“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
“After a long time the master of these servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
“The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see I have gained two more.’
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
“Then the man who had received the one talent came. “Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground, See, here is what belongs to you.’
“His master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! So you knew that I harvested where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then,. You should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
“’Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside. Into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Matthew 25:14-30
As we come to the end of a week thinking about the “Parable of the Talents” (or, as I like to call it, “The Parable of the Crazy Boss,”) I have to admit that for many years this parable bothered me. It bothered me that the “one-talent guy” was judged so harshly after playing it safe with his master’s money. I think it bothered me because, by my personality, I tend to be a bit conservative and “risk-averse.” It also bothered me that his one talent was taken away and given to the “ten-talent” guy. Not only did it seem a little harsh – it didn’t seem fair! It bothered me, that is, until I met a guy named “Randy.”
I met Randy almost 25 years ago on a short term mission trip in rural Mexico. I was leading a group of high school students from FBCG and Randy was with a team of young adults from Colorado. We were all serving together in a rural project for an organization called “Food for the Hungry.” Randy was about 25 years old and suffered from cerebral palsy. He was bright and loved Jesus – but he was limited by his disability. He used crutches and had to have someone help him get around. I remember wondering why he decided to come on this kind of trip – because he kind of slowed everyone else down. We were digging irrigation ditches in a field to prepare for the planting of a crop of corn and beans. But Randy couldn’t do that kind of work because of his limited mobility. He spent the week putting a handful of soil and seeds in little plastic bags so that they could be planted once we had prepared the field. But after four of five days of that – Randy got bored. He wanted to be out in the field digging with the rest of us.
On the next-to-last day of the trip Randy talked a group member into carrying a chair out to the field for him. Randy dragged himself by his crutches to the ditch we were digging. Randy’s leader, a guy named Kent, was frustrated with Randy for coming out the field because it put him at risk for falling and hurting himself. But Randy ignored Kent’s glare and sat in his chair on the edge of the irrigation ditch and asked for a pick-axe. He took it in his strong arms and flung it into the ditch to dig. On his second attempt – the power of his swing threw his whole body off the chair and into the ditch – head-first. Kent and I ran to Randy’s aid. After we pulled him up out of the ditch, Kent said, “Randy, what in the world are you doing!??” Randy smiled a big toothy grin – I’ll never forget it – and said, “I’m just having fun serving Jesus Kent. What are you doing?”
I have thought about Randy often over the years. He wasn’t a “five-talent guy”; he wasn’t a “two-talent guy”; we didn’t think he was even a “one-talent guy;” but what he had, he invested with passion and joy for Jesus. Oh, that I would do the same!
Ask Jesus how you might more boldly invest your time, talents and treasure in his eternal kingdom!
Brian Coffey
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3 comments:
The end of this parable raises questions- is the one talent guy saved? If the place this person is vanquished to has "weeping and gnashing of teeth", it doesn't sound like heaven at all. So, what is Jesus trying to say here regarding being saved based upon our actions (how we invest the talent's that God has given us)vs being saved simply through grace by faith?
Great question! In the message this weeked at East Campus I will explain that I believe this parable is primarily about accountability - not salvation. While I think an argument can be made that the 1-talent servant did not know his Master - and therefore was not "saved," I think the parable is primarily about God holding those who DO KNOW HIM accountable for the gifts and opportunities he has given us.
What I like about this parable is that it clearly is not about numbers (the amount of talents we have) - because (I think) if it WAS, then Jesus would have created the story to have 3 different servants performing at 3 different levels and getting 3 different rewards/reactions from the Master. See, the 5-talent servant and the 2-talent servant got EXACTLY the same reward, regardless of how much they started with. I guess you can say they both performed equally (they profited 100% for the Master), so that's why they got the same reward. But I'm inclined to think it's more about their attitude and their efforts, than their performance at all. They both did something with what they were given. Maybe the 100% return on investment doesn't even matter? And, remember, these parables were meant to have one big point to them that Jesus wanted to convey - they are not analogies where every item in the story symbolizes something and has meaning. It may simply be about relationship - that Who we know our Lord to be will determine how we live our lives, and what we do with what we have/what God has given us...
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