The parable of the talents
The Rev. Dr. Judith A. Davis  ©
Matthew 25: 14-15, 19-29
Christ Church +Washington Parish
November 13, 2005

+Come, Holy Spirit; inspire the hearts of your faithful. Send forth your spirit and we shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen.

As we near the end of the church year, the lectionary focuses on themes of final judgment. The parable of the talents is the third in a series of parables that treat what must be done to prepare for the coming Parousia, when the second coming of Jesus will occur.  The Gospel of Luke tells a similar story (chapter 19) about the proper use of our time and gifts.

This parable as reported by Matthew has some powerful images that have influenced our thinking and our language profoundly. The word talanto (singular) and talanta (plural) in the Greek of the New Testament writers, represents, according to biblical scholars, fifteen years’ wages of one day laborer’s wages.  You remember the story Matthew relates earlier about comparing the kingdom of heaven to a king who wished to settle his accounts with his slaves.  When he began the settling, one slave who owed him 10,000 talents was brought to him.  If one talent were worth 15 years of wages, the slave could never be able to repay the king. First the king was going to sell the slave and then when the slave begged and said he would repay, the king forgave his debt.  That story goes on, and of course, as with any of these parables, the reader must distinguish between the original potent stories told by Jesus as a means of proclaiming the kingdom of God, and Matthew’s interpretation later applying these stories to the church in approximately the year 80 in the Common Era, some 50 years after Jesus’ Resurrection.  

So, for his time, Jesus uses an exorbitant amount to denote the gift of the master to his servants. One interpretation of the “servants” is that they are the disciples. Partly due to the wide circulation of this story, the word “talent” came into English usage in the Middle Ages as a term for God-given abilities, “gifts and graces.” The use of talent in today’s story is mostly about money, although Matthew also refers to the other use of talent by mentioning that the amount of money given by the master was based on the ability of the servant. Throughout the centuries the meaning of the word “talent” has taken on attributes of ability and giftedness, concepts fully justified by this story. The servants had done nothing special to deserve this much money; it was given to them freely. Talent is given to people without any prior activity that shows they deserve it.  We can look around the room and think of some of the God-given talents people have for making music and art, quilts and banners or excelling in some other arena.  

In this morning’s parable, the servant who received the five talents and doubled them and the servant who received the two talents and doubled those, are like the gifted people we admire who do more than please themselves; they delight the rest of us. Their gift when shared becomes a gift to us also.  I am reminded of how well Anne Gilson plays the piano, although as an introvert, she hardly ever plays “in public.”  Jamie and I love to hear her play Chopin preludes or Mozart.  I remember how my own piano teacher asked me to quit after three years.  Being a pianist was clearly not my talent, so I quit playing then.  Then later I took other music lessons and loved it and felt that I did have some talent in music.  

The story Jesus tells here has some mystifying aspects, probably because we don’t know how much Matthew altered the original story, nor do we know exactly whom Jesus meant with the example of the unused talent. But the heart of the story is as vital today and as true as it was when Jesus first told it. 

The gift of talent is a great trust. Some people are more talented than others. Throughout the ages, much has been expected of talented people. Those who are given the talents, the trust, have a great responsibility – to use them for growth and for good. Others, because of laziness and indifference or fear, do nothing with the gifts they were given. They squander them or hide them just as the third servant did.  I am reminded of two relatives. One is a cousin who has invested her money well and has plenty of it and a beach house and is comfortable in her retirement.  Then I think of an uncle, who epitomizes the one who would hide his cash under the mattress, or somewhere, and how he has Alzheimer’s and probably doesn’t even know where he has hidden his money. 

Looking at gifts and talents is really only a beginning.  We need to go deeper. We must remember that Jesus is talking about not only merely doing good, but also about the kingdom of heaven.  Throughout his gospel, Matthew shows us how Jesus labored through parable after parable metaphor after metaphor, symbol after symbol, to explain what the heavenly kingdom is like and how urgent it is that the disciples know that the kingdom is at hand here and now ready to sweep us up into its own special life.  However, our imagination becomes dulled at times by the contradictions all around us, by violence and terrorism and gangs and all sorts and conditions of people, but now and then, we glimpse the kingdom, like we did when people drew together in the recent disasters in the Gulf Coast.  

Now many weeks have passed since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf coast, I am struck by the work of people of ordinary gifts who have risen to heights previously unknown. These are like the servants who received the talents and multiplied them. They are the volunteers who rushed to help the victims of the floods in New Orleans; volunteers are always admirable. But the hidden ones, the people who probably think they are just “doing their job” or who consider themselves to have no talent are the crews and the emergency workers that have not stopped giving of themselves since the hurricanes struck. I think particularly of one woman who took in 50, that’s 5-0, of her relatives into her modest home. I think of countless others who have staffed shelters in any number of states. I think of those who fled the devastated area who have to build their lives all over again. If we asked these women and men “what do you consider your talent to be?” their answer would be a shrug that says “I am not talented.” And they would probably look surprised at the question. But what a gift they have given to others and to us all! 

Like many times in history, we are living in a very uncertain era. Just watching the evening news, we can be easily overwhelmed by all the threats out there – natural disasters and the inability of our government to respond, terrorism – both at home and overseas, concerns about a possible bird flu pandemic, the economic cost of the energy crisis, and the list goes on. Sometimes we don’t know what to do next, how best to go about living our lives in a time of uncertainty. 

And that uncertainty has also come to the Church. We have what I call – to borrow from a writing from the English mystical tradition – “a cloud of unknowing” hanging over our heads in terms of what direction our American Episcopal Church and the wider Anglican Communion will take in the differences they have with issues from the Windsor Report. The upcoming General Convention next summer will need prophetic leaders to wrestle with this and other issues. Part of our life together in the Church involves being faithful stewards of our talent – both our contributions of time and our contributions of money. This is the time of year when clergy and lay leaders preach stewardship sermons and when the finance folk and vestry are charged with coming up with a budget.   

God expects us to take the talents given to us and use them to their fullest worth. God expects us to hold onto our faith, in good times and in anxious times. Faith that is hidden, that does not result in acts of devotion and service, in this case by sharing our God-given talents, is like the buried talent, a terrible kind of waste. Jesus knew that the price of complete devotion to God could result in death. Yet, he did not waste a minute of his years of service on this earth. In his love for us, he tells us in the parable that he expects the same from us. There are no temporal guarantees; the only guarantee we have is that God loves us, regardless. 

Matthew reads this parable as an allegory of the Parousia, rewriting the story to serve that purpose and inserting it into the context of preparing for the end time, the content of the nature of the Christian life as “waiting” for the Parousia.  The meaning of being good and faithful is not mere theological correctness or passive waiting, or strict obedience to clear instructions but the active responsibility that takes initiative and risk.  The master gives no instructions as to what is to be done with the money, so faithfulness is not merely obedience to directions. Each servant must decide how to use his time during the master’s absence, the same way each of Jesus’ followers must decide how to use their time between the time of the Resurrection and the Parousia.  Jesus is trying to prepare them to understand this waiting time.  

Matthew was writing to a church that was living in the disappointment of the second coming of Christ being delayed.  They expected the imminent return of their Christ. Now they must understand how to live as if Jesus will appear at any moment or as if he will delay his coming until after they have died.  To continue to serve with every talent or gift they have been given while always watching and waiting for Christ’s return—that was their challenge and ours as well.  

The people of God, you and I are called to give a share of what we have, both money and talents, to God for the work of caring for those in need. We are called to give a portion of our time to prayer, worship and the building of community. We are called to give ourselves; to love the people around us as we have been so generously loved. And of course we need your pledge of financial support.  We live together in this place; we are all of us part of this parish family. There is still work to be done, fellowship to be enjoyed, discussions to be held, Eucharists to be shared, holy days to be celebrated, and God-given talents to be shared with one another.  Look at what talents we have here at Christ Church! Not only are they God-given, but they are powerful.  We dare not bury them in the earth, for miraculously and wonderfully, the kingdom of God is at hand and our talents are God’s tools to make that kingdom known in the world. May we continue to share all that God has given us.

Amen.