The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Matthew 25:14 “For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. 16 Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. 17 In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. 18 But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money 19 “Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and *settled accounts with them. 20 The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 “Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 “And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ 26 “But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. 27 Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. 28 Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’ 29 “For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. 30 Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (NASB)
The Gospel readings for last week, this morning, and for next week are part of the private instruction that Jesus gave to His disciples at their camp on the Mount of Olives just a few days before His crucifixion. Last week we considered the parable of the Five Wise and Five Foolish Virgins. Next week, on the Last Sunday of the Church year the Gospel reading will be about the judgement day and sheep and the goats.
In last week’s lesson we learned that we are to keep the flame of faith alive while we wait for the Lord to collect us. We do so by feeding the flame with the Word and Sacrament ministry of the church because we need the fuel for the long haul. Today, we consider the Parable of the Talents.
Today’s parable tells of a man who went on a long trip and returned at a later date. The man in the parable is Jesus, Who Himself was about to leave on His own trip. In a few days, He would be hanging from a cross paying for the sins of the world. Then He would rise from the dead on the third day ascend into heaven to wait for His time to return to put an end to all sin and death.
Before leaving, the master 14 “called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey.”
We don’t know how much a talent was, but it represented a very large sum of money. Jesus tells us the master “entrusted his possessions to them.” The implication is that the master entrusted his entire portfolio to these three slaves.
Note also the obvious. The man entrusts his wealth to slaves/servants. The Greek word for slave of servant is duolos it means a slave or hired servant. Duoloi by the way were considered members of the household. They didn’t rank as family members, but they were under the master’s jurisdiction and authority. He was responsible for them and for their protection.
In Galatians 4:7 St. Paul highlights one of the big differences between servants and family. He says to Christians, “You are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.”
The master in the parable doesn’t entrust His wealth to strangers. He doesn’t subcontract his portfolio out to professional money managers. There’s a lesson here. Christians and primarily the household of faith have been entrusted with God’s possessions. Jesus did not give the Great Commission in Matthew 28 to the world. He did not give His greatest possessions to governments. The Bible doesn’t belong to the world so that anyone is free to do with it as they please. 2 Peter 1:20-21 tells us that the Bible isn’t even to be subject to any individual Christian’s interpretation. “Know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture becomes a matter of someone’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
The Word of God, the Gospel, Confession and Absolution, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper, the pastoral office, and the worship service all belong to the household of faith to do with them as God instructed us to do. “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
In the parable three servants are put in charge of a fortune. One a really big fortune (5 talents), the other a medium sized fortune (2 talents), and the third just a fortune (1 talent). The master left on his trip and upon his departure all three servants went to work.
16 “Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. (Doubled the money) 17 In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. (Again doubled the money) 18 But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.” Two of the servants went to work and put the talents to work on behalf of the master. The third one also got to work. He just did a different kind of work, an authorized kind of work. He immediately started digging a hole for the talent and for himself.
Again the first thing we need to remember is that parables are about the kingdom of heaven. Jesus’s parables are all about how the church, how Christ works in and through it. This parable is not a parable about accounting. It’s not about the stewardship of money. It is not even about “church talent inventories.” It’s about the church and the things of the church.
When reading or hearing a parable the first thing to take note as to which character is the primary actor in the parable. The vineyard owner is the one who sends his servants whom the tenants kill. The vineyard owner is the one who sends his son who they kill. The last question in the parable, what will the vineyard owner do to those wicked men?
So also the principal actor in this parable is the master. He is the one who is going away. It is his possessions/wealth that the servants are to manage and put to work. The master will return to his household and will require an accounting of what the servants did with what was his. Notice, by the way in all these parables, Jesus is telling stories about ownership and rights of what rightfully belongs to the Owner, the Master, the Lord and what belongs to Him.
At the heart this parable is the relationship between the Master and His servants. He trusted them to do what they were suppose to do with the gifts He entrusted to them. The two understood their relationship and duty. They follow the instructions of the Master, each one according the his ability. They learned from their Master. These servants didn’t hit the jackpot. They didn’t just get lucky. They learned how to make use of the Master’s wealth. They knew what to do with the talents.
The Master knew them too. He gives according to their ability, to how well they’ve learned. Thus the Master praises the first two for their well doing and tells them to “enter into the joy of your Master.”
The third servant didn’t really know his Master or what to do with the talent entrusted to him. He shows his ignorance of both the Master and of the purpose and management of the talent. “The one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. . .”
Now listen to what the Master says. 26 “You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. 27 Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.” The Master wasn’t confessing that he is a hard man. He is showing his servant just how wrong he was. If he were the man the servant thought him to be, then the servant would have known that burying the money in the ground would produce a hard and unforgiving response and would have therefore caused the servant to do something else with the money. At the very least put it in the bank. The servant is in trouble because he hasn’t learned a thing from or about the Master.
He didn’t get it, just as so many who belong to the visible church or who claim to be people of faith but have no regard for God’s talents in the church don’t get it either. They think they need to do add some good works to please the heavenly Master. The servant’s actions showed that he really didn’t care about the Master’s household or about the talent. He was worried for himself. He was worried about what might happen to him if he didn’t perform well enough– hear that hint of good works. The servant didn’t want to lose any points on the point system. He figured by burying the talent he was breaking even.
This parable isn’t about the money/mammon. It is about the currency of the kingdom of heaven. It’s about the gifts God has given to the church. He gave His Son Jesus Christ as a ransom for the sin of the world. God the Father gave the church the His Law and the Son of God as the Gospel. He gave the church the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. He gave His church the means of grace, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. He gave the church the office of public ministry/the pastoral office and with confession and absolution. These talents multiplied and took on the form of biblical liturgies, good Christians hymns, art work and so on.
Now put this together with last week’s parable. The Five Wise and Foolish Virgins. The flame of faith has to be kept alive by the Word and Sacrament ministry, by the right preaching of the Law and Gospel. If the servant buries the Gospel and doesn’t make use of it to feed the faith of the saints, then the flame dies, the household of faith in that place dies.
This is why the Master calls the servant “wicked and lazy.” He neglected the proper work of the church. It is why the Master tells the household to “throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
With the mission of the Church salvation hangs in the balance. Jesus was teaching His disciples and the rest of us that we have been entrusted with the possessions of the kingdom of heaven. St. Paul writes of himself and the others, “This is the way any person is to regard us: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” (1 Cor. 4:1) The three servants were entrusted with the talents or mysteries of the master.
In the absence of the Master’s physical presence we are to be about the business of putting the Word of God to work. When God blesses us with the Gospel we become like those two faithful servants. We approach our Lord with confidence instead of fear. While we know the law, we look beyond the law to the Gospel and the joy that it brings.
Who then are the faithful servants? The first faithful servant is Jesus Christ Himself who was faithful even unto death on a cross. By His work on the cross He makes us His faithful servants and entrusts His gifts to us. Because He was faithful, we no longer imitate that third, unfaithful servant. Instead, we are confident as we come forward for His judgment. We know that He loves us and has already provided everything we need for our salvation.
Thus those who remain in true faith, good stewards of the Word and Sacraments, of the doctrine of Christ, and of church services, will one day hear our Lord say to us, “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” for your sins are forgiven you.
AMEN
May the peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen