The parable of the talents Matthew 25:14-30

Matthew 25:14-30  Gospel reading for Sunday 13th November 2011

(This edition of Gospel Reflections is very much a sequel to last week - parable of the wise and foolish virgins.)

Again we find at first glance the gospel seemingly mysteriously overshadowed by a strong judgement and punishment theme ... but watch carefully ... this passage also oozes GRACE!

Hands up those who have heard this parable used as a basis for a stewardship campaign, or as encouragement to use our God-given gifts and talents? Perhaps these messages have even hinted at the idea that if we don't use our gifts and talents wisely, we will have them taken away from us! (Use it or lose it!) I get the picture from the sea of hands waving out there, that interpretations of this nature may have been common in our circles. You may have been party to a well-meaning school devotion, perhaps acted out, where that central message has been emphasised. I'm not suggesting that such a view lacks validity, rather I think Jesus had other things in mind here. I think by the way, that it is unfortunate that the English translation of the unit of currency in the parable has been to the word TALENT, which may be partly responsible for throwing us off track.

Let's recall the context here. Jesus in Matthew 25 is delivering his final lesson in his teaching career. Matthew's Gospel has Jesus rattling off in rapid-fire succession a series of hard-hitting stories. Through some very dramatic imagery he is making one last-ditch effort to give the people a clear picture of the amazing new deal that is less than a week away from unfolding.

Let's take a closer look at the parable. Instead of the gifts and talents line of thinking, consider the following as a starting point ... (paraphrased into language as it applies to us today.) We have been given the Gospel. The question is what have we done with that? Have we accepted it? Have we taken it on board and been entrepreneurial with our opportunity? Have we taken the information that we have about Jesus and used it in our family and in our community in such a way that it has brought substantial return? Or have we despite having the gospel placed before us and available to us, done nothing with it, let it sit there, even buried it away out of sight and in effect rejected it?

Note also that the principle of inclusion before exclusion (explained last week) is again strongly evident here. Each of the three servants in the story were included at the beginning, each had the good news of the Gospel available to them. But again we see that the one who is made an outsider at the end of the story, was always included at the beginning and only excluded himself through his own negative response to the invitation.

At risk of repeating myself from round one of Matthew 25 last week ... underpinning the final summary by Jesus is the idea that the sole criteria for any judgement is simply FAITH or UNFAITH. Those who receive congratulations at the end are those who believed in the mysterious main character. The one who is condemned is the one who chose not to believe. It is not the "good works" with the funds allocated to the first two servants that saves them, any more than it is the non-effort by the third servant that damns him. It is only faith or unfaith that matters. Again, classic Luther  - SAVED BY GRACE!

But there's more! The above recurring key Gospel points aside, there is an interesting twist at the end of the story which sees the one talent stripped from the worthless servant and given to the one who has most! What do we make of that? What is our objection to the treatment of the third servant? The problem no doubt lies with our western world fixation of thinking in terms of financial investment, security of money, good return etc. In that line of thinking we can only see the judgment as harsh. Wasn't he being prudent, avoiding high risk by going with capital secure? If however we view this through the lens that the key point that Jesus was trying to make to the people was not so much about productivity, but rather about the significance of simply saying YES or NO to the Gospel, if we consider this as a parable of invitation, the third servant's treatment starts to make sense. Because he does not, or is not able to hear or accept the invitation, or have any part of it, he effectively condemns himself. But why give his allocation to the one with the most? It is only conjecture, but perhaps this is just an emphasis of the point that the reward for taking up the invitation is going to be huge - more than one could have possibly imagined!

In conclusion ...on the surface what seems to be a another scary parable of judgment, underneath the surface really oozes grace. For Jesus' followers then and for us today there is no fear here - only celebration, for we have ALREADY been SAVED BY GRACE. So let's get on with the business of spreading the Word!

"The only reason that judgement comes into it at all is that there will always be dummies who refuse to trust a good thing when it is handed to them on a platter" Robert Farrar Capon

Nev

PS
a challenging footnote (and final thought)

"Wouldn't it be wonderful if we would be as concerned about increasing the spread of the gospel -- God's grace -- as we are about increasing the return on our financial investments? Brian P. Stoffregen