Parable of the Talents--Matthew 25:14-30

I will be preaching on Matt. 25:14-30 in church on Nov. 16; here are my reflections on it. Let's begin with the text, in the NRSV, and then move to the exposition.

"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."

Introduction--The "Easy Interpretation"

I must have heard sermons on this text a dozen times when growing up. The message, if my memory can be trusted, was always the same: God has entrusted each one of us with skills and gifts (i.e., "talents"); we were to use them to the best of our ability; it displeased God if we either were to "bury our talent" or, to use another Matthean image, "hide our light under a bushel." The parable was also a popular one in stewardship season (hm...the Lectionary has this for Nov. 16, doesn't it?).

After reading and re-reading the text for this morning, however, it seems that this reading is untenable, for two reasons. First, if we take the parable "literally," we are faced with the four little (Greek) words dropped in at v. 14 that give us problems. It says that he gave them five, two or one talent "based on their power" or "ability." Does that mean that the talent stands for money or for skills? It would seem to suggest the former, since the skills/abilities are already a "given." But is this the way we want to see the world--that different amounts are given to people based on their abilities? That isn't my experience of the world; indeed, there often is very little connection between skill/ability and money possessed. Indeed, our experience of how this isn't true is one of the strongest incentives we have to "get out there" and try to "equalize" opportunity. Second, the one who goes away and gives the talents accepts the characterization of him by the one-talent possessor that he is a "hard" man who reaped where he didn't sow and gathered where he didn't scatter (vv. 24-26). A literal construal of this parable would have the one who goes away be Christ who will return to judge. But that isn't the type of Christ anyone wants.

Focuing on the Acts of the "One-Talent" Guy

Therefore, the text and Jesus himself encourage us to look beyond the most simple and literal meaning of it, to see what it might teach those who have "ears to hear." I suggest that we look not at the varied amounts and if someone invested the talents wisely, but at the emotions motivating the one-talent person. In a nutshell, his attitude toward the talents, or the gift he was given, is one of fear. The passage, rather than teaching us about "using our money" or "using our gifts" wisely, takes us into the inner world of fear, its origin, nature and result. Let's turn to each, very briefly.

1. Fear's Origin. We live with fears, some of which are so complex or long-standing that we don't even know how we got them or where they originate. But in this passage, the one-talent man not only confesses he was afraid (v. 25), but he gives us a hint of why that is true. The basic point is that his fear arose from an improper and unhelpful longing for perfection. All three of the gifted people were serving the same master; all three must have known that this master reaped what he did not sow. But two of the three decided to "play ball" even knowing this to be the case. Not our one-talent guy. He knew that something was amiss in the master-servant relationship, and decided not to participate in the contract at all. Instead of investing his money or trying to "double it," like the rest, he hid it. The imperfection of the relationship caused dissonance for him, dissonance to such a degree that he felt he just couldn't go forward.

This may not be a full explanation for the origin of fear, but it is provocative nonetheless. Fear often comes about because the world isn't quite perfect enough for us, and so we don't want to participate in the venture. Maybe we think that if we participate, we might get hurt or we might be taken advantage of or we might "lose" in some ignominious way. We want "perfect" conditions, and because of the fear that those conditions aren't "perfect," we don't participate. The irony of all this is that fear sometimes therefore emerges from an inclination that isn't really bad. It is nice to want relationships to be "just," to desire to work for bosses whom we admire and honor. But sometimes that isn't what life gives us, and the message of the day is that we need to participate in situations less than perfect. Actually, as many of us have realized, we are the ones who bring imperfection to the relationship...

2. If much of fear originates in a wrongful quest for perfection, fear's nature or distinctive sign is withdrawal from engagement. In this case the one-talent guy decided that he would, as it were, take his marbles and "go home." He would not participate in this system, and so he withdrew. In this case the withdrawal was manifest in his burying the talent. Of course this is symbolic of the fact that if we don't engage, even in an imperfect world, because of our fears, we tend to bury whatever we can bring to a transaction deep in the earth. By being too much of a perfection-desirer, we actually inter our own talents. They can't be seen by the world. Our talents are only visible if they are mingled with the imperfections of all of those people out there. Fear's nature, then, is to withdraw, and not to engage in the life of the world. Proverbs has a great verse on laziness; a person who isn't inclined to work says, "There's a lion in the streets; a lion in the streets!" and so he stays in the comfortable confines of his home. The fearful person withdraws and does not engage. It is a sad situation all around, because the talents of this person are buried, rather than being available to all.

3. The result of fear is that what we think we have is lost. Once the master comes back to learn the report from the servants, he makes decisions about how they have done. Even though he is an unjust master he gets to make the final judgments. Those who require perfection for their world to operate will be in a bit of a fix, because the unjust person actually has left them with a task to do. All we need do is read the text to learn what happens:

"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."

And the, as if this isn't enough, he has a punishment in view:

"As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

So, that is the final word. The slave, who is now called "worthless," not only loses the one talent he had, but experiences further punishment. Fear only feeds on itself, leaving in its wake an undigested mass of noxious foods.

Thus, away with fear! This is much easier said than done, but now that we know what fear does to us, we ought to be more able to look at our lives and choices and act, in the future, from non-fearful motives...

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