Perhaps you’ve heard that your talents are a gift from God, and that he wants you to dedicate them to his service. Maybe you can sing or teach. You might be good at volleyball. Perhaps you enjoy setting up chairs or planning baby showers. I can play the trombone, and I’m pretty good with numbers and accounting. But in Jesus’ parable in Matthew 25:14-30, all these things are beside the point.
Context matters. If we learn to read the Bible for what it is—and not as a collection of independently assembled inspirational stories—we’ll discover that some of our most familiar passages don’t actually mean what we’ve always assumed.
Lars Hammar (2012), Creative Commons
Part of a Single Speech
When we come to the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14, we ought to look closely enough to ask an obvious question:
For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.
You see it, don’t you? I mean this literally: You see “it,” don’t you? “For it will be like a man going on a journey…” Perhaps, to understand this parable, we first need to grapple with what “it” is. What is it, exactly, that will be like a man going on a journey?
In studying this parable, we should see that it’s only one small part of a long lecture given by Jesus on a single occasion. This lecture, starting in Matthew 24:4 and continuing to Matt 25:46, is his answer to his disciples’ questions in Matt 24:3. When will the temple be destroyed? What is the sign of your coming? What is the sign of the end of the age?
We could even probably include Matthew 23 as a part of this discourse, as it provides the setup for the the judgment pronounced in Matt 24:1-2. But even if we consider only chapters 24 and 25 as making up this speech, we’ll be off to a great start.
So, now that we’ve realized this parable is merely one point in a longer speech, what help can we get from the rest of the speech about what “it” is?
Working Backwards
The immediately preceding paragraph tells another parable, also about two groups of subordinates, one faithful and the other unfaithful—just like the parable of the talents. And this preceding parable begins like this:
Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. (Matt 25:1)
So we have the same set up, except there is no “it.” The subject, the thing which “will be like” the story that follows, is: the kingdom of heaven. So far, so good. But what does he mean by “the kingdom of heaven,” and how it will be like a man going on a journey?
Backing up further, the next paragraph speaks of a faithful and wise servant who receives a reward (Matt 24:45-47) in contrast to a wicked servant relegated to a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 24:48-51). This is very closely connected to what happens in the parable of the talents. And Matt 24:45-51 uses more straightforward language than what we find in the parable of the talents. The difference between the faithful servant and the foolish servant lies in how they each treat their Master’s household. For the one who treats the Master’s people and other servants well, there is a reward of greater responsibility over “all his possessions.” For the one who beats his fellow servants and abandons his duties, there is an assurance of removal, destruction, and torment.
Backing up even further, the next earlier paragraph highlights the fact that the Son of Man will return at an hour his own followers do not expect. Because of this uncertainty, they must always be ready for him (Matt 24:44).
So we can draw a few conclusions:
- The IT in Matt 25:14 is the kingdom of heaven.
- The parable continues the theme of the Master’s return at an unexpected time.
- The Master’s judgment of his servants is based on how his servants treat his people.
So What are My Talents?
So when Jesus tells a story about a man going on a journey, calling his servants, and entrusting to them his property, we must understand that his property, the “talents” he leaves with them, is the people of his kingdom. In Jesus’ day, a “talent” was a very large sum of money. The NIV translators had good reason to translate the Greek term “talents” as “bags of gold” (Matt 25:15, NIV). These people are valuable to the Master.
These “talents” are a metaphor of the people of God. The members of God’s household. Our fellow servants and co-heirs in the kingdom.
In telling this parable, Jesus is not primarily concerned with whether you use your personality traits and unique skill sets to help the Christian community. He is much more concerned with how you treat the people themselves. Are you investing in them or burying them? Are you putting them to good use? Are you putting them to work so they can help recruit even more people into the kingdom, or are you making decisions from fear of losing the people you already have? Are you multiplying their efforts for the sake of his glorious kingdom?
Do this, and great will be your reward when your Master returns and calls for accounting. Fail to do this, and your fears will find you out.
If you see yourself more in the latter class than the former, what is your way out? Remember who your Master is. He is not hard and demanding (Matt 25:24-25), but gentle and lowly in heart, showing you the narrow way of rest (Matt 11:29, 7:13-14).
Confirmation From the Following Context
And lest you think I’m completely crazy in reading the parable of the talents in this way, consider where Jesus goes next, in the conclusion to his speech. What is the only observable difference between the sheep and the goats, between those who find eternal life and those sent to eternal death?
Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. (Matt 25:40)
Jesus’ most precious possession is his people. Make sure he returns to find you treating them well and multiplying their efforts.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations… (Matt 28:19)
Context matters.
God is really blessing me for reading this .
This makes sense except you don’t tie your interpretation in with the upshot of it all:
28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
If the gold represents the people of God, then how do you see the taking away of what what the master gave? How do you see it being redistributed to the ones who “have”?
If you fear losing your people and try to simply hold on to them (bury them), you will lose them—the third servant. But if you prove faithful, God will reward you with even greater leadership and responsibility—the first two servants.
It is related to the earlier parapble (Matt 24:45-51). In particular, when the master returns and finds his servant being faithful and wise with the master’s people, “he will set him over all his possessions” (Matt 24:47).
as a layman; where does 10 talents or 5 talents suppose to mean? thank you
In the parable, talents are coins worth a large amount of money.
Eph 1:4-5
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.
Every time the bible talks about his children, he uses the adjective adopted. An adopted child, according to Jewish law, cannot be devoiced from the family. A natural born son or daughter can be.
The Holy Spirit is the seal of the child of God. Once the seal is applied it cannot be removed.
Both examples seem to claim that once a man or woman is a child of God, he or she will remain a child of God. (I am not saying everyone who claims to be is. Belief must be applied. Truly believing will change the way we act, think, and carry on. If no change is ever seen, then do you really believe. It is possible to want to have something on the surface, without the commitment to carry it out.)
So, finally the question:
What is meant by the word servant in both the parable of the talents and the parable of the minas. If servant equals child of God, then that would contradict the examples above.
Jesus clearly allows for the possibility that those numbered among his servants might prove not only faithful and wise, but also wicked and hypocritical (Matt 24:45-51).
The third servant says that the master was a harsh man and stole from others – reap where you did not sow and gather where you did not see. How then can the master be God/Jesus?
That phrase doesn’t necessarily mean that he stole from people. It just means that he expected those who worked for him (those who did the sowing and gathering) to hand over the crop/profit from the estate. And the “harshness” was the third servant’s view of the master, not necessarily one of the master’s innate traits.
Thank you for your response. It gives me something to think about; however, the third servant says, “I knew…”. Perhaps I am trying to make more out of this than I should. The simple explanation is that we are to do whatever is in our ability to advance the Word of God.
You speak only to the parable as told in Matthew. In Luke it begins “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then return.” So the master is still God or Jesus? You would say either is a man of noble birth seeking an endorsement of his kingdom in a foreign country? Or could the master here be Herod Archelaus who ruled on his father’s death and went to Rome to get permanence for his territorial rule as opposed to his brother Herod Archelaus. If you will check twenty-five English language translations of the first verse in Luke, every single one will tell you the master here is a man of noble birth seeking validation of his kingdom in another land.
You are correct that I speak here only to the parable in Matthew. Each parable must be read in context, taken on its own terms. Certainly, there are similarities between the parables of Matt 25 and Luke 19, but there are also many differences. They were spoken at different times, for different reasons. And, as I argue in this post, they have different points to make. You can find further analysis of the context for and opening to the parable of the minas here.
So I would advise against presuming that what Luke says about the master applies equally to what Matthew says about the master.
do you believe in saved by grace? this parable seems like we need to work to get to heaven. could a talent mean something else? i’m really trying to understand this better