Scripture may be unchanging, but I am ever-changing. By which I mean that each time I encounter Scripture I am a different person; time has passed, I am in a different mood, new experiences have affected me, and so forth. And so, my encounter with this text from Matthew’s Gospel has shifted my focus (my allegiance is with God alone) from what once seemed to me to be a disturbingly unfair master, to an overly cautious slave.
My change of heart comes from a new understanding of, and appreciation for, the
carefully calibrated approach of the departing master. He clearly takes the abilities of each slave into account when measuring the burden of responsibility that he delegates to them. No one is overburdened, although each is given a large amount of money – a talent (talanton) being, by estimation, fifteen years of wages for the average worker at the time!
In the larger sense if this is a test, it is not one of financial acumen – that would be out of keeping with the entire thrust of the New Testament. Rather, what is being assessed by the master is what one scholar describes as the faithfulness in each slave’s approach to discernment, responsibility, industry, risk, and responsibility. The third slave is lambasted by the master because his fear led to a diminution in these aforementioned aspects of faithfulness. Indeed, modern science has long described the fight-or-flight effect that fear has on otherwise creative and imaginative people. And so, the unfortunate slave does what folks have long done when focused solely on safety – and in this case safeguarding precious treasure – he buried it in the ground.
This parable gives encouragement to the disciples of Jesus – the analog of the slaves;
Jesus being the master, the delayed return being the Second Coming, and the joy of the master being the Messianic Banquet. Rather than focusing on the “few things” and the “many things,” we are to focus instead on using the talents which God has given us. (In fact, the word ‘talent’ in the sense of a skill or aptitude, devolves from this very parable.) Such talents are akin to spiritual gifts, which are to be used to share the good news of God in Christ Jesus, and in works of love. As another scholar puts it: “What the Lord values is not one’s accomplishments in a quantitative sense but the fidelity of one’s commitment, as mirrored in one’s whole-hearted activity.” Such commitment and whole- hearted activity, as we are taught by this parable, is exemplified by one’s approach to discernment, responsibility, industry, risk, and responsibility, and most certainly not by our focus on fear, and of ‘playing it safe.’ Discipleship, it seems, is not for the faint- hearted!
As the humorist Erma Bombeck wrote, "When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, “I used everything you gave me.”
