Season 5 Podcast 39 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew 25 F, “The Parable of the Talents Pt 2.”

Season 5 Podcast 39 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew 25 F, “The Parable of the Talents Pt 2.”This is the second half of the Parable of the Talents. If you have not heard Pt 1, may we recommend that you listen to Podcast 35 first. It serves as an introduction.A talent is an extremely large sum of money; however, it can refer to any gift of the spirit. Parables, of course, do not give themselves to one exclusive interpretation. We read parables as we read poetry or stories or cautionary tales. They grow with the reader’s experience, and like a torch they illuminate that which falls under their light. Sometimes a parable expands into us and sometimes we expand into the parable. We carry away that which we are searching for. We search for that which we carry inside.In this interpretation let’s assume that the man travelling into a far country is actually the Savior who is about to be crucified. The far country is heaven. The servants are disciples of Christ, a disciple being any follower of Christ. Christ is about to return to the Kingdom of Heaven, or return to His Heavenly Father. While on earth he established the Kingdom of God which is his church. His disciples are members of his church. He gave each one of his disciples a certain number of talents to be used to build up his kingdom on earth. In other words, as a disciple of Christ, we must each evaluate the worth of our own talents in the service of the Kingdom of God on earth. That means, of course, that when Christ returns, we must give an account of what we did with our talents. Which of the three servants or disciples do we identify with?“Then he that had received the five talents 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.”The first thing we can dismiss is that wealth should be our goal.“I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp. Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about? They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:) That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption. For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.” (Psalm 49:4-10)Christ made it very clear what our goal should be.“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)The Parable of the Talents, then, refers to spiritual growth, not temporal growth, though it may be expressed in innumerable ways, temporal or spiritual. Think of a gift or a talent as an innate quality that, depending upon how well it is managed, can shrink or expand. In other words, we grow into our talents or we lose them. Talent then is a potential rather than a sum total of what we are. The unique part of the Parable, however, is that the faithful servants not only realized their talent—that is they grew into their talent—but they doubled them. A talent then is exponential. That which can be doubled once can be doubled twice and so on. It is a fact of life that talents are not evenly distributed. We tend to gravitate toward our own talents. Some the world rewards. Others the world ignores. Fame, publicity, popularity, or financial reward are irrelevant to importance.