The Talents
14 “For it is like a man going into another country, who called his own servants and entrusted his goods to them. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his own ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 Immediately he who received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17 In the same way, he also who got the two gained another two. 18 But he who received the one talent went away and dug in the earth and hid his lord’s money. 19 “Now after a long time the lord of those servants came, and settled accounts with them. 20 He who received the five talents came and brought another five talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Behold, I have gained another five talents in addition to them.’ 21 “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 22 “He also who got the two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Behold, I have gained another two talents in addition to them.’ 23 “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 24 “He also who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you didn’t sow, and gathering where you didn’t scatter. 25 I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the earth. Behold, you have what is yours.’ 26 “But his lord answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I didn’t sow, and gather where I didn’t scatter. 27 You ought therefore to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back my own with interest. 28 Take away therefore the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will be given, and he will have abundance, but from him who doesn’t have, even that which he has will be taken away. 30 Throw out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Three servants are given capital and two of them trade with it — and the one who buried his had a theory about the owner.
“For it is like a man going into another country, who called his own servants and entrusted his goods to them.
The third waiting parable moves from preparation to employment. A talent was an enormous sum, years of a laborer's wages, so even the man with one is holding a fortune. And the amounts differ to each according to his own ability Matthew 25:15 — the owner is not testing them beyond their measure, and the unequal start is deliberate and known to him.
The two who trade are commended in identical words Matthew 25:21 Matthew 25:23. The man who doubled two gets exactly what the man who doubled five gets, down to the syllable, which settles what is being assessed. Not the size of the return; the faithfulness.
"Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord." The reward for work done well is more work, and then something that is not a reward for anything — the master's own joy, thrown open to a servant.
But he who received the one talent went away and dug in the earth and hid his lord’s money.
Burying money was a recognized way of keeping it safe, and safe is precisely what he was aiming at. He does not steal it, spend it or lose it. He returns exactly what he was given.
24 “He also who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you didn’t sow, and gathering where you didn’t scatter. 25 I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the earth. Behold, you have what is yours.’
The defense is the heart of the parable. He acted on a picture of the owner as harsh and unreasonable, and the picture produced the fear, and the fear produced the hole in the ground. Nothing he says about the master is true of the master the other two dealt with — the same man, described unrecognizably.
You ought therefore to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back my own with interest.
The reply takes him on his own terms: even his account of the owner should have produced interest. His theology did not even justify his own conduct.
"Throw out the unprofitable servant" Matthew 25:30. The severity is jarring against a man who did nothing wrong, and that is the parable's claim. There was no failed venture, no bad debt, no scandal. What is condemned is a life handed back unused, and the excuse offered for it was a false idea of God.
settled What this mark means