Thirty-third Sunday In Ordinary Time
One of the parables Matthew attaches to his version of Jesus’ final discourse is the Parable of the Talents. There is no doubt that this parable belongs in Matthew’s catechetical teaching on the end of time and the return of Jesus. The opening sentence of the parable reveals it. Before the opening sentence the assemblers of the Lectionary wrote this introduction, “Jesus told his disciples this parable. Matthew wrote, “For it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his possessions.” This is how Matthew connects this parable to the ending he put on the immediately preceding parable of the ten maidens – a warning to be watchful, “for you know neither the day nor the hour” of Jesus’ return. The man about to leave on a journey symbolizes the absence of Jesus’ tangible (touchable) presence after his last appearance to his disciples at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, 28:16-20. There is no ascension of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew – only his absence from human sensory experience. Thus his last words in Matthew’s gospel, “I am with you always, to the close of the age.”
In preparation for his absence, the central character of the story entrusts his possessions to his various servants, according to their ability. Matthew uses the word “talents” to represent the man’s possessions. A “talent”, (Greek: talenton), was a huge sum of money, equal to 6,000 denarii. The denarius was a Roman silver coin which in Jesus’ time was considered the equivalent of a day’s pay. During the same time period, the denarius was considered the equivalent of the Greek silver coin called the drachma. Luke 15:8-9 uses this Greek term for the money lost and found by a woman. In any case, Matthew is talking about a huge sum of money. Though the “talent” in Matthew’s parable refers to money, it is convenient for us English-speakers that “talent” is a synonym for ability.
The man distributes five talents to one servant, three to another, and only one talent to a third servant, “to each according to his ability.” The first recipient is a clever and prudent servant. “He went and traded with the five talents, and made another five.” “Trading” here is not the stock market, but some kind of investment. Groups of pre-capitalists were known to collaborate in financing shipments of wine, ore, etc., for which they were paid, if not in interest as we understand it, then at least in kind or in other products which they could sell to others. The servant with the two talents, who had less ability than the five-talent servant, also doubled the value of his investment. The servant who received just one talent dug a hole in the ground and buried it. Not a smart move! As we shall see, he was a very foolish man – insulting his benefactor.
“After a long time,” writes Matthew. He implies that Jesus would return, but it could be a long time. And so it was since Christians have been waiting for two thousand years. In the parable, it was time to settle accounts. Think last judgment – which will be the subject of the final story attached to Matthew’s version of Jesus’ final discourse. Each of the entrusted servants gets his time with the boss. Each makes his report on the investments entrusted to him or her. The five-talent servant was now the ten-talent servant. The two-talent servant was now the four-talent servant. The master promises even greater responsibilities to both and invites them to share his joy. Think eternal reward. By faithfulness to one’s God-given responsibilities, every Christian is invited to intimate association with the Boss, in this case, Jesus.
Time for a report from the servant with little ability, but enough to receive one talent. He gives a stupid little speech in which he has the impudence to insult his boss’ character. If these lines go all the way back to Jesus, they demonstrate Jesus’ sense of humor. “Boss, I knew you to be a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant, gathering (crops) where you did not scatter (seed), so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is. You can have it back.” Bad move! The boss is duly insulted by the implication that he is thief or robber, grasping for gain where he had no investment. “If you had at least put my money at interest, then I could have gotten it back with the interest when I return.” The boss continues, “Take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten.” Here again, Matthew could have used a sharp editor – since this poor servant had already given the talent back. But why did the ten-talent man receive the additional one talent?
Matthew explains it in this way if one can call this confusing statement an explanation, “For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will grow rich, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” Is this a form of a modern complaint, “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer?” Maybe a better way of saying this is, “Use it or lose it!” There is a similar Jesus-saying in Matthew 13:12 to “explain” why Jesus spoke in parables. A possible meaning: Those who understand this parable (of the talents) will grow in their understanding of the kingdom or rule of God in their lives. Those who do not understand will lose even that bit of a grasp they had or seemed to have on the rule of God in their lives. The obvious meaning of the parable in the context into which Matthew places it – a warning to use our God-given abilities to prepare for the return of Jesus. For most of us, that return or Parousia will be at the moment of our death. In his conclusion to the parable, Matthew again betrays his joyless conservatism, by adding this over-used, (six times) dreadful statement dear to him, “And throw this worthless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
