Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus said, “It is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”
Reflection There was lots of head scratching and grimacing the first time a group of folks read through this text about the man who entrusted his property to three slaves while he was on a journey. A lot jumps off the page; slaves, investing, trading, fear of the harsh master, the very idea that “… to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.” Folks were not happy and wondered, “where is compassion or justice in this?”
Reading the parable again we noticed the slaves who were given five and two talents respectively must have also known the master was a harsh man, still, they took the risk to invest their talents. But the third slave who had only one talent is paralyzed by fear of losing the little he has. Rather than taking a risk and using his talent, he hides it. What does this have to say about the nature of risk aversion and how we humans respond to uncertainty?
None of the three slaves know when the master will return nor what will be the outcome if they invest their talents. Even though they were all exposed to this uncertainty, the first two slaves take the risk and invest all that they were given. The result; not only do they double their talents, but their benefactor welcomes them to “enter into the joy of their master.” By contrast, the risk averse third slave tries to lower the uncertainty of his situation by at least not losing what he already has (rather like putting our money under a mattress). This time the master’s response is disturbing, taking away is single talent. Is the slave not simply being prudent? It seems the master really is a harsh and unreasonable man.
Grumbling and dissatisfied, we read the text for a third time. Someone notes, the first and second slaves must have recognized the gifts that they were given and responded in kind by giving everything back to the master. Even though the master had no idea how much the two slaves gained while he was away, they held nothing back for themselves.” And the light bulbs began going off in the minds and hearts of the participants. By giving everything to the master, the two slaves “entered into the masters joy,” what I would call, the unimpeded flow of generosity.
This teaching tale begins with the master’s generosity. The first two slaves respond openhandedly. They fully receive, invest and return the gift. But the third slave fails to recognize the gift of the talent freely given to him and so he clings to the little he has, burying the talent and effectively stopping the flow of generosity. Instead of being welcomed into the masters joy the third slave experiences the natural consequence of failing to trust the master’s generosity and essentially casts himself into “the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
The master knows all about generosity as he freely admits being accustomed to “reaping where (he) did not sow, and gathering where (he) did not scatter seed…” In other words, he knows he does not depend upon himself for his prosperity, or profit. It is pure gift. So he opens his hand and generously continues the flow of wealth to the slaves.
The question before us is this. Do we choose to trust that the generosity extended to us will continue through us or do we cling to the little we have and impede the God given flow of generosity?
If you found this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you.
