The parable of the talents has several obvious lessons; the first is that servants must watch for their master’s return. The second is that we need to make our talent(s) grow. Well, maybe the second one is not so obvious.
Is Jesus asking us to increase our abilities in this parable? In other words, If we are an adequate public speaker, does he expect us to be smooth and polished when he returns? If our “talent” is music are we expected to be master musicians when he returns? If our “talent” is simply to welcome visitors to our meeting, are we to double our friendliness?
This parable makes no sense if we understand “talents” to be abilities. The Greek definition for “talent” means a particular sum of money. But how do we interpret the parable? What does the sum of money represent?
What did Jesus leave with me?
What do the talents in Jesus’s parable represent? They must represent something which Jesus has left with each of his servants. Many things have been suggested, but perhaps the best way to approach this parable is to ask: ‘What is the most valuable thing which Jesus left with me?’
The most valuable thing Jesus left with us, and the one thing which can be increased, is faith!
Jesus left us with the belief, the faith that he will return! Jesus gives us faith that his sacrifice covers our sins. Jesus left us with faith that we will be with him in the Kingdom!
The faith that each of us possesses was uniquely given to us by Jesus, and each of us holds that faith in different quantities:
“For I say to every man that is among you, through the grace given unto me, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Rom 12:3, 21st Century KJV).
Paul plainly tells us that that faith can be increased:
“But having hope that, as your faith groweth, we shall be magnified in you…” (2Cor 10:15, Easy-to-Read Version).
Not only can faith be increased like the talents in the parable, but faith is also described as something of great value like gold:
“That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1Pet 1:7).
Faith buried in the earth
The parable says each servant was given a talent according to his ability. That word “ability” is a special word, “dynamis”. It means “with power, miraculous, wonders”. The root of this Greek word is the same word that dynamite is taken from. The point is obvious; putting our talent, our faith, to work must be obvious to everyone around. Those who buried their faith were buried with it! In other words, they died never having put to effective use the wondrous power hidden in their “faith”. As we look at it this way, Luke 18:8 takes on new meaning. In the verse below the word “on” can also mean “in”:
“Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on [or ‘in’] the earth?”
Where will our faith be? Buried in the earth like the foolish servant?
Faith for righteousness
A passage from Thessalonians parallels our parable from Matthew.
“When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2Thes 1:10-12).
Here we see a growing faith, a faith shown with power, the return of the Master, “a counting”, and reward. This is almost a summary of the parable of the talents, especially if we accept that talents equal levels of faith.
In Romans 4, Paul talks about this reckoning of faith for righteousness, in the same way that the talents were exchanged. This makes perfect sense because at the Judgment Seat our faith and hope have been fulfilled. Our fulfilled faith and hope are realized in the presence of our master before us. In Romans 4, faith is exchanged for “righteousness”. Literally that means “good standing, a position before God”. Isn’t that what happens to the faithful servants in our Lord’s parable of the talents?
“Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matt 25:23).
The faithful servants had their faith exchanged for good positions before God. So what are we doing with the “talents” (i.e., faith) given to us? David could not hide his faith in God. He would not conceal the great characteristics of his Master.
“I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation” (Psa 40:9,10).
Investing your faith with others
A talent is a great sum of money. Do we consider our faith to be priceless? How can we squander it? And here is the mystery of faith. Our natural reaction to possessing precious things is to conceal them, lock them up. But the riches Christ gives to us work just the opposite way.
“Guard the deposit,” Paul told Timothy (ZTim 6:20). And the only way you can properly hoard what the Master has given us is to share it with others, to keep it in circulation like the faithful servants who spread around their master’s riches, who “invested” it so as to make a profit.
So how do we increase our faith and the faith of others? We have a hymn that sheds light on this. The first verse of Hymn 222 reads:
“When my love to God grows weak, when for larger faith I seek, then in thought I go to thee…”
Like the faithful servants in the parable, our thoughts need to be focused on our Master and the anticipation of his return. When we are down to our last talent and feeling weak, we can’t forget all the simple things we need to practice. Are we praying, reading, and attending meetings and Bible classes? Are we encouraging each other for good? Are we looking for the signs of our Lord’s return? Are we talking about the Kingdom to others? Doing these things makes our faith stronger. The writer to the Hebrews sums up very nicely the qualities of faithful servants waiting for their Master’s return. They are words we should take to heart in our ‘investment strategy’ for our faith:
“Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Heb 10:24,25).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One