The
Parable of the Talents (also the
Parable of the Minas and the
Parable of the Pounds), is one of the
parables of Jesus, which appear in two of the
canonical gospels of the
New Testament; a thematically variant parable appears in the non-canonical
Gospel of the Hebrews.
Although the basic story in each of these parables is essentially the
same, the differences between the parables that appear in the
Gospel of Matthew 25:14-30 and in the
Gospel of Luke 19:12-27 are sufficient to indicate that the parables are not derived from the same source.
[1]
In Matthew, the opening words link the Parable of the Talents to the preceding
Parable of the Ten Virgins, which refers to the
Kingdom of Heaven.
[1]
In both Matthew and Luke, a master puts his servants in charge of his
goods while he is away on a trip.
Upon his return, the master assesses
the stewardship of his servants.
He evaluates them according to how
faithful each was in making wise investments of his goods to obtain a
profit.
It is clear that the master sought some profit from the
servants’ oversight.
A gain indicated faithfulness on the part of the
servants. The master rewards his servants according to how each has
handled his stewardship.
He judges two servants as having been
“faithful” and gives them a positive reward.
To the single unfaithful
servant who “played it safe,” a negative compensation is given.
The parable of the talents, depicted in a 1712 woodcut. The lazy servant
searches for his buried talent, while the two other servants present
their earnings to their master.
Settings
While the basic story in each of these parables is essentially the same, the settings are quite different.
- The setting of the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 is the Mt.
Olivet discourse. In Matthew 24 and 25, the overall theme is end-time
events, warning, and parables. "The direct cautions and warnings (Matt.
24:42, 44; 25:13) must be for the disciples (his audience)—warnings to
be watchful and to be ready for Christ’s coming".
- The setting of the parable of the minas in Luke 19 was out in the
open among the crowd. Zacchaeus had just believed and the Lord
acknowledged his salvation. But, the crowd was now looking for Jesus to
set up his kingdom.[2]
Parable of the Talents
The “Parable of the Talents”, in
Matthew 25:14–30
tells of a master who was leaving his house to travel, and, before
leaving, entrusted his property to his servants.
According to the
abilities of each man, one servant received five talents, the second
servant received two talents, and the third servant received one talent.
The property entrusted to the three servants was worth 8 talents, where
a
talent
was a significant amount of money.
Upon returning home, after a long
absence, the master asks his three servants for an accounting of the
talents he entrusted to them.
The first and the second servants explain
that they each put their talents to work, and have doubled the value of
the property with which they were entrusted; each servant was rewarded:
His master said to him, ‘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.’
The third servant, however, had merely hidden his talent, had buried it in the ground, and was punished by his master:
"Then the one who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Sir, I
knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you did not sow, and
gathering where you did not scatter seed, so I was afraid, and I went
and hid your talent in the ground.
See, you have what is yours.’ But his
master answered, ‘Evil and lazy servant!
So you knew that I harvest
where I didn’t sow and gather where I didn’t scatter?
Then you should
have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have
received my money back with interest!
Therefore take the talent from him
and give it to the one who has ten.
For the one who has will be given
more, and he will have more than enough.
But the one who does not have,
even what he has will be taken from him.
And throw that worthless slave
into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of
teeth.’"
Parable of the Minas
In Luke's Gospel (
Luke 19:12-27), Jesus told this parable because he was near
Jerusalem and because his disciples thought the
kingdom of God
would appear immediately.
The objective of investing or trading during
the absence of the master was intended to counter expectations of the
immediate appearance of God's kingdom.
The parable of the
minas
is generally similar to the parable of the talents, but differences
include the inclusion of the motif of a king obtaining a kingdom
[3] and the entrusting ten servants each with one mina, rather than a number of talents (
1 talent =
60 minas).
Only the business outcomes and consequential rewards of
three of the servants' trading were related.
Additionally, Luke included
at the beginning an account of citizens sending a message after the
nobleman to say that they did not want him as their ruler; and, at the
end, Luke added that the nobleman instructed that his opponents should
be brought to him and then be slain as well as the unprofitable servant
being deprived of his mina.
The parallels between the Lukan material (the Gospel of Luke and
Book of Acts) and
Josephus' writings have long been noted.
[4][5][6][7]
The core idea, of a man traveling to a far country being related to a kingdom, has vague similarities to
Herod Archelaus traveling to
Rome
in order to be given his kingdom; although this similarity is not in
itself significant, Josephus' account also contains details which are
echoed by features of the Lukan parable.
[8]
Josephus describes Jews sending an embassy to
Augustus, while Archelaus is travelling to Rome, to complain that they do not want Archelaus as their ruler;
[9][10] when Archelaus returns, he arranges for 3000 of his enemies to be brought to him at the
Temple in Jerusalem, where he has them slaughtered.
[9]
Version in the Gospel of the Hebrews
Eusebius of Caesarea includes a paraphrased summary of a parable of talents taken from a "
Gospel written in Hebrew script" (generally considered in modern times to be the
Gospel of the Nazarenes); this gospel was presumably destroyed in the destruction of the
Theological Library of Caesarea Maritima
in the 7th century (by the Islamic invaders) and has yet to be found.
In that gospel, Eusebius writes that while the man who had hid the
talent was rebuked for his burial, only the man who had received two
talents had invested and gained a return on his investment.
The
recipient of the five talents instead "wasted his master’s possessions
with harlots and flute-girls;" it was he, in the Hebrew gospel, that was
sent into the darkness (Eusebius expressly identifies the darkness as
being imprisonment).
[11]
The values of a talent
A
talent (Ancient Greek
τάλαντον,
talanton
‘scale’ and ‘balance’) was a unit of weight of approximately 80 pounds
(36 kg), and when used as a unit of money, was valued for that weight of
silver.
[12]
As a unit of
currency, a talent was worth about 6,000
denarii.
[1]
Since a denarius was the usual payment for a day's labour,
[1] the value of a talent was about twenty years of labour, by an ordinary person.
[13]
By contemporary standards (ca. AD 2009) at the rate of the
US minimum wage
of $7.25 per hour, the value of a talent would be approximately
$300,000 over 20 years, while, at the median yearly wage of $26,363, a
talent would be valued at about $500,000.
[14]
Interpretations
In Matthew, the opening words appear to link the parable to the
parable of the Ten Virgins, which immediately precedes it.
[1]
That parable deals with wisdom in an
eschatological context.
[1]
This parable, however, has been interpreted in several ways.
As a teaching for Christians
Traditionally, the parable of the talents has been seen as an
exhortation to Jesus' disciples to use their God-given gifts in the
service of God, and to take risks for the sake of the
Kingdom of God.
These gifts have been seen to include personal abilities ("talents" in
the everyday sense), as well as personal wealth.
Failure to use one's
gifts, the parable suggests, will result in judgment.
[1]
Finley suggests these interpretations among the teachings for Christians:
- The nobleman (Lk. 19:12), or the man (Matt. 25:14) is Christ.
- The journey of the master to another place and his return (Matt.
25:14, 15, 19; Lk. 19:12, 15) speaks of Christ’s going away to Heaven at
his ascension and his return at the time when he comes again.
- His entrustment to his servants of his possessions while he is away
on his journey should be Christ’s gifts and various possessions
(“capital”) given to the believers in his church in anticipation of them
producing a spiritual “profit” for Him in the kingdom of God. While he
is away, he expects his believers to “'Do business with this until I
come back.’” (Lk. 19:13).
- His evaluation of the business they have conducted during his
absence takes place upon his return and is an accounting of their
activity (Matt. 25:19; Lk. 19:15). This must be the Judgment Seat of
Christ, which is only for believers. This pictures an evaluation of
stewardship.
- The positive rewards for two of the slaves is based upon their
faithfulness to properly use what Christ entrusted to them. This
probably speaks of positive reward for believers who are faithful to
serve Christ.
- The negative reward (recompense) for the unfaithful servant likely
speaks of some negative dealing by Christ with an unfaithful believer.[2]
The poet
John Milton was fascinated by the parable (interpreted in this traditional sense),
[15] referring to it repeatedly, notably in the sonnet "
When I Consider How My Light is Spent":
[15]
When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one Talent, which is death to hide,
Lodg'd with me useless, though my Soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he, returning, chide
Some critics interpret the poem's exhortation to be ready to receive
God's will as a critique of a misunderstanding of the parable as literal
or economic, and that waiting—rather than amassing wealth to prove
one's worth—is the proper way to serve God.
[16]
While the narrator worries over his limited accomplishments, Patience
reminds him that God does not need "man's work." Milton may even be
contrasting God (as King) with the lord of the parable.
[17]
As a critique of religious leaders
Joachim Jeremias
believed that the original meaning of the parable was not an ethical
one about every man.
Instead, he saw it as aimed at the scribes who had
withheld "from their fellow men a due share in God's gift."
[18]
In his view, Jesus is saying that these scribes will soon be brought to
account for what they have done with the Word of God which was
entrusted to them.
[18]
Jeremias also believed that in the life of the early church the
parable took on new meaning, with the merchant having become an allegory
of Christ, so that "his journey has become the ascension, his
subsequent return ... has become the
Parousia, which ushers his own into the Messianic banquet."
[18]
As social critique
In the
Parables as Subversive Speech: Jesus as Pedagogue of the Oppressed (1994), William R. Herzog II presents a
liberation theology
interpretation of the “Parable of the Talents”, wherein the absentee
landlord reaps where he didn't sow, and the third servant is a
whistle-blower who has “unmasked the ‘joy of the master’ for what it
is—the profits of
exploitation squandered in wasteful excess.”
[19]
Hence, the third servant is punished for speaking the truth, and not
for failing to make a profit. From the critical perspective of
liberation theology, the message of the “Parable of the Talents” is that
man must act in solidarity with other men when confronting social,
political, and economic injustices.
[19]
To describe how scientists are awarded authorial credit for their work, the sociologist
Robert K. Merton applied the term
The Matthew effect of accumulated advantage, in which
the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
With the “Parable of the Talents”, Merton metaphorically described the
system of authorial rewards used, among the community of scientists,
whereby famous scientists usually are awarded credit that is
disproportionately greater than their contributions, while less-famous
scientists are awarded lesser credit than is merited by their
contributions; see also
Stigler's law of eponymy: “No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer.”
[20]
Depictions in the arts
The teachings of Jesus: the
Parable of the Talents, as etched by
Jan Luyken.
The “Parable of the Talents” has been depicted by artists such as
Rembrandt,
Jan Luyken, and
Matthäus Merian.
In literature, the
Threepenny Novel (1934), by
Bertolt Brecht (1895–1956), presents a social critique of the parable as an ideological tool of
capitalist "exploitation" of the worker and of society.
[21]
In religious music, the
hymn “Slave of God, Well Done!”, by
John Wesley, notably alludes to the “Parable of the Talents” (
Matthew 25:23), which was written on the occasion of the death of
George Whitefield (1714–1770), the English
Anglican cleric who was instrumental to the
First Great Awakening (ca. 1731–55) in Britain and in the
American colonies.
[22]
Ironically George Whitefield was a supporter of the introduction of
slavery (real slavery - not a contract to serve for a specified length
of time) in Georgia - against the written instructions of the Founder of
the colony (who forbad slavery as being inconsistent with the law of
God).
The hymn “Slave of God, Well Done!” begins thus:
Slave of God, well done!
Thy glorious warfare’s past;
The battle’s fought, the race is won,
And thou art crowned at last.
[23]
Talents folks, if you Got them, You Need to use them or you will loose them! This is so true! Weather they are Mental, Physical skills or Monetary skills if you do not use them they are taken away, fade away, or even given to another when your talents are such as these; monetary.
Be a Forever Student. Embrace learning and become knowledgeable.But better than this become wise wisdom is Applied Knowledge! Apply that what you learn. Apply it quickly an often until you have mastered It.
Men Of Christ remember where you are and who you belong to! And all truth may if flow unto you. That goes for you also ladies as well "Men" Includes All of Mankind.
For they are neither Given nor Promised of, In Heaven. In Heaven you and You alone will be all that is needed to please the Father. One Mind, One Body, and One Spirit with an Eternal Soul; forever and ever.
Source: Wikipedia.org
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