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Today we will
continue with our analysis of the Parables which we began last week.
Today's Parables will be the Parable of the Talents from St. Matthews
Gospel and the almost identical Parable of the Pounds from St. Luke's
Gospel. The talents should not be mistaken with the modern usage of the
word which we use to describe the natural gifts and physical skills
people have although in its spiritual meaning it can also refer to
these. A talent was a weight measure used by the ancient civilizations
of Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean region. In ancient Greece it was
usually a weight in silver which was also used as a very large sum of
money. To get an idea of its value we have to understand what the Pound
is in the second Parable. It has nothing to do with the English pound
but translators of the KJV used pound for the Greek word mnas because as
a monetary unit mnas was totally unheard of and would not have made any
sense to the English reader. In money terms, a talent is equal to 60
mnas and 1 mnas is equal to 100 drachmas or 100 pennies. That might not
sound a lot, but during the time of Christ an ordinary worker earned one
drachma a day so a talent was equivalent to a person's wage for sixteen
years.
Let's then
hear the first Parable of the Talents.
"For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling
into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them
his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to
another one; to every man according to his several ability; and
straightway took his journey. 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 dug in the earth, and hid his lord's money.
After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with
them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other
five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents:
behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto
him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful
over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou
into the joy of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came and
said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained
two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, Well done, good
and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will
make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew
thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and
gathering where thou hast not strawed: and I was afraid, and went and
hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord
answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou
newest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not
strawed: thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers,
and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take
therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten
talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have
abundantly: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that
which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness:
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 25:14-30).
In the
Parable Christ presents himself as a man travelling into a far country
with the intention of returning at some time in the future. When Christ
had finished the work he had come to do, he left this world and ascended
to heaven, but with the intention of returning which will come about
with his Second Coming. On leaving this world, Christ charged His
apostles and other followers, to continue His work, to gain personal
salvation, and to help save others. His followers, in other words all
Christians who have a desire to serve him in some way, are represented
by the three servants of the parable. To them he gives his talents which
denote all the good things given by God to man whether material or
spiritual. Material talents are wealth, favourable living conditions,
social status and good health. Talents of the soul are a logical mind, a
good memory, skills in the arts and crafts, eloquence, courage,
sensitivity, compassion, and other qualities placed in us by the
Creator. Then there are talents of the spirit. The Apostle Paul mentions
some of them in his First Epistle to the Corinthians:
"But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to
every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word
of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to
another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the
same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to
another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to
another the interpretation of tongues" (I Corinthians 12:7-10).
These are
just some of the many gifts that God has given to man. And because they
are gifts then nothing actually belongs to us: the original owner is
God. That is why in the parable he calls us servants. This might sound
demeaning, but it is in fact a title of merit with special honours. A
servant of God is someone free from slavery to his sinful self which
leads to eternal death. A man free from sin, does not live
egocentrically, in other words he doesn't live exclusively for himself
to satisfy his ego, but uses the gifts God has granted him to serve
God's will. He shows obedience to God and thus he is God's servant.
The
distribution of the talents is done according to the disposition and
eagerness of each servant to work and obey his Lord, who is love. That
is why he doesn't give everyone the same. To one he gives five talents,
to another he give two and to the third he gives only one. The Lord
gives to each according to the ability each person has to put those
talents to good use. If would be pointless and even destructive to give
someone a gift if he hasn't the will and strength to put it to good use.
If we think of talents as love and the heart as the vessel which God
fills with his love, some hearts can receive and give more love than
others. The first man had room for many talents, and the Lord gave him
five to begin with. The other one, who also was a faithful servant - he
had room for less talents, so his Lord gave him two talents. The last
one really had no room for any talents, but his Lord, out of mercy
towards him, out of patience towards him, to give him a chance, gave him
a talent. He gave him a chance to use this talent properly.
The amount
of talents is not important, what is important is that no one remains
without divine grace. The greatest of all talents is that all of us are
an image and glory of God on earth. We have the grace of adoption from
"our Father which art in heaven" which once we had lost when we left his
presence, but which has been renewed in the mystery of Holy Baptism.
This is the greatest of all talents that each and everyone of us has
received from God and which comprises the presupposition for us to
"enter into the joy of our Lord". Being in the image of God means that
we must be like him and as God is love we also must become love and live
our lives with love towards God and our fellow citizens.
Although God
doesn't give equal talents to his servants, the reward for using the
talents with love is the same for each – "enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord". The servant who received two talents and made two more received
exactly the same reward with the servant who received five and made five
more.
How then do
we use our talents to make them increase? He who had gained five talents
used them in business and gained five other talents. He who had received
two talents gained two others. One must increase the talents gained by
exercise in active trading, but by this I don't mean industrial buying
and selling. If someone has the gift of prayer, he must diligently pray
not only for himself but also for others. If he has the gift of teaching
he must use this gift to teach and educate others, and so forth. The
Apostle Paul writes: "Having then gifts differing
according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us
prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait
on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that
exhorteth on exhortation; he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity;
he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with
cheerfulness" (Romans 12:6-8). If we act according to the
apostle's counsel, we know our talents will increase. The widow who put
only two mites into the temple treasury pleased the Lord more than the
rich who gave more. Why? Because she gave everything she had, everything
she had need of. She sacrificed her needs for the sake of love for
others. She too will hear the Lord say to her:
"Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over
many things, enter thou into the joy of thy lord."
The servant,
who received one talent, buried it in the earth and for this he was
reprimanded by the Lord. He too was given the talent of grace to live
his life with love towards God and men, but he was a foolish and stupid
man. He had no true desire to live the Christian life. The plain truth
of the matter is that the man did not want to change, he did not want to
use his talent. He did not really love God, and wanted to live his own
life of depravity, or perhaps of not even depravity - just heedlessness,
and godlessness. He took no interest in the talent, neither in God or
his Kingdom. He was a self centred person who had no time for his fellow
men and whose only interest was to satisfy his ego and carnal desires.
The Parable calls him a servant just like the others, but as we saw
earlier a servant is an honorary title given to those who show obedience
to God. He may have began as a servant like all who are baptised and
receive the talent of being in God's image, but he did nothing with this
talent other than to bury it and therefore lost the privilege of being
God's servant.
So at the
time of reckoning this man is confronted by our Lord - "Why have you not
increased your talent"? And trying to justify himself he accused the
Lord of harshness and cruelty: "I knew thee that
thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering
where thou hast not strawed: and I was afraid, and went and hid thy
talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine." What he
said is very difficult to understand: what does he mean by reaping where
thou has not sown and gathering where thou hast not strawed? Is not
everything in creation from God? Has not God sown everything? Are not
all the things given to man gifts from God and therefore belong to him.
What then doesn't actually belong to God? There is only one thing that
although it was originally a gift from God, he gave it and made it
totally ours without conditions. This is our free will to be obedient to
him. God has not given us obedience and he will not reap it from us
unwillingly. The wicked servant thought that God demands obedience and
like a tyrant would force it upon us. But that is because he didn't
perceive God as love. He has never tasted the joy or felt in his heart
the treasure of this love. He didn't believe that life lived only for
oneself leads to death while life lived as love becomes eternal. It is
clear in the parable that he never felt God as love by his words and
actions: "I knew thee that thou art an hard man." Because he never loved
God, he had no reason to expect his return and didn't believe in another
life of eternity.
The Lord
calls him a wicked and slothful servant, because he never worked for his
salvation. He never made even the slightest effort to change his way of
life. He never once made even the slightest effort to show love to
others. This slightest effort is to have put the money in the bank so
that when the Lord came he would have received his money back with
interest. He too could have increased the talent he was given, but his
laziness was so wicked that he accused his lord of unjustness. Reaping
where thou hast not sown could also mean that he was accusing the Lord
of unfairness. If the Lord reaps from the gifts he has given, then the
lazy servant was saying that the Lord was unjust because to the others
he gave other gifts which helped them to increase in virtue, but he was
given only one talent. He was complaining that he was not given
sufficient gifts so why should the Lord expect or desire him to succeed
spiritually and look to the benefit of others. If the man with five
talents lost a talent through trading, he still had four more to work
with, but he only had one and he feared that if he lost this he would be
severely punished, so rather than take the risk of losing the money by
trading it, he hid the talent in the earth to keep it safe until the
Lord demanded its return. And when the Lord did return this is what he
did he gave back the talent with the justification that he returned it
intact as he was given it.
By his very
words the wicked servant pronounced the sentence against himself. If he
thought the Lord was cruel, then he should have made an even greater
effort and be more fearful. If the Lord demands what is another's, then
all the more will he demand his own. Thus the Lord pronounced his
judgment on this lazy and impertinent servant:
"Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten
talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have
abundantly: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that
which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness:
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Here we also
might think that the Lord is unjust. Why would he take the grace given
to the negligent servant and give it to the servant who had ten talents
and not to the servant who had four? None of God's gifts go to waste. If
someone does not use a gift wisely it is taken from him and given to
someone who will put it to good use. By good use I mean it will be used
for the benefit of others. The man with the ten talents obviously has a
capacity for more talents and would use the extra talent far better than
the man with four. This is not an injustice to the man with four
talents, because his reward is the same as the man with ten just as the
reward would have been the same for the man who only had the one talent
if he used it wisely. Taking the talent from the negligent servant also
is not unjust, because by hiding it in the earth he clearly didn't want
the talent which he saw as a burden.
Although the
reward of the two men who increased their talents is the same, the ten
and the four teach that there is a hierarchy in heaven and as Christ
said elsewhere, there are many mansions in my Father's house.
Let's now
see the Parable of the Pounds which is almost identical, but with some
differences.
"A certain nobleman went into a far country to
receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten
servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till
I come. But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him,
saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. And it came to pass,
that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he
commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the
money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then
came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he
said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful
in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities. And the second
came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And he said
likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities. And another came,
saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a
napkin: For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest
up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. And
he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked
servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid
not down, and reaping that I did not sow: Wherefore then gavest not thou
my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own
with usury? And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the
pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. (And they said unto him,
Lord, he hath ten pounds.) For I say unto you, That unto every one which
hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall
be taken away from him. But those mine enemies, which would not that I
should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me."
St Luke 19:11-27
Often the
Parable of the Pound or Mnas becomes confused with the Parable of the
Talents, of which we have already spoken of and, indeed, there is much
in common between them. Both parables show a lord, on departing, giving
a specific sum of money to his servants, for them to invest in
commercial enterprises and increase. Both parables show some of the
servants to be faithful and to increase the silver, while others prove
to be lazy and get no return on their money. Both parables show the
diligent men getting a reward, while the lazy are punished. The excuses
of the lazy and the lord's reaction are almost identical, as well as the
lord's reactions. Both parables show the silver taken from the lazy and
given to the zealous.
But there is
also a substantial difference between these two parables. Thus, in the
parable of the mnas, the lord gave out this silver coin out to all in
equal measure, but in the parable of the talents, each received
according to his strength. In the parable of the talents the diligent
servants increased the money by doubling it while in this parable one
servant increases the money tenfold and another by fivefold. In the
parable of the talents the lazy servant buried the money in the earth
while in this parable the servant hid it in a handkerchief. And there
are other differences as well that imply different spiritual values.
The parable
begins with "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for
himself a kingdom, and to return." In the Greek it says "A certain man
of noble birth". Christ is referring to himself and first calls himself
a man to signify his human birth and then of nobility to signify his
royal heritage from the House of King David and also as King of Heaven.
This nobleman "went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom
and to return". Here Christ is using an image from a contemporary event
which his audience still remembered. Archelaeus, the son of King Herod
the Great, had gone to Rome to request his succession to the throne of
Judea. He went to receive for himself a kingdom, but an opposing Jewish
delegation had followed him to Rome, asking for the denial of his
succession. In the parable also, "the citizens", in other words the
Jews, hated Christ and "sent a delegation after him saying: we will not
have this man to reign over us." It is also reminiscent of the passion
when Christ was brought up before Pilate and the Jews denied he was
their king saying: "we have no other king but
Caesar."
So as Christ
was preparing to leave and ascend to heaven and receive his kingdom,
signifying the sitting on the right hand of the Father, he called ten of
his servants and gave them each a mnas and telling them to trade and
invest it until the time he returns and demands they give an account of
what they had done with it. The servants are men who have come to
believe in Christ and to serve Him. At first, these men were all Jews,
but later men of other nations came to believe and joined the original
servants. The citizens are men who reject Christ as their king. The
delegation that they send after Christ is the hatred and blasphemy of
His enemies. Note that it says "His citizen's" According to Christ's
human nature they were of the same race and had the same forefathers. In
John's Gospel is says: "that the word might be fulfilled that is written
in their law, they hated me without a cause." (John 15:25) There was no
real reason to hate Christ whereas with Archelaeus they had a real and
serious reason to hate him because he had slaughtered 3000 of them
during the first Passover after his proclamation as king.
There is
another aspect to the Parable. The nobleman who is to receive his
kingdom is preoccupied with the future organization of his kingdom and
decides to test his servants to see how capable they are and if on his
return he can use them as official administrators and ministers of his
kingdom. The apostles and others who followed Christ and who were his
immediate environment expected that the kingdom would be almost upon
them and as the followers of the king; they would be raised immediately
to ranks of honour, but with this parable Christ is telling them that
instead of this, he is assigning them as men of business where they are
called to work and sweat with great diligence.
To each
servant, the Lord gave one mnas to use in trade. This is a rather small
amount especially when compared to the Parable of the Talents where he
entrusted his servants with all his goods. Why here do we have such a
small sum of money? Possibly because by giving them only one mnas to do
business, they would remain humble. They would not become great business
tycoons, but remain simple and through hard work try to multiply their
capital. A large capital would also have been a temptation to some to
buy rich clothing to look the part of a successful business man and have
expensive dinner meetings to make a good impression on others. Christ
didn't give his servants the mnas for them to have a good time but to
work. The KJV says "Occupy till I come" but
in the original Greek it says "πραγματεύσασθε"
meaning to negotiate or haggle or bargain until I come. In the spiritual
sense it means to go out and preach the Gospel, expand the Church in the
world, instruct the nations in faith and obedience. When Christ, after
his resurrection, breathed on his apostles and gave them the Holy
Spirit, they received their mnas. When we are baptized and chrismated we
also receive our mnas which is none other than the grace of the Holy
Spirit. But we must work and put great effort if we want the gifts of
the Holy Spirit to manifest within us and multiply.
The servants
knew to take the mnas and to multiply its value in accord with God's
will and his commandments. If we live according to the Gospel, overcome
our human will, and fulfill God's will, then our inner strength will
grow and grow and as our strength increases, the Lord distributes more
of His gifts of grace.
The rest of
the parable is almost identical to the parable of the talents. The Lord
returns having received the kingdom, and commands the servants to give
an account of what they had done with the money he gave them. The first
traded and from his one mnas he gained ten. The servant is humble and
doesn't praise himself for his hard work but gives all the credit to the
Lord's money, your pound has gained ten pounds. In other words not me
Lord, not my great effort and hard work, but the Grace of God that was
given me, has made it possible to multiply. The Lord was pleased with
him and gave him authority over ten cities. The second made five so he
likewise was given authority over five cities. Note in the Parable of
the talents that although the one servant made five talents and the
other made two, their reward was exactly the same because they had both
doubled what they were originally given. In this parable the rewards are
given according to merit. Each had only one mnas to begin with, but the
one servant made ten while the other made only five. Thus accordingly
their reward was that they were given authority over as many cities as
they had mnas.
Their
rewards vary according to merit. Whoever revealed greater zeal in
pleasing God gained a greater reward. But what this reward actually
means is beyond our knowledge in the present world. Only the Lord and
they that receive it know what the ten and the five cities signify. We
only know that, according to Christ's word, "in my
Father's house are many mansions" (John 14:2).
What the ten
and five cities are saying is that in heaven there are various degrees
of glory and that this glory is distributed according to the measure of
work each has shown in this present world.
Of the ten
servants who received the money, only three are mentioned of having
appeared before the Lord to give account of what they did. They are used
as examples: the first to show the greatest care and activity, the
second to show the middle or average activity and the third to show
total inactivity.
The third
servant, representing total inactivity and the rank of those who will be
punished for carelessness and disregard for the Lords work, appears
before the Lord and says: "behold, here is thy
pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin." Like the others he
understood that the aim of human life is service to God and salvation of
one's soul. He had not forgotten this truth but had preserved it, "laid
up in a cloth." He knew he was to multiply his wealth, but he was
overcome with laziness and repeatedly told himself until he believed it
that as long as he didn't lose the money he would be ok before the Lord.
In his confession he is actually saying: "It is true Lord that I have
not increased the money, but it is also true that I have not lost or
diminished its value so that I should give you less that what you gave
me." This is exactly what many people say to justify that they should be
rewarded with heaven: I haven't done anything bad, I believe I'm a good
person because I've never harmed anyone. What is missing in this
statement is that neither have they ever done anything good for which
they should be rewarded. Not doing bad does not equal doing good.
In the
Parable of the talents, the lazy servant had received much less than the
others and it was possible for him to use this as an excuse to justify
why he hid the money out of fear of losing it. In this parable the lazy
servant cannot use this excuse because everyone was initially given the
same amount. His only excuse is "For I feared
thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst
not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow." Again these
strange sayings. What the lazy servant is saying is: "I feared thee
because you are a hard man requiring perfection from me, but you haven't
given me the strength to acquire this perfection." You give me a small
amount of money and you want me to do all the hard work to multiply it
and in the end you take everything, but if I did all the work then the
gain should be mine; why should you take up what you haven't given?"
The Lord
replied: "Out of thine own mouth will I judge
thee" in other words, if you knew I was a hard man then you
should have tried all the more to please me. If as you say you truly
feared me and feared losing the money what safer place than to put the
money in the bank so that at my coming it would have as least gained
some interest. But the truth is you were totally lazy and showed
complete disregard for the things that are mine.
Even a weak
man can develop goodness. If he hasn't the strength to be perfect he can
at least fulfil some of God's easy commandments. He can help the needy,
he can forgive offences, he can console the sorrowful, visit and look
after the sick, abstain from harmful amusements, he can fast and pray.
Such works develop the spiritual powers of the soul and attract the
Lord's help. In time the soul will become stronger and the person will
more easily cast off the bad passions that bring about his destruction.
The lazy servant in the parable should have tried these methods. But he
didn't and for his he was condemned.
The Lord
orders his angels to take from him the mnas and give it the servant with
the ten mnas. The wicked servant's general carelessness caused God to
withdraw any further divine help. And that divine power that helped him
before is given to whoever serves the Lord more faithfully and bears
greater spiritual fruits.
And they
said unto him that stood by, Lord, he has ten mnas. It doesn't say who
said this, but it isn't logical to assume that it was the angels who
obey the Lord without questioning his reasons. Rather the astonishment
came from some who stood by and heard the parable. The bystanders
thinking in human terms thought it unjust to give the extra silver to
him who was rich without it. But here is no injustice. The spiritually
rich servant can use the extra mnas with his own for his benefit and for
the benefit of many. Interesting is the last verse of the parable:
"But those mine enemies, which would not that I
should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me."
Everyone who does not accept Christ as their king is considered an enemy
and in the new order they will be destroyed. We often hear from some who
compare the Old and New Testaments that the hard and often cruel God of
the Old Testament seems like a completely different God from the God of
love as presented in the New Testament, but here we see that not only in
the Old Testament, but also in the Gospels of the New Testament God's
austerity and judgment against those who oppose him is clearly taught,
thus he is the same God.
The overall
message we receive from both parables is that we must make our spiritual
wealth to grow, and for this to happen we need to do whatever good works
the Bible commands us. Doing good helps in the fight against the
passions and sin, and plants virtues in our soul and give us the
strength to abide in God's will. As we become more faithful servants of
God, the Lord grants us more spiritual gifts which we must use for
ourselves, but at the same time for everyone else. We must increase our
talents while there is still time so that we also hear the Lord say to
us "Thou good and faithful servant enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,
or have authority over 10 cities." In our present world we cannot
apprehend the unceasing joy that He has prepared for those who love Him.
As the Apostle Paul writes: "Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him." (1 Corinthians
2:9)
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