Parable of the Talents - Matt 25:14-30

The second parable about preparedness is of the Ten Talents. In this parable there is a man who owns a lot of property and is leaving to go away for a while. This seems to be a very common theme, I wonder if this was typical during this time. The man takes three of his servants and to one he gives 5 talents, the second one he gives 2 talents, and the third one he gives 1 talent. The IM says, “In the Savior’s time, a ‘talent’ was a unit of weight and also a large sum of money. In modern usage, the word ‘talent,’ as used in this parable, has come to represent any spiritual gift or any skill or ability given to us by God, and the parable teaches that we are responsible to use these gifts wisely and profitably.”

While the man was away, the first servant took his 5 talents and “went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.” When the man came back, he wanted to know what the servants had done with what he gave them. The first presented his five original talents and the five earned talents. The lord was pleased saying, “well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” Similarly with the second servant who presented his original two and two earned talents, he was given the same response.
The third servant presented the original talent, saying, “Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thing.” Let’s consider the accusation of this third servant against his lord. It’s difficult for me to look at this situation and judge whether or not this master is a good guy or not because we have such a limited amount of information about him. But because he represents the Savior, let’s cut him some slack and assume that he is a decent guy. Interestingly, on studylight.org John Gill’s Exposition of the Whole Bible is quoted as explaining, “he calls him ‘Lord’, though he had not served him, and pretends he knew him; but if he had, he would have had a true affection for him, faith in him, and would have observed his commands.” Another account quoted on this site suggests that the servant is projecting his own insecurities onto his master, accusing his master of greed and thievery, when he himself is the one who is covetous and dishonest.
If the master is Jesus and we are the servants, how does this servant accusing his master fit into our situation? How do we excuse ourselves from service by accusing God? I can relate to this because this was definitely how I felt for the vast majority of my life. I’ve always imagined God is like every other man I’ve ever known, disinterested, my way or the highway type of guy so I have looked at Him and His commandments and thought “what’s the point?” I think that as people we get so overwhelmed so quickly that without a clear motivating factor, we just give up. There is always the little twinge of guilt that we feel when we do something wrong, but that’s not enough to sustain a righteous effort. If we don’t have a solid relationship with the Savior then the sacrifices will be too great and the rewards insufficient. The website cites the People’s New Testament says, “Many refuse to employ their talents in Christ’s service because they think it a hard, exacting service, making unreasonable demands of self-denial, self-control and self-sacrifice.”
I always thought that it was interesting that the five talent guy made an additional five talents, and the two talent guy made an additional two. What if the two talent guy had made three talents instead of two, or if the five talent guy had made three instead of an additional five. But the master never comments on how much the servants added to their stash, only that they had added to it. Another quote from the website comes from Coffman’s Commentaries on the Bible, “Chappell remarked that his unfaithful servant did not believe that his lord would give him a square deals… Milton one had to fight this temptation. He wondered after he had lost his sight if God was going to expect as much of him as if he could see. ‘Doth God exact day labor, light denied?’ he asked. But he refused to think thus meanly of God. He reached the wise conclusion that God is not going to judge us by the way we use what we do not possess, but by the use we make of the gifts that are actually our own.”
The third servant might have felt slighted because he wasn’t given the prestigious five talents, maybe he was just a grumpy guy in general, the point isn’t that to have the most or to be the best, the point is to take what we have, our spiritual gifts, and use them. The IM says, “The servant who doubled his two talents received the same commendation as the one who doubled his five talents; each was expected to try to improve on what he had been given. Thus, in the end, only the servant who did nothing with his talent was rejected by his master.”
So what does it mean for us to not hide our talents in the dirt? How are we supposed to increase what we’ve been given? I think that it might just mean using what we can to help others and as we do that we will be blessed with more ability, like when the master takes the talent away from the third servant and gives it to the first servant and says, “for unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have in abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.” As we work with what we have, what we have will increase, but if we neglect what we have then what we have will decrease.
The IM quotes President James E Faust as teaching, “Some of us are too content with what we may already be doing. We stand back in the ‘eat, drink, and be merry’ mode when opportunities for growth and development abound. We miss opportunities to build up the kingdom of God because we have the passive notion that someone else will take care ot it. The Lord tells us that He will give more to those who are willing. They will be magnified in their efforts… But to those who say, ‘We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.’ The Lord entrusts all of His servants, including every priesthood holder, with spiritual talents… While we are not all equal in experience, aptitude, and strength, we have different opportunities to employ these spiritual gifts, and we will all be accountable for the use of the gifts and opportunities given to us.”
Just to put one more point out there, the website I talked about earlier also points out that the servant didn’t disobey through active rebellion, but through a passive acceptance. I know that I am guilty of this. I often think, “you know what, I’m doing my best.” But am I? Sometimes, I’d like to think so. It’s really difficult to know, I guess that’s why we have the Holy Ghost as our guide, to tell us when and how to step up our game.