Parables of the Kingdom: Matthew 25:14-30

THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS:

A Story About Risk and Faith

 

There are a lot of risks in life. You can go to college, study hard, graduate with honors, and then find that your chosen field doesn’t have any openings. Or there may be openings, but there are many qualified applicants including one whose dad works at the company. You are more qualified, but you don’t have the connections. 

            Life is a risk. Ask our farmers this year. Rip open a bag of seed (that’s a risk) and plant a crop. You hope for a harvest. The risk is crop failure. There may be too much rain, or as is the case this year, not enough. 

            Life is full of risks. And we must decide if the risk is worth the bother. I took a risk in crossing the “friend zone” line and shared my growing love for Sharon. She was a really good friend, and I didn’t want to lose that friendship. But my heart was telling me to go for it – to risk the friendship for something more. 

            We must take risks, or we will never move forward in life. But it can be frustrating. You would think that if you plan carefully, work hard, and play by the rules, success should be guaranteed. But it’s not always. Sometimes we fail. We risk and we lose. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just make decisions without risk and succeed every time? We can’t for two reasons: we are not all-powerful, and we are not all-knowing. In other words, we’re not God. 

            Risk, however, is at the heart of discipleship. Jesus said, “…whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it,” (Matt. 16:25). To follow Jesus is to risk losing reputation, safety, even your life.

            Jesus told a simple parable about a master who goes away on a trip and gives a lot of money to his servants. It’s one story in a series of three that Jesus uses to respond to a big question: How will we recognize the end of the world? (24:3). Jesus doesn’t answer the question. Instead, he tells his disciples how they can be ready for his return and for the end of the world. Spoiler alert: It involves taking a risk. 

            Follow along in Matthew 25:14-30 as we study the elements of this parable and what they mean.

 

The Master Risks Entrusting Money to Servants (14-15)

 

Jesus’ story opens with a man going on a journey and entrusting a great deal of money to his servants. 

            There are two details Bible readers get hung up on as they read this story. First, in our culture and language a talent is a skill, an aptitude, or a natural ability – like playing piano. So, we trip over that word and allow it to confuse the interpretation and application of the parable. A talent in the first century was NOT a skill, gift, or ability, but a weight or measure, usually of copper, silver, or gold. It was about 30 kg. A talent was money, a lot of money. 

            But surely it represents something like a gift? Yes, but I would say in advance that it represents FAITH. More on that later.

            The second detail that we trip over is that the master gives money “each according to his ability.” This is often interpreted as one Christian receiving more spiritual gifts than another or more responsibility than another. Don’t get hung up on that one phrase. It’s a story whose larger point is immensely more important than this detail. 

            One preacher I usually like to follow commented on this saying: “It’s the same with us. God gives to each of us according to our abilities. There’s a reason not all of us are rich and famous or in positions of power or authority. God knows what you can handle and what you cannot. Some of us are more limited in our abilities. Some of us can handle much more.” Do you agree with this?

             I don’t! This is simply not true. Many Christians have been gifted with power, authority, wealth, and other gifts, who have completely abused and mishandled these gifts. They have crashed and burned spiritually because the responsibility of these gifts was too much for them. Ravi Zacharias, Bruxey Cavey, Bill Hybels, and many more brothers have proven this interpretation to be false. 

            Let us simply say this: The master went away leaving a lot of money with his servants and it was a risky decision.

 

The Servants Risk Investing the Money (16-17, 19-23)

 

Do you want to know something funny about the servants? The master gave them money, but never told them what to do with it. 

            What we read is an immediate response. “He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more,” (16). Either there was an understanding with the master that this was expected, or he took a risk to please his master. The second servant did the same thing. The trust was different, but the rate of return was the same: they doubled the master’s money. 

            What if the first servant had traded with the five talents and earned only three more talents? Would the master have been just as happy? You may think it doesn’t matter – it probably doesn’t. However, the point of the parable is that the two servants DID SOMETHING with what they were entrusted. 

            There was a definite risk involved in this venture. What if the servant had failed and lost all the money? Judging from what happened to the third servant, the consequences may have been severe. That’s not the point either. What we see instead in the first two servants is a model for enthusiastic discipleship. They were not going to waste their lives sitting in fear of the risks. They took what was given and did something.

            Check out the reward for their success. The master returns to settle accounts and is pleasantly surprised to find two productive servants. He commends them saying to both, “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,” (21 & 23). 

            I have been impressed that the biblical word “good,” as in Genesis 1 when God created the world, does not mean “perfect” (though it can), but “useful.” These servants were useful to their master; they took what was given to them and worked with it. 

            Then when the master saw how “useful” the servants were to him, he gave them back the talents and implied “do it again.” The reward for reliability for the servant is not to be set free from responsibility but to be given more of it. That’s not a bad thing; that’s an honor. These servants were a delight to the master and earned his favor.

 

The One Servant Feared Failure and Took No Risk (18, 24-27)

 

The third servant took the one talent he had been given and buried it. He did not want to take a risk and fail. And it seems odd that he would be so honest with his master and telling him what a rotten person he is. No groveling. No wild excuses. He straight up says, “You’re a hard man…I was afraid…I hid your talent in the ground,” (25).

            There is no doubt that the parable focuses on the servant that risks nothing. Who does the “wicked and slothful servant” represent? In Matthew 23, Jesus blasted the scribes and pharisees for making it hard for people to find God. They added laws to laws and buried the truth under tradition. The useless servant buried his talent in the ground only to hand it back to the master exactly as it was. The goal of the scribes and pharisees was to keep the law exactly as it was – “to build a fence around the law.” Any new interpretation was condemned. 

            In this parable, Jesus taught that there can be no growth in faith without adventure, without risk. If you don’t risk failure, you guarantee failure. If you’re a student and are afraid to start writing an exam unless you’re absolutely certain you will get every answer correct, you’ll never start writing and you’ll fail. If you need a job but won’t apply anywhere for fear of being rejected, you will remain unemployed. If you want to get married but you are waiting until you know beyond a doubt that the marriage will be nothing but sweetness and light 24/7, you will remain single. And here’s the point of this parable: If you say you have faith in Jesus Christ, but do not take risks based on that faith, your faith is mere words. 

            The talent represents faith. I know this because if Madison doesn’t play the piano ever again, she’s not going to hell. But if you don’t act on your faith, the master will say, “What have you done with this gift of believing?”

            The Pharisees and scribes had everything they needed to build a vibrant faith. Paul wrote in Romans 9:1-5 (read). They had the scriptures, they had the prophets, they had the genetics linking them to Messiah, and they had Jesus himself. But they did not take a risk and work that faith out in life.

 

The Principle of Risk and Reward in the Kingdom (28-30)

 

Paul took the words of Jesus and identified a principle that the gospel teaches: sowing and reaping (2 Cor. 9:6; Gal. 6:7-8). Whatever you sow, that’s what you will reap. We find this in the parable as well. The good and faithful servants took what was given and made more of the same. Jesus said, “…to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away,” (29). 

            Jesus said this more than once, “…whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it,” (16:25; John 12:24-25). 

            Life is full of risks. The Bible even tells us that. When you don’t know what the future holds, it’s natural to feel anxious. But if you have a relationship with the one who knows the future, you see things differently, you can take risks. You have two choices: you can either sit in fear and keep your faith in a box, or you can take your faith and see what it looks like in the world at large. Take a risk. Try something. Feel free to fail. Leave the results in God’s hands. Life is an adventure full of challenges and risks, but faith helps us to take those risks. 

            The ultimate risk is trusting God for the hope of eternal life. Eternal life is found in trusting a God you can’t see, putting your faith in a Savior you can’t touch, and investing yourself in a future you can’t imagine. That’s faith in action. Faith means risking your life, betting everything on the power of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. 

 

I can’t say that I have taken risks every time I should have. I’m learning what faith means too. I haven’t got it figured out. 

            This week, Judy brought a man to see the table that Neil built and put in the meeting room. I noticed that this man’s left eye was seemingly damaged. Because of a book I’ve been reading about acting on faith, I thought about asking this man if he was blind in his left eye. If he said he was, I was going to ask if I could pray that the Lord would restore his sight. I know, crazy, right? 

            I’ve prayed for healing before without any dramatic results, so I hesitated. Would he think I was stupid? If he wasn’t healed would it wound his faith, if he had any? Would it turn him off from Christianity? But what if he was healed? Did I prevent him having the opportunity to see and to believe in the power of Jesus? Risky, isn’t it? 

            But I’m growing bolder. There is less to lose and much to gain. William Carey said, “Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.” 

            What is God asking you to do? What risks are you willing to take for the kingdom of God? 

            In conversation with a couple of people this week, I have discussed what it would look like to have the Holy Spirit fill this congregation. Different answers emerged: hunger for the Word, deeper prayer lives, love for the lost, openness to the Spirit’s moving in our midst. It is no secret I have prayed for a fresh filling of the Spirit in RFC. But are we open to such a movement? Are we willing to take the risk of what that means? What if we have to give something up? What if we have to move out of our comfort zones? 

            But what if we take a risk and get to experience a faith in Jesus Christ that moves mountains? Wouldn’t it be worth it? 

            A faith that is not tested is a faith that cannot be trusted. God is asking us to invest in our faith, to multiply it by trusting him and risking everything to follow Jesus. 

            Are you willing to take the risk with me?

 

                                                AMEN