My Church was doing a Wednesday night series over the Parables of Jesus. Last night I shared over the Parable of the Talents and wanted to post it as I learned some really great things during this study.

The Parable of the Talents Matthew 25:
14 “For it is just like a man going on a journey. He called his own slaves and turned over his possessions to them. 15 To one he gave five talents;[c] to another, two; and to another, one—to each according to his own ability. Then he went on a journey. Immediately 16 the man who had received five talents went, put them to work, and earned five more. 17 In the same way the man with two earned two more. 18 But the man who had received one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five talents approached, presented five more talents, and said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. Look, I’ve earned five more talents.’
21 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy!’
22 “Then the man with two talents also approached. He said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. Look, I’ve earned two more talents.’
23 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy!’
24 “Then the man who had received one talent also approached and said, ‘Master, I know you. You’re a difficult man, reaping where you haven’t sown and gathering where you haven’t scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went off and hid your talent in the ground. Look, you have what is yours.’
26 “But his master replied to him, ‘You evil, lazy slave! If you knew that I reap where I haven’t sown and gather where I haven’t scattered, 27 then[d] you should have deposited my money with the bankers. And when I returned I would have received my money[e] back with interest.
28 “‘So take the talent from him and give it to the one who has 10 talents. 29 For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have more than enough. But from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 30 And throw this good-for-nothing slave into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

I am sure many have heard this story before. I have heard it shared many times in the past and have read and reread it multiple times since, especially the past few weeks. I have also read more commentaries on it than I care to remember. The usual message I have heard on it relates to God giving us talents that we are to put to use for His glory. This is a great message, biblically sound because that is exactly what we are to do with our talents.

There is more to this parable than a great message on using our talents for Jesus. As a matter of fact if you look at the etymology of the English word talent, that’s a fancy word meaning the study of the origin of words, our usage of the word talent actually comes from the common interpretations and teaching on this parable. The only problem is that was not the meaning of the word in Jesus’ Day or how it is used in this parable.
Obviously the story uses talents to represent money. But parables have a purpose which is to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson. So there is more to this story than meets the eye. The original definition of talent is that it was an ancient unit of weight. A talent in of itself is not a unit of currency.

The talent was the heaviest or largest biblical unit of measurement for weight. There is some debate over the actual modern equivalent due to different cultures having a different weight associated with their talent but an average estimate is around 75 lbs would be the weight equivalent of 1 talent. So when using talents you would have a talent of gold, silver, copper, etc. In the parable it just says he gave one 5 talents, one two, and the last only one. It does not say if it is gold, silver or copper. Regardless it was a considerable amount all across the board. One was given 375 lbs, another 150 lbs, and another 75 lbs. This is not something you just walk around with in your pocket. Some scholars estimate the monetary amount could have been up to 20 years salary.

So the master has called these slaves and has given his possessions over to them. Some translations say property. I need to mention the importance of property. Property to the Israelites was tied to the promises of God. It might trace back to the inheritance given when entering the promise land. It definitely represented what was the inheritance to be given to family when one passed away.

Considering this I find it interesting that Jesus does not specify an amount but stresses that a weight was given to each or dare I say a responsibility or a measure of something was given to each.

Now most commentaries and messages focus on what the talents represent. Which is where I began my study into this parable. It says they were given to each according to his own ability. Well regardless of how truthful and how great the interpretation is regarding using our talents for Jesus, It doesn’t make much sense that abilities were given according to abilities.

I spent a lot of time researching and praying over what God wanted me to share about this parable. In this parable Jesus uses a comparison between how the different slaves handled their talents. Two put the talents to good use, One hid the talent. The two were rewarded, the one, not so much. I studied the context of how the parable was told. Jesus is actually speaking to his disciples. They have questioned him about the end times, when to expect everything to come to pass. This parable is set between two other parables and they are all giving examples of what the Kingdom of heaven is like.

The verse preceding this , verse 13 says,
”3 “Therefore be alert, because you don’t know either the day or the hour.[b]
then continues into 14
“For it is just like a man going on a journey.

SO the importance of this parable is tied in part to Jesus stressing being alert in the end times. So what are we to understand the talents to represent? I continued to study digging into the greek for the words ability and at how the comparisons between the different slaves played out. Two put the money to use and one hid his away. They were rewarded and punished accordingly to what they did it seems.

But an important thing to remember in studying the Bible, is context. Everything must be understood in context with the rest of scriptures as well as in its’ own chapter.

But If the point of Jesus’ teaching in the parable of the talents is indeed the effort, faithfulness, or works, then based solely upon the context of this parable, one is confronted with the alarming possibility that the difference between those who enter the joy of the master from those who are cast into outer darkness is simply diligent labor. In short, if these interpretations are taken to their extreme, logical conclusion, they are ultimately teaching a works-based salvation, or if the notion of outer darkness is downplayed, then a works-based way to become more righteous. This is against all that the Bible teaches regarding Grace.

But in looking at all of these things I realized there was something that did fit all this criteria and that the talents could very well represent faith.

ROMANS 12:3
3 For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.

Everyone is given a measure of faith, the more we use our faith, the more it increases. It is our faith that leads us to do works. It is by faith that we are saved and the bible even tells us that faith without works is dead and it is impossible to please God without faith. Even looking at the other parables in Chapter 25, the similarities underscore a message of faith.All of them deal with Jesus at his return; they cover judgement, accountability and the separation of two groups. So they are each in their own way showing how to be ready for when the master returns and keeping faith.

It was at this point The Holy Spirit highlighted something specific to me that I was missing. What he pointed out to me, took this parable to a whole other level.

There is a lot to gain looking at this parable and relating the talents to faith. And honestly we can teach great messages out of this making the talents represent many things, abilities, using money for god’s purpose, opportunities we are given. But The most important aspect in this parable isn’t what they were given, but what they did with what they were given and more importantly why. The motivation behind what caused the slaves to respond and act the way they did is the true gem of this parable.

Jesus’ relating of the servant’s actions and the master’s response showed that this was not a parable about work, money, or getting rewards. Instead, the parable of the talents is a story about motivation and the condition of one’s heart.

This was not a story about money but a parable about relationship. So now let’s look at this parable through that lens.

It says the first went immediately to work, the second did the same but the last hid his away. After a long time the master came and settled accounts. So the first two put that faith to use, the other did not, why the difference in what they did?

The man who had received five talents approached, presented five more talents, and said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. Look, I’ve earned five more talents.’
21 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy!’
22 “Then the man with two talents also approached. He said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. Look, I’ve earned two more talents.’
23 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy!’

ok let’s observe even though they both were given a different amount, they both put it to use and therefore saw an increase. And they both received the same thing. They were both told well done, good and faithful slave.
Ok a slave doing a job for his master, even a trusted slave as these obviously were, has no rightful expectation of keeping any profit or getting anything in return. He is merely doing what is expected.

What does the master go on and say?

You were faithful over a few things,I will put you in charge of many things. A few? well it is obvious the Master has an abundance . Remember the monetary equivalent we mentioned. But more importantly he said Share your master’s Joy!

So they just got promoted, And then asked to share in the Master’s Joy ? The relationship between them just changed. They were just invited to a closer intimacy. Well this is a parable that uses comparison to highlight it’s point so let’s compare the last slaves actions.
24 “Then the man who had received one talent also approached and said, ‘Master, I know you. You’re a difficult man, reaping where you haven’t sown and gathering where you haven’t scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went off and hid your talent in the ground. Look, you have what is yours.’

This slave goes on to explain why he did what he did.

But the Master does not agree or disagree with him in regard to his judgement of his character. Instead he uses the slaves own words against him.
26 “But his master replied to him, ‘You evil, lazy slave! If you knew that I reap where I haven’t sown and gather where I haven’t scattered, 27 then[d] you should have deposited my money with the bankers. And when I returned I would have received my money[e] back with interest.
28 “‘So take the talent from him and give it to the one who has 10 talents.
Telling him,If you believed this, then you Should have put the money in the bank and allowed interest to grow. He was called evil, lazy and tossed out of relationship with the master.

Why did this slave respond differently than the other two who were eager and went to work immediately ?

There is one thing he said that is important to note. He was afraid. Why was he afraid ? He says it was because he knew the master.But is his assessment of the Master true? The master didn’t have to give them anything to use while he was away, he could have even chosen other slaves. If he truly expected to gain where he had no right to gain, he would not have then rewarded the slaves and definitely not ask them into a closer relationship. and share in his joy.

It’s possible this Slave may not have even truly believed what he was saying, but was just making excuses because his actions did not back up what he was saying according to the master. The truth is this slave did not really know his master and therefore allowed his fear to keep him from putting his faith to use. He claimed he thought his master would expect something from nothing and yet he still did nothing. His improper understanding of his master affected how he responded to what the Master truly wanted and therefore his talent, or his unused faith did not produce anything for him because he hid it.

In the same way, for each of us, our understanding of the master, our understanding of who Jesus is affects how we relate to him and therefore affects how we respond to him. Lot’s of things can cause us to have a misunderstanding of who Jesus is, Things that happen in the past, relationship with our parents, or spouses.Events going on around us. Anything that can cause us to think Jesus is a certain way or shake our understanding.

The Bible is the ruler and guide by which we are to learn who the master is.The entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation is the story of a personal God seeking to restore relationship with mankind. The very reason Jesus came was to restore relationship between God and man. This parable shows us what the kingdom of God is like. A master who has left his slaves in charge, left them with a measure of faith.

Our view of God affects our relationship with him. We either trust him and act in a way that shows we trust him and therefore use our faith. Or our picture of who the master is causes us to hold on to our faith allowing fears to keep things hidden away out of sight, not being used , unable to increase. This is something that can affect so many different aspects of our life. Are we willing to take a chance with God?

Truly the word Talent can represent many things: But what do we know about the master? Can we trust him with our our talents, our abilities, our money, our faith, opportunities we are given. our lives, our health, or whatever. Or do we have an understanding of the master that allows fear to cause us to hide these things from him, like the slave who buried the talent

Are we going to put our faith in him and thereby find ourselves invited into a closer relationship?

So the choice is ours. What will we believe about Jesus? Will we use our faith, taking hold of opportunities that we are presented with, will we trust in what kind of master we have and get to share in the master’s Joy or allow fear to cause us to hide our faith away. Do not allow a misunderstanding of who Jesus really is to cause you to do nothing and ultimately miss out. Having faith and then putting it to use brings opportunities for an even closer relationship with Jesus, hiding it will cause even what faith we have to be lost. It is a true use it or loose it situation. What do you know about the Master?