazzar apply to each unconverted person, "The God in Whose hand thy breath is, and Whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified" (Dan. 5:23).

Hoe does this apply to you? What do you do with the talents God has given to you? Do you use them to His honour? Or do you employ them for your own glory? Or, perhaps, do you not use them at all?

After a long time the lord of the servants comes home again. Our Lord hints in these words at the long time period that will lapse until He returns. It is an indication to His disciples — and to us — that they should not expect an immediate return. The day of Christ's return will be a "day of reckoning." It will be a day in which all matters will be permanently settled.

The first servant comes forward. You can hear how thrilled he is when he says, "Lord, five talents thou deliveredst unto me: behold (look!) five talents I gained beside them!" His eyes are sparkling and there is excitement in his voice. "Well done, thou good and faithful servant," is the response of his master. After this word of approval, he also gives his servant a reward. "Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things." Notice the criterion that is used. It is faithfulness. This man has not sought his own ease or interest. He has done his utmost for his master. Notice also the double contrast in the text. Few things and many things are contrasted; also being a servant and becoming a ruler. Concretely, it implies that he may now enter into the joy of his lord. In terms of the parable, it might mean that his master would have a feast upon his arrival.

The second servant comes forward. He has been just as faithful as his fellow servant. He hears the same message from his lord, "Well done ... Enter thou into the joy of thy lord."

Some lessons stand out in this part of the parable. First of all, there will be a reward for all of Christ's followers. That reward is a reward of grace, not of merit. Just as the believers are justified by grace alone, so the reward is also out of sheer grace. Is the Lord obliged to thank His servants for their labours? No, He is not (Luke 17:10). Is the reward then not super-abounding? Is it not much and much more than any of God's most faithful servants would ever dream of? This reward shows us the riches of our Master. He does not give meagerly. He gives abundant grace here on earth and endless glory hereafter.

Let us also note that heaven is a place of joy. The servants enter into the joy of their master. In several passages of Scripture this is confirmed, as for instance in Isaiah 35:10, "And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." We can have only a faint idea of what that will be. It is called "the joy of thy lord." What makes heaven a place of joy is the presence of the Lord with His favour and glory.

The parable speaks not only about the reward of the two faithful servants, but also about the end of the third servant. He must have felt very uncomfortable, seeing his two fellow servants being rewarded for their faithfulness. What will he say? It appears that he is a good talker, and without a blush he puts blame on his master. "Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed" (vs. 24). The figure is chosen from agriculture. "Strawing" refers to the winnowing of threshed grain on the threshing floor, where the chaff is separated from the wheat.

This servant accuses his master of harshness and stiffness. This accusation is not true, though, since his lord had given a talent to him. He had not sent him to work without any means. The servant goes on to say: "And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth." In other words, "here thou hast what is thine" (vs. 25). His reasoning is flawless. However, his master sees through it and knows it is a lame excuse. His answer comes down to this, "If I am such a harsh man as you picture, why did you not bring your money to the bank, and receive it back with interest?" (vss. 26 and 27) The real cause of his lack of action was laziness. He is a "wicked and slothful servant" (vs. 26).

How many people there are that live and act this way! Some hide behind God's election. They say, "If I am not chosen to life, I will never make it." Or they hide behind human depravity and say, "I cannot give myself a new heart. God has to do it." In the meantime, they have no problem going on in an unconverted state. In different ways they express their ungodliness, e.g. they watch all the filth on TV or read it in magazines.

What will God say to them in the last day? "If you really feared Me as a hard Man, why didn't you do the utmost to escape punishment? If you had come to Me and asked Me for a new heart, I would have given it to you. If you had striven to enter in, you would also have received assurance of your election." In the day of judg­ment every excuse will be proven futile. The only thing that can be said to such people now is: Don't continue this way! Although you have no strength in yourself to do any good, with the Lord is grace and mercy to supply all your needs. The Lord gives a new heart; He gives us faith in Christ, the willingness to serve Him, strength, comfort, and whatever we may need. The Lord is not a "hard Man." Those who say that do not know Who God is. The Lord is gracious and merciful to all that call upon Him. He is not mocked. His holiness and justice do not allow peo­ple to trifle with Him. He will pass a fair judgment upon all that despised His majesty.

The one talent is taken away from the servant and given to the one with ten talents. Our Lord applies it this way, "For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath" (vs. 29). The talents, refer to our gifts, abilities, knowl­edge, time, influence, in short: all that God has adorned us with in life. All this should be viewed as talents that we should use to God's glory. Those who use them to the proper end will be rewarded with further gifts hereafter. But those that make no use of what they have for the glory of God, their gifts and talents will be of no profit but of miserable disadvantage to them at last.

The end of the wicked servant is dreadful. He is cast into outer darkness, the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Christ often speaks about this (8:12, 13:50, 22:13, 24:51). This Scripture passage shows us that we should consider every thought, every word, and every action in light of eternity, in light of the day of reckoning.

The message of the parable is this: by God's grace never be content with a profession of Christianity without practice. Let us not only talk about religion, but do something too. We will be judged not only by what we have done against our Master, but also and even more by what we have done for Him. To do nothing does not come from the Spirit of God. The apostle James writes that "faith without works is dead" (Jas. 2:20).

Questions for Discussion←⤒🔗

1. Christ is now absent from us. But has He not said that He will be with His church always (Math. 28:20)? How do you explain this difference?
2. Read Ephesians 4:7 and 1 Corinthians 12:11. What gifts of the Spirit are meant here?
3. Socialism teaches equality between all men. Is this a Biblical principle? When does inequality go too far?
4. Have you discovered which talent(s) the Lord has given to you? What are your talent(s)?
5. Give some examples of persons from the Bible who made good use of their gifts. Give also some examples of the opposite.
6. This parable is not so often preached on as, for instance, the Parable of the Ten Virgins. What could be a reason for that?
7. Is it wrong to be looking for a reward after this life? Compare with Hebrews 11:26.
8. Will there be a difference in rewards in heaven?
9. Does this parable indicate that the believers will be judged first? Compare with 1 Corinthians 6:2.
10. Some passages of Scripture speak about a reward according to our works (Psalm 62:12, Matthew 16:27). Is salvation not a gift of grace without works?