Matthew 25:14-30
The Parable of the Talents
14 “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15 to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.
16 The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17 In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18 But the one who had received the one talent went off and 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 Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
24 Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29 For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 30 As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
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This sermon was originally preached by me for a certain people in a certain time and place, but I believe that the Holy Spirit is able to transcend time and space, so I hope that it might be a blessing to you as well. You can read the sermon manuscript below or you can watch the service at the link here.
God of ridiculous over-abundance and trust, remind us to come into your joy by participating in your kingdom work and spreading the good new of your abundance. Amen.
This week, I heard someone say that parables are like kaleidoscopes, those telescope looking things with the beautiful shapes inside that change when you turn it. A parable is always the same story, but depending on which way you turn it, depending on your perspective or your position at the time, the image changes into a different beautiful picture. I thought that was such a fantastic way of looking at parables. And I also wish I had discovered that image at the beginning of the time after Pentecost, instead of when we are almost done with talking about parables this year.
As I began turning this parable over again and again in my mind this week, I looked at different translations and images that have been constructed about it. At the top of my study Bible, the title of this story is the “Parable of the Talents.”
But in another translation, the title of the story is “Parable of the Bags of Gold.”
Bags of Gold? I had never really understood a talent to be a bag of gold. I must have missed that somewhere in seminary accounting class. So then I turned the kaleidoscope again…I thought: exactly how much money was a talent? How big was this bag of gold? And why had it never occurred to me to ask that question before now?
I think I sort of knew that a talent was a lot of money. I had heard enough sermons on this text before to know that a talent was at least pretty generous. Maybe a year’s worth of work? But when I looked it up, I was totally floored by the amount.
The parable turned once again in my hands and a new beautiful image emerged. This story is not about investing your money properly. It was not even about stewardship. It’s not about hiding our talents or little light under a bushel like the children’s song. This parable was about the ridiculous over-abundance that God entrusts to us.
You see, a talent is not just a lot of money, it’s a ridiculous amount of money. In today’s terms, one talent would be around $1.4 million. Or about 30 years worth of work for the average American. That’s a ridiculous amount of money to give to entrust to these slaves.
But THAT’s not what the master gives to the slaves. To the second slave, he entrusts two talents— an entire lifetime worth of money. And to the first slave he entrusts FIVE talents— two and a half lifetimes worth of money. The amount of money that the master entrusts to his slaves is just absolutely ridiculous. It’s hyperbolic, it’s nonsensical, this amount of money is absolutely unfathomable to Jesus’ audience.
So this parable couldn’t be about making smart investments. It wouldn’t make any sense for Jesus to use such ridiculous amounts of money if he was trying to give practical, literal advice to his disciples. Instead, he is emphasizing how much of an over-abundance this master has and is entrusting to his slaves’ care. Regardless of whether you are the first slave with five talents or the third slave with one talent, this amount of money is absolutely wild. Certainly too much to entrust to slaves.
That is the real unbeliveable-ness of this parable. Not that this master has this much, but that he is willing to give it to his lowly slaves. The slaves are invited into his abundance and entrusted to participate in this abundance. Not only is there over-abundance in the amount of money, but the master gives them an over-abundance of time. "After a long time,” the text tells us, “the man came back to settle accounts with his slaves.” He gives them a long time to do what they will with the over-abundance, emphasizing the trust that he has in his slaves.
And after he sees the resulting abundance of their faithfulness, he invites his slaves to share in his joy. Joy begets joy. Not because the master is now even more ridiculously wealthy than he was before, but because he put enormous trust in his slaves with his over-abundance and they were faithful.
This is the same over-abundance we see in the feast at this holy table, every single week as we commune together. It is the trust that God has in us when God entrusts us to invite everyone to the table, where all are welcome and all are fed, when God entrusts us to be a part of this over-abundance and this ridiculous generosity that defines our God. It is the over-abundance of a God who would come to earth as Christ Jesus to walk among us, heal us, teach us, and die for us. And we share in God’s joy as these gifts overflow and the abundance is doubled and tripled over and over again as it is outpoured on all of God’s people.
But we also hear in this story that participation is necessary. The real tragedy of the third slave is not that he didn’t make any more money, but that he was not willing to participate in the joy of the master, he was not willing to go into the world with the riches and engage with them, risking losing the abundance or being denied a part of the community.
And the point is not that God throws someone out of this community for not participating in this over-abundance, but that— unless we fully engage in what God has spread before us— we will not be able to fully understand and take part in God’s joy.
Until we fully join in with this community, this banquet that is set before us— we will not be able to fully experience the joy of God and we won’t be able to share in God’s abundance. This is one of the reasons that God has given us the gift of community, why God has given us the gift of worship every week— so that we might participate in the life of the church and be nourished by God’s abundance. So that we might be reminded of God’s goodness and mercy and then go out into the world and share that abundance with all the world.
So come to the table, be fed by God’s over-abundance that God has poured out for us and entrusted to us, and watch it multiply as we go out into the world in God’s joy. Amen.
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