CofE National Online Service - The Parable of the Talents

Parable of the Talents, Andrey Nikolaevich Mironov, 2013

A reflection written for the Church of England National Online Service for the Second Sunday before Advent (Year A) based on readings from 1 Thessalonians 5.1-11 and Matthew 25.14-30. The recording of the service can be seen at this link.

The City of London will be bustling with people again tomorrow. Many will hard at work managing other people’s money. We could imagine the scene in our gospel reading being played out in one of the offices nearby. A manager calls their team one by one to review their performance. The two who have made a return on the investments they manage are rewarded. The one who failed to make a return risks losing their job. 

In the first century, one talent was worth a staggering amount of money. Burying it in the ground for a long time rather than investing it in a bank would have meant a significant loss of potential income. 

 

So the master in our gospel reading punishes the third slave, casting them out into the darkness. Giving the one talent they’d had been entrusted with to the slave who had made the highest return.

 

Reading the parable in this way - focussing on the money the slaves were given - doesn’t feel quite right to me. Jesus did talk about money - a lot - but I don’t think he encouraged a system in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

 

Another way of reading the parable is to think of the talents that the slaves were given not as money but in terms of the gifts that each has received. Unique skills and abilities. Talents we are called to use in the service of God. To hide them away is an affront to His glory. “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven,” we are told.

 

But reading the parable in this way doesn’t feel quite right to me either.

 

We might argue that the slave did use the talent he had. He used it against what he saw as the harsh, exploitative behaviour of his master - of which he was so afraid. 

 

There might be times when we feel it is better not to use our gifts and talents to benefit what we see as an unjust power - as a form of protest. 

 

Where such concerns are justified it seems inconceivable that God should condone punishment. 

So if it’s not about money, or gifts and abilities, what is it that these slaves were entrusted with? What is this parable about?

 

Perhaps a clue lies in our other reading this morning. Maybe the parable is about about faith, hope and love. What St Paul suggests in his letter to the Thessalonians is the basis of our relationship with our saviour, Jesus Christ.

 

This faith, hope and love is the light that we are called to share – to multiply – to grow – in the world.

Always.

Even with those whom we fear or disagree. Even when we are taking a stand against what we see as injustice or inequality.

The return on investment of that faith, hope and love – that is the business of Jesus.

So, fellow children of light. Let’s set aside our fear - and get to work.


Image : Parable of the Talents, Andrey Nikolaevich Mironov, 2013