"For it will be like a man about to leave home for awhile, who entrusted his possessions to his servants. To one he gave five talents [equivalent to a hundred years wages]; to another, two talents; and to another, one talent -each according to his ability. Then he left. The one who had received five talents immediately went out, invested it and earned another five. Similarly, the one given two earned another two. But the one given one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and his his masters money.
After a long time, the master of those servants retirned to settle accounts with them. THe one who had recieved five talents came forward bringing the other five and said, 'Sir you gave me five talents; here, I have made five more.'
His master said to him, 'Excellent! you are a good and trustworthy servant. You have ben faithful with a small ammount, so I will put you in charge of a large ammount. Come and join your masters happiness!"
Also the one who had received two came forward and said, 'Sir, you gave me two talents; here I have made two more.'
His master said to him, 'Excellent! you are a good and trustworthy servant. Yo have been faithful with a small amount, so I will put you in charge of a large amount. Come and join in your master's happiness.
Now the one who had recieved one talent came forward and said, 'I knew you were a hard man. You harvest where you didn't plant and gather where you didn't sow a seed. I was afraid, so i went and hid your talent in the ground. Here! take what belongs to you!'
'You wicked, lazy servant! said his master, 'So you knew, did you, that I harvest where i havent planted? and that i gather where I didn't sow seed? Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, so that when i returned, i would at least have gotten back interest with my capital! take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten. For everyone who has something will be given more, so that he will have more than enough; but from anyone who has nothing, even what he does have will be taken away. As for this worthless servant, throw him out in the dark, where people will wail and grind their teeth!'
Once again, Yeshua uses a parable to make a point, and now he is using parables to explain things about his next coming. The last parable focused on readiness, and a person state of readiness will be a good indication of how important the message is to them. Here we are going to see a similar but different message.
The varying values of the talents given to the servants are, as said, based on "ability". But in spite of the difference in sums, the quantities involved are still vast. a talent was a weight of about sixty pounds. When applied to money or Gold, this can equal sums more than many people might make in a lifetime. THe passage even says "the equivalent of 100 years wages. The value is meant to wow the listener. The point here is, that even the smallest amount given is still an impressive sum. Each servant is entrusted something of great value.
We see that the servants who were given the to larger sums were able to double their take, and were rewarded for it. The story is not about them. It is about the last servant. The one who does nothing. Or, to put it a batter way, the servant who allows his fear to drive him into the ground, literally. For that is the reason for his lack of production with his talent. Think about it; every one of us would do something if given hundreds of thousands of dollars, even if that is to spend it all. But this servant, out of fear does absolutely nothing. He is afraid maybe of his masters disapproval if he lost the money, or simply afraid of the responsibility. Whatever the reason for his fear, he tries to do the safe thing, and in the end the same actions he took to evade fear cause him the result he had been wanting to avoid. It is a bit ironic.
This servant simply returns the initial sum back to his master. The master points out a very interesting flaw in this plan of burial; he didn't even gain interest. This is not just a rebuke, but an observation. Israeli bankers, even in those days, were safe bets. Some historians think that the modern baking industry started with ancient jewish bankers. This servant could have put his money in with them and made even a little interest. He wasn't afraid of the investment declining, there were simple options to improve value. The reason for the servants lack of event he most simple attempt comes from something else. It's not about the money at all, its about the servant looking out for himself. There was no personal risk, no striving for excellence and thus no room for failure the way he planned it.
We have seen in previous parables this week where something was given to a group of people (invites to wedding guests, land to tenants, etc). The point of the parable comes from what those people do with what they are given. In every case we see that there is an expected response, and it is not necessarily a surprising expectation. Wedding guests are expected to attend, tenants are expected to pay, and servants are expected to invest and grow money. The question then is what is the metafor? What have we been given? Don't mistake this simply for a parable about finances, though it could be applied; remember Yeshua is talking about his return.
There is a very simple possible answer; truth. We as believers and chosen have been shown and given the truth of the gospel. In the previous parable,s pointed at the cohanim, Yeshua makes the point that they have been given the truth, have misplaced it or forgotten it, and become hypocritical. In these parable . s we see examples of people doing the right thing with what they are given, but contrated against those who do not.
When Yeshua returns, each of us will have to give an account of what we did with what we were given. This is physical, mental, emotional and spiritual in nature. Were we good stewards of our recourses, yes, but more so, did we make progress for the Kingdom. If we are afraid to risk our appearance for the sake of the truth, then we forget that the truth does not come from us; it shouldn't matter how we appear. Those who live for themselves this way are further hypocrites. They have been given a gift by the master, and say that they live for him, but by their life the example that they neither know the master, not really understand or care that he is coming back.
No comments:
Post a Comment