In this post I am going to discuss the parable of the talents, Matthew 25:14-30. In verse 14, Jesus is the man travelling into a far country. He will travel to a far country (heaven) in less than 50 days from when he is saying this to his disciples.
Before the travelling man leaves, he delivers his goods unto his servants according to their ability. He gives one 5 talents, one 2 talents, and to another 1 talent and then goes on his journey. The talents that he is giving are not abilities or skills. Talents are a Jewish form of money or weight most often associated with gold in the Bible. One talent of gold today would have a value of over $1,000,000.00. Jesus is going to leave some things of immense value with his servants and the message in this parable is there will be a day of reckoning.
The servant who received 5 talents and the servant who received 2 talents both doubled their lord’s money. They were faithful stewards of their lord’s goods. The day of reckoning for both of these servants is a joyful event. These two servants receive the right to rule over many things because they were faithful in a few. It should be noted here that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. Jesus calls goods worth millions of dollars – “few.” How glorious and beyond our imagining the “many things” that the Lord will have his faithful servants ruling over in the age to come.
The servant who had received the 1 talent buried that talent in the earth. On the day of reckoning, the Lord called him wicked and slothful. It is interesting that this servant accuses his master of being an hard man. This wicked servant is basically trying to blame his Lord for his behavior. Men have been blaming God for their sin since the beginning of time. Remember Adam saying, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” The unprofitable servant is cast into hell (outer darkness).
There are a few notable differences between this parable in Matthew 25 and the parable of the pounds in Luke 19. Luke 19 has a gentile form of money, the pound. The number 10 is used repeatedly in Luke 19 to reinforce that the passage in Luke has to do with the gentile church. The kingdom of heaven mentioned in the Matthew 25 parable is the physical kingdom promised to the Jews. Both passages have a similar message. There are two men in each parable who are faithful with what their Lord had entrusted to them. Faithfulness in small things leads to authority over greater things. In each passage there is an unfaithful servant who does nothing what was given him. Here is a major difference. The unprofitable servant in the Matthew 25 passage is cast into hell. The unfaithful servant in the Luke passage loses rewards. The Lords enemies are cast into hell (slain before the king) but the unfaithful servant again simply loses his rewards.
I will finish this discussion of Matthew 25 with one last post on the judgement of the sheep and the goats. The judgement of the sheep and the goats is an application of the parable of the talents. You may even say that it is an extension (even interpretation) of the parable of the talents.