Talents

November 16, 2014


GOSPEL LESSON: Matthew 25:14–30 [The Parable of the Talents.]

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ 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.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ 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.’

He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For 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. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

What kind of talent do you have? Music, art, sports, study, personality, business, tactics? Sometimes a talent is called a “gift” because it is something that has been given to you by God. A talent is something you are born with. Some people are gifted or talented in a certain aspect, and other people, try as hard as they can, will never be able to be as good as some people in that area. Talents must be used and often they need to be developed. A person who has a talent but never uses it wastes that talent. The word “talent” and how we understand talents come from the parable that Jesus spoke in today’s Gospel reading.

Matthew 25:14 “For it [the Kingdom of God] will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability.” The first two used their talents wisely and were able to return a profit to their master, but the third man was afraid of his master and so buried his talent, he did not make use of it, and the master was very angry.

A bit of trivia information and Bible background: the word “talent” was actually a measure of weight. At different times and in different places it had a different weight, but my Bible dictionary suggests a weight of about 75 pounds. And so, the servants in the parable were given 5, 2, or 1 talent of silver, one talent being 75 pounds of silver. By the way, the British Pound means one pound of sterling silver, but the current value of the British Pound is about $1.50. But the value of precious metals is always changing and the value of a currency is always changing now as at the time of Jesus. According to the internet, at current rates, one ounce of silver is traded at about $15. [Which should make the British Pound at $240.] So, one Biblical talent of silver at today’s prices should be about $18,000. But at the time of Jesus, one talent was equal to 6000 denarii. One denarius was equal to the one-day wage of a worker. So that would make a talent equal to about $300,000. But nevertheless, anyway, a talent of silver is very valuable. Likewise, the God-given talent that a person has is very valuable, too.

In the parable, the third man buried his talent, did not make use of it, and the master was very angry. When Jesus first told this parable, he might have meant the religious Pharisees who had been give the treasure of God’s Word, but like burying it in the ground, they did not use it to enrich the people of Israel. But Jesus is also telling this parable to us today, and so how shall we understand it? God has given to each of us gifts and talents. Some of us have 1 or 2 or 5 or 10 or more! God expects us to use these gifts in his Kingdom. His Kingdom is in the church and in the whole world. So we use these gifts for the church and for society. So today we have to ask ourselves whether we are using our talents, or whether we are like the servant in the parable who buried his.

Perhaps I have a guilty conscience but I always wonder if Jesus would put me in the group with the lazy, wicked servant who did not use his talent. If so, then this parable is a warning to people like me to recognize the love and generosity that God has given to me. It encourages me to seriously think about my life and confess my sin and ask for forgiveness.

What do you think? Sometimes I think that God would not make a very good businessman in today’s world of finance. He gives generous loans to a lot of dead-beats who never repay them nor invest their talents for the good of this world. Or any profit they have is kept selfishly to themselves, not like the servants in the parable who gave the profits back to the master. In other words, people have debts toward God. They owe God very much, especially their lives and salvation.

In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others,” or as we read in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6, “Forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debters.” We ask God to forgive our trespasses and debts and sins. And this is what Jesus does on the cross. He takes our sins and our unused talents to himself on the cross and dies to forgive them. Then he takes them and buries them in the ground. But Jesus rises on the third day, and gives us new gifts of life, salvation, and the Holy Spirit.

The gift of the Holy Spirit has given us faith to know that our master has a kind, loving face. We do not have to be afraid like the man in the parable. We no longer have to worry about our security and the wrath of God when he returns. We have nothing to hide in a hole in the ground somewhere. In our baptism, God has given us the gift and talent of faith. Money can be lost in the stock market, it can be stolen by thieves, and we can buy expensive, wasteful things we do not need. But we can never lose the Holy Spirit.

And when Christ returns, he will not look for profits, he will look for faith. We will not be judged by our deeds or by our talents, but by the good deed of Jesus on the cross. And then Jesus will say to us, “‘Well done, good and faithful servant. … Enter into the joy of your master.’”

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church


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