Mat 25:14-30 | KingComments | STEP | The Lord adds another parable about the kingdom of heaven. He goes from the condition of the heart – that is the subject of the previous parable – over to service. The possessions that this man entrusts to his slaves are not a picture of the gifts that God gives in His providence, such as earthly possessions. The Lord did not give His servants any earthly possessions when He left. “His possessions” which He entrusts are the gifts which make them competent to work in His service during His absence. This parable resembles the parable of the pounds in the Gospel according to Luke ( ). Yet they are different. In the Gospel according to Luke each receives one pound. There the emphasis is on personal responsibility. There is no difference there. In the zeal which is applied, there is a difference, which is expressed in the profit and in the reward. The one who has gained ten pounds gets authority over ten cities and the one who has gained five pounds gets authority over five cities. Here in the Gospel according to Matthew it is about the sovereignty and wisdom of God. Here each gets a different number of talents, according to the sovereignty and wisdom of God. But here the reward is equal for those who have shown faithfulness in using the talents. Everyone has their own ability, a natural gift. This ability makes each person suitable for the service in which he will be used. In addition to that, there is a gift, talents or spiritual gifts, needed to perform the service that has been commissioned. Faithfulness in performing the service is the only thing that matters. What distinguishes the faithful from the unfaithful is faith in the Master. The slave with the five talents uses his talents well. He gains one hundred percent more. The slave with the two talents also uses his talents well. He also gains one hundred percent. The slave with one talent also does something with it. But what he does is not what his master has told him. He digs into the ground and hides “his master’s” money. It is not his own money. He doesn’t want to use it. He is disobedient and lazy. “After a long time” the master returns. This ‘long time’ is necessary to test the perseverance and loyalty of the slaves. When the master returns, he settles accounts with them. The slave with the five talents comes to him, takes the profit with him and shows it to his lord. The master’s reward is a special appreciation for his entire service. He receives a “well done” and thereby proved that he is a “good and faithful” slave. He is good because he did the right thing. He is faithful because he has done what his master had said. He has been faithful with a few things, even if it may appear big in the eyes of others. We must count according to the wealth of the master and not according to what others have. The reward is that the master will put him in charge of “many things”. What these ‘many things’ are, he will find in ‘the joy of his master’, into which he may enter. He who has received the two talents also comes to his master and brings the profit for his master with him. Because the slave with the two talents has done just as well, and thereby has proven that he is as “good and faithful” a slave as the slave with the five talents, he gets the same reward. He who received the five talents and he who received the two talents, enter equally into the joy of the Master Whom they served. They knew Him in His true capacity as a good Master and enter into His full joy.

‏ Matthew 25:14-30

Parable of the Talents

The Lord adds another parable about the kingdom of heaven. He goes from the condition of the heart – that is the subject of the previous parable – over to service. The possessions that this man entrusts to his slaves are not a picture of the gifts that God gives in His providence, such as earthly possessions. The Lord did not give His servants any earthly possessions when He left. “His possessions” which He entrusts are the gifts which make them competent to work in His service during His absence.

This parable resembles the parable of the pounds in the Gospel according to Luke (Lk 19:12-27). Yet they are different. In the Gospel according to Luke each receives one pound. There the emphasis is on personal responsibility. There is no difference there. In the zeal which is applied, there is a difference, which is expressed in the profit and in the reward. The one who has gained ten pounds gets authority over ten cities and the one who has gained five pounds gets authority over five cities. Here in the Gospel according to Matthew it is about the sovereignty and wisdom of God. Here each gets a different number of talents, according to the sovereignty and wisdom of God. But here the reward is equal for those who have shown faithfulness in using the talents.

Everyone has their own ability, a natural gift. This ability makes each person suitable for the service in which he will be used. In addition to that, there is a gift, talents or spiritual gifts, needed to perform the service that has been commissioned. Faithfulness in performing the service is the only thing that matters. What distinguishes the faithful from the unfaithful is faith in the Master.

The slave with the five talents uses his talents well. He gains one hundred percent more. The slave with the two talents also uses his talents well. He also gains one hundred percent. The slave with one talent also does something with it. But what he does is not what his master has told him. He digs into the ground and hides “his master’s” money. It is not his own money. He doesn’t want to use it. He is disobedient and lazy.

“After a long time” the master returns. This ‘long time’ is necessary to test the perseverance and loyalty of the slaves. When the master returns, he settles accounts with them. The slave with the five talents comes to him, takes the profit with him and shows it to his lord. The master’s reward is a special appreciation for his entire service. He receives a “well done” and thereby proved that he is a “good and faithful” slave. He is good because he did the right thing. He is faithful because he has done what his master had said.

He has been faithful with a few things, even if it may appear big in the eyes of others. We must count according to the wealth of the master and not according to what others have. The reward is that the master will put him in charge of “many things”. What these ‘many things’ are, he will find in ‘the joy of his master’, into which he may enter.

He who has received the two talents also comes to his master and brings the profit for his master with him. Because the slave with the two talents has done just as well, and thereby has proven that he is as “good and faithful” a slave as the slave with the five talents, he gets the same reward. He who received the five talents and he who received the two talents, enter equally into the joy of the Master Whom they served. They knew Him in His true capacity as a good Master and enter into His full joy.

The Wicked, Lazy Slave

There is a big contrast between the slave with one talent and the other two slaves. The slave with one talent also comes to his master, but his story is different. He speaks to the master as a hard master. He has observed things about his master and formulated his own completely misplaced conclusion. He has judged his master from a disobedient and lazy attitude. Then you will get scared. Out of fear he has despised his master’s talent. He didn’t want it when he got it and he still doesn’t want it. He brings it to his master to hand it back to him as a worthless and even contemptible talent.

The master designates the slave as wicked and lazy. He is a “wicked” slave because he did not do what his master said. He is a “lazy” slave because he did not make any effort. He put his own interest above that of his master. The master says to him that the knowledge he believed to possess about his master should have led him to act wisely. Then he would not have put that money in the ground, but, at the very least, brought it to the bank. At least then it would still have generated interest. But people who are wicked and lazy come to the wrong conclusions and those conclusions encourage them to act wrongly.

The master determines that the one talent should be given to him who has ten. The master lets him keep the profits of the five and he gets one more. That one talent is better spent on him. The Lord always acts according to this principle. He who has and acts faithfully with it, gets more and comes to abundance. He who does not have, has what he thinks he has taken from him. What he has, he owns wrongly. It is not his property, because it is his master’s who has given it to him to act with it.

The slave is thrown into the outer darkness because of his uselessness. How bad it is to be useless. We may sometimes feel useless, but we are not. Therefore this parable is an exhortation to work with what the Lord has given us. Those who think they have received ‘only’ one talent must be extra vigilant against the danger of being wicked and lazy. The Lord distributes sovereignly and it is the love for the Lord that motivates us to work for Him with every talent we have received from Him.

The outer darkness is the place farthest removed from God. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. In that outer darkness man is completely left to himself, without one ray of light. He can only weep and gnash his teeth there because of the remorse that he was wicked and lazy during his life. That remorse will torment him forever.