by Joe Cady
As we enter into the last few weeks of the Liturgical Year, the readings tend to center around a common theme: being ready when the Lord comes. In last week’s Gospel, we heard the story of wise and foolish virgins, today, Jesus tells us another story: the parable of the talents. Just to recap the story… A wealthy landowner goes away on a trip and entrusts his wealth and his business to three of his servants. To one he gives 5 talents, to another 2, and to the last 1 talent. While the master is gone, the first two go to work doubling their master’s money, but the third servant hides the money away and does nothing with it. His reason for doing this, the scriptures tell us, is that he was afraid of his master because he was “a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter.” This third servant, it seems, felt that the safest move was to simply safeguard the money rather than risk losing it altogether.
When the master returns, he calls the three servants to himself to make an accounting of what they’ve been up to while he was gone. The first two servants come forward and show their master that they have doubled his money. Upon hearing this, the master is well pleased and commends them both. But when the third servant presents back to his master the one talent entrusted to him, the master becomes angry, reprimands the servant, and kicks him out of his household.
What are we to make of this story? Well, I don’t think Jesus’ point in telling this story was to give his followers an economics lesson or tips for trading on the stock market. Jesus is using a situation with which people would have been familiar – a wealthy, absent landowner who has servants manage his finances and increase his wealth - to teach us something about the kingdom. And on the most basic level, part of the lesson seems to be, when your master sets you up in a position to do his work… you better do it! Diligence and hard work in the master’s service is a must, and is the only way to share in the master’s joy. Failure to act upon the demands of the master leads to exclusion from the master’s house.
BUT… I think there is something deeper going on here. In order to understand this, we must first realize that the “master” or “king” in various parables isn’t always a God-figure. While at times the parables are meant to “reflect” the Kingdom of God, other times they are meant to “contrast” the Kingdom of God with the world as we know it – to set them up side-by-side to show how the way of the Gospel is different from the way of the world. In the parable, there is a master who is demanding and unreasonable, in the Kingdom, there is also a master, but he is good and merciful. In the parable, the master has servants who are subject to him and entrusted to do his work, to trade and invest so as to increase the master’s wealth. In the Kingdom, Jesus too has servants who are entrusted with doing the work of the Lord while he is away. The question is, what is that work?
To answer this question, it is helpful to remember that when the Gospel’s were first composed, they weren’t written with the chapter and verse divisions that we find in modern Bibles. Nor were the “bold headings” there to divide one section from another. Rather, the text was written in one continuous scroll. Meaning, the original writers (and readers) would have seen the sentences and paragraphs flow seamlessly together as one. Which means that when the first readers of Matthew’s Gospel would have read the parable of the talents, the end of this parable (about the return of a “master” after a long journey) would have been immediately followed by the words, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory…”. Do you see the connection? Jesus is essentially telling us two parallel stories. But in doing so, he is contrasting the ways of the Kingdom with the ways of the world.
What we find is this: Jesus is the true Lord and Master. And, although he will be going away “on a long journey” (by returning to the Father), he will eventually return. While he is away, Jesus (like the master in the parable) expects his servants to be busy doing his work. But (and here comes the major contrast) Jesus’ work is not like that of the master in the parable. What is the work that Jesus’ disciples should be busy with while he is away? Jesus tells us very clearly:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Just as the master in the parable, upon his return, askes his servants to give a report on what they’ve done with the work he’s given them, Jesus says that he will do the same for his disciples when he returns. The difference is that the standard by which we will be judged won’t be “How much wealth have we made?” but “How have we loved? How have we cared for and served others?". Jesus tells us that those who are fit for the kingdom and are ready to “share their master’s joy” are those who have spent their lives in the service of others, especially the poorest and most vulnerable.
In the Parable of the Talents, the punchline comes when the master returns and demands an accounting of his servants’ work. And Matthew sets this parable right next to Jesus’ account of his return and judgment, the first words of which are, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory…”. When Jesus comes back, he too will ask us to give an account of what we have done with the work he has given us. But unlike the parable, the standard will not be material wealth, but spiritual wealth. Have we been busy doing the master’s work? Have we used the gifts and talents he’s given us to serve the least among us? This is what it means to be a “kingdom” people. And this is what the world needs most right now. Now, more than ever, the world needs the witness of the Gospel and the power of the kingdom. A kingdom of love, mercy, and generosity. A kingdom of humility, sacrifice, and selflessness. This is the work we have been given, to be a people who have been transformed by God’s love and become instruments of transformation in the world. A people of faith, hope, and love – who are a living invitation to embrace the way of the kingdom.