“For it shall be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted them with his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long while the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered me five talents, here, I have made five talents more’. His master said to him, ‘well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master’. And he who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you gave me two talents, here I have made two talents more’. His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master’. He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you have scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours’. But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has more will be given, and he will have abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”1
Contained within this comparatively brief passage of Holy Scripture is an incredible wealth of wisdom, spoken from the mouth of our Lord. The tale describes three servants, to whom the master delegates his wealth, “each according to his ability”. The different capabilities of the servants are assumed, no argument is brokered, and no cry of inequality is uttered. Those in authority have by right and duty to trust those who deserve trust, honor those who deserve honor, and so forth. It is worth noting that the word translated as ‘servant’ might be more properly understood as ‘slave’. Slavery during Roman rule in Judea bears some definite distinctions from American antebellum slavery, which we will not dwell on here, save to say these servants are very much not mere employees as some have sought to render this word.
Now the first servant, being given the five talents, immediately began trading with the money he received. Without apparent instruction, he knew right away how to faithfully serve his master and lord, how to use his talents for the promulgation of his master’s good. We’re told the second servant did much the same, though without the alacrity said of the first servant. In both cases, we may reasonably surmise these servants were capable and intelligent individuals, enough so they could take the money and invest it intelligently such that they received a 100% return. Contained here too, I think, is an insight into a Biblical ethic of both money and capability, or what we might call gifts. None of the servants owned the money, they knew that upon their master’s return so too his money would return to him. Yet, in both cases, they used all their available gifts to seek their master’s good and advancement, and in so doing expanded and gained considerably. A 100% return on investment is something any investor would be quite pleased with. Scripture tells us We are not our own, but bought for a price, in a similar manner than these servants may have been. This may seem to encourage sloth, as we can easily note in our own day and age. Yet these faithful servants acted as good stewards over what they were given, applying themselves in service of what was not theirs by right but what was theirs only by grace, for a time. And see how their master rewards them, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’ and ‘You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much.2 So much of the essence of the Christian life is contained in this brief passage it is a wonder to behold. We are on this earth a little while longer, to serve, and to use our talents which God has made us stewards over for the promulgation and advancement of our master’s good.
Rebuked, too, is the sentiment that investing, that is, using money to make money, rather than money being only from toil, is somehow wicked or wrong. Christ chose his words and stories carefully, as he had to in his testimony to the truth. There have been some whose crusade against Usury has led them to the erroneous belief that the Bible rebukes investments like the stock market. Christ’s parable here undercuts that claim severely.
And now we reach the final servant, and here too Christ’s parable speaks to something we can very much observe as well. “Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you have scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.”3 The final servant’s words are ones of bitterness and resentment. How dare you gain money by investment, rather than as I have through hard labor? It is difficult to read and not see the immediate rebuke. More critically, the servant here shows utter faithlessness, acting more as a thief than as a servant. We may speculate that this talent, rather than being used faithfully and looking forward to the master’s return, was hidden secretly, that should anything have happened to the master the talent would have been lost except to this wicked servant. Taken aback by his servant’s faithless actions, the master retorts that if he was known as a man who reaps where he does not sow the least this wicked servant could have done is left the money in the bank.
The point applies not merely to money but to all those things we are given. God expects us to use what he gives us, to invest it, as wisely and capably as we can. Stated too is that normatively, God will bless and reward these efforts.
“For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance. But to him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”4
This is a statement not just of justice but of metaphysical reality. What we’re given we have a duty to use. We are to shine the light we have upon the world, to be a blessing to the nations,5 and those who seek to selfishly and faithlessly hide what they have, even that little shall be lost.
Woven into the very fabric of the story is the most important quality of the Christian, that being faith. Those who are of the truth, we must act as the first servant did, going at once to use the talents we have been given for the betterment of our families, our churches, and our nations. To act in faith, awaiting the return of our Heavenly Master, and anticipating hearing from him those words well done good and faithful servant.
But woe to the one who acts faithlessly and selfishly, bitterly resenting, for here we are told he will cast out into the outer darkness.
Matthew 25:14-30, (ESV)
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Galatians 3:8, (ESV)