The Parable of the Talents was never about each of the entrusted servants individual performance. As we dig deep, we discover that it was about the amount of respect and gratitude for the lavish gift, that each servant had been given.  Before the Master left, He had divided His entire estate, all that He possessed, plus all of His trust in His beloved servants. The Master’s generosity was handed out according to His clearly understood ability of each of His servants. His grand gifting overwhelmed two of His servants and they took great risk as they worked to multiply the value of what they were entrusted with. The two hard working, reliable and devoted servants got praised when the Master returned. “Well done My good and faithful servants.” Matthew 25:23 

One fearful, mistrusting servant chose to bury his talent. He had not valued the trust of His Master and when the Master returned, the servants words pierced the Master’s heart. The generous Master had given all that He had and did not hear gratitude but disrespect. The servants insulting response. Matt 25:24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master, I knew that YOU are a HARD man, harvesting where YOU have not sown and gathering where YOU have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid YOUR gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to YOU.’ The  servant who disrespected the Master and His gift, chose to do nada!

Matthew 25:26-30 “His Master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you KNEW that I harvest where I have NOT sown and GATHER where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put My money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever HAS will be given MORE, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does NOT have (respect of the Giver of all that is good) even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that WORTHLESS servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Our God will not be mocked!  Job 38:2-3 “Who is this that obscures My plans with words without knowledge?  Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.” Yes Lord and my desire is to honor You with the gifts I receive.

Enter into the joy of His generous gift of faith in you. Our good Father entrusted us with a Holy Helper who abides in us, to teach, and guide us. Our Master knows what we can handle. What will we do with our gift of faith? Will we hide our talents? Or do we gladly invest them with gratitude, even during the hardships— that our Master is glorified through our faith, honor, and obedience. Romans 9:20 “But who are you, a human being, to talk back to GOD? Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did YOU make me like this?” Do we thank God for His trust in us? Let us not shrink back or suspect that our Lord is a hard task Master. Our Father has entrusted us with His Son, His Words, the Holy Spirit and the FAITH to BELIEVE.

The Parable of the Talents is about FEARLESS FAITH and our VIEW of the MASTER. God does not measure how much each of His saints do. It is about faith, not works. Our Father measures how much we value what He has gifted us. He knows if we view Him as our personal loving Father, or as a hard task Master.  Truth is that a single talent equated to 6,000 denari and just one denari was considered a day’s wage. 6,000 covered 20 years of hard labor. The Master gave all He had to His servants, who also received His lavish love and treasured trust. Two talents would be enough for 40 years.  The 5 talents could last 100 years. The Greek words indicate that the Master entrusted these chosen servants with His entire estate.  He did not gift them based on how much he admired their work. The Master gave what He knew they could manage. “kata ten idiom dunamin” According to their own ability.  The word dunamin comes from  dunamis, which is the root word for dynamite. The Master did trust in their dynamite,  inherent ability.  The servants He gifted 5 and 2 talents invested them and their return doubled. The servant who was gifted 6,000 denari chose to do nothing but bury the gift.  Many argue for the prudent attempt to keep the gift safe. But, the other 2 servants who appreciated the trusted gift, went on dangerous trade routes and made careful investments. They had to invest faith in others. They had to discern the honesty of those charged with the crop care. They invested in seed to plant a crop and paid workers fairly to reap the harvest.  They valued the Master’s trust in them and were careful to maximize their gift. They viewed their Master with honor and with gratitude, they diligently used His gifts wisely. 

Diving deep into the words of good and faithful in Greek: agathos means devoted or valuable and pistos means trustworthy, reliable and dependable.  Ah, with the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are astounded to fully understand our Master’s way.  He measures our devotion and our reliability. He had entrusted His entire fortune with His chosen. Why did the other servant choose to bury his gift?  And why did the Master call him wicked and lazy? The words wicked and lazy in Greek are  ponair and oakner. Ponair means worthless or grudging.  Oakner means shrinking back, hesitant, or cowardly. Do not shrink back. “Be of good courage, and fear not for I am with you always.”

None of His servants were judged on their personal productivity. Their value of their relationship with the Master and of His faith in them was recorded in the parable. The Master always speaks truth.  By the response of the servant with 1 talent, his view of the Master was not of trust, but suspicion that “he is a hard hearted man who hopes to reap where he did not personally sow and gather a greedy profit off my efforts.”  So he hid the talent rather than work and get a profit.  His disrespect for the Master and his gift smacks of fear and pride.  He perceived the gift as a trap, a task not worth his effort. His own fearful logic condemned him.  We have ALL received the GIFT of faith, salvation, and the Holy Spirit.  If we respond to His conviction with guilt for our sin, we know our Master to be a loving, good, and merciful. Adam attempted to hide in the garden because he was afraid of God’s punishment.  The door of fear was wide open in Adam’s heart.  As His chosen faithful servants, we who have done much with little, know our Master is faithful as He promises to set us over much in His kingdom. Our Master is not our flesh, our emotions, or our fears. We are more than conquerors.  Our Master invites His servants to come deeper and to receive a greater faith. He already entrusted us with faith to believe in His living Word. He has already given us the priceless gift of eternal life with rewards that are unimaginable.

The Parable encourages all saints to do everything we can, to the best of our ability to honor our Master. When He sees our glad obedience, He’ll give us more to be faithful with. At times the talents might not look like blessings.  The talent might be a trial?  How well do we suffer? What glory can we bring to the Father through the trial?  If we bury our complaints, and not trust our emotions,  we then wisely choose to face the fear that constantly knocks on the door.  We face fears toe to toe with dynamite authority. We  trust God to do what He promised. We view our part of working out our own salvation, NOT as striving.  We rightly view our PART as a joy because we view our Master with great honor, love, and gratitude for all He has done for us. Hallelujah!