The Parable of the Talents #6

The Parable of the Talents is a story Jesus told about a master who entrusts his wealth to three servants before leaving on a journey, then returns to settle accounts. It appears only in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 25:14-30) and is one of the most often preached parables on stewardship, faithfulness, and the use of the gifts God gives. The English word talent for a natural ability actually comes from this story.

The Parable

Before traveling, a man calls his servants and gives them his property: five talents to one, two to another, and one to a third, each according to his ability (Matthew 25:14-15). The first two servants put the money to work and double it. The third digs a hole and buries his master’s money (Matthew 25:16-18).

After a long time the master returns. He commends the first two with the same words, calling them good and faithful servants who were faithful over little and will now be set over much, and inviting them to enter his joy (Matthew 25:21, 23). The third servant explains that he was afraid, knew the master to be a hard man, and simply returned what he was given. The master calls him wicked and lazy, says he should at least have deposited the money with bankers to earn interest, takes the talent from him, and gives it to the servant with ten. The useless servant is thrown into the outer darkness (Matthew 25:24-30).

Context

The parable belongs to Jesus’s teaching on the Mount of Olives in the last week before his death, the discourse in Matthew 24 and 25 about his return and the end of the age. It stands between the Parable of the Ten Virgins, which stresses watchfulness, and the judgment scene of the sheep and the goats, which stresses mercy. The three together warn that waiting for the master means active faithfulness.

A talent was not a coin but a weight of silver, worth several thousand denarii, and a denarius was about a day’s wage for a laborer. Even one talent was a very large sum, so the servants were trusted with real wealth, and the third servant’s fault was not that he had little. Luke records a similar but distinct story, the Parable of the Ten Minas, told near Jericho with a nobleman who goes away to receive a kingdom (Luke 19:11-27). Many scholars think the two are separate tellings of related teaching rather than the same story, though some regard them as versions of one tradition.

Meaning

The master represents Christ, who will return, and the servants represent his followers, who are given gifts and responsibilities to use in his absence. The reward for faithfulness is more responsibility and shared joy, and the condemnation falls on the servant who did nothing out of fear and a distorted view of his master.

Traditions agree on the theme of accountability while differing on the details. Many Protestant and evangelical readers see the talents as spiritual gifts and opportunities, and some Reformed interpreters emphasize that the servant’s fear reveals an absence of real trust. Catholic and Orthodox commentators often stress cooperation with grace and the fruit of good works. Others read the “outer darkness” as a warning of final judgment. All emphasize that obedience means using what one has been given rather than protecting it out of fear.