Matthew 25

¹⁴ “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. ¹⁵ To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. ¹⁶ He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. ¹⁷ So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. ¹⁸ But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. ¹⁹ Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. ²⁰ And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ ²¹ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ ²² And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ ²³ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ ²⁴ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, ²⁵ so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ ²⁶ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? ²⁷ Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. ²⁸ So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. ²⁹ For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. ³⁰ And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

I love a good sermon illustration. I remember some of the better ones I heard as a kid long ago. A good illustration rightly placed can help drive home a gospel truth in a powerful way. Maybe that is why Jesus told so many stories!

One of the most memorable illustrations I have ever heard is actually a modern one. It was shared on May 20, 2000, in Memphis by John Piper. I am speaking of his famous “seashell” illustration. A Gospel Coalition article entitled “How John Piper’s Seashells Swept Over a Generation” recounts what Piper told his audience that day.

Three weeks ago, we got news at our church that Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards were killed in Cameroon. Ruby Eliason—over 80, single all her life, a nurse. Poured her life out for one thing: to make Jesus Christ known among the sick and the poor in the hardest and most unreached places.

Laura Edwards, a medical doctor in the Twin Cities, and in her retirement, partnering up with Ruby. [She was] also pushing 80, and going from village to village in Cameroon. The brakes give way, over a cliff they go, and they’re dead instantly. And I asked my people, “Is this a tragedy?”

Two women, in their 80s almost, a whole life devoted to one idea—Jesus Christ magnified among the poor and the sick in the hardest places. And 20 years after most of their American counterparts had begun to throw their lives away on trivialities in Florida and New Mexico, [they] fly into eternity with a death in moment. “Is this a tragedy?” I asked.

The crowd knew the answer, calling out, “No!”

“It is not a tragedy,” Piper affirmed. “I’ll read you what a tragedy is.”

He pulled out a page from Reader’s Digest…

‘Bob and Penny . . . took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball, and collect shells.’

“That’s a tragedy,” he told the crowd.

And there are people in this country that are spending billions of dollars to get you to buy it. And I get 40 minutes to plead with you—don’t buy it. With all my heart I plead with you—don’t buy that dream. . . . As the last chapter before you stand before the Creator of the universe to give an account with what you did: “Here it is, Lord—my shell collection. And I’ve got a good swing. And look at my boat.”

“Don’t waste your life,” he said, the words quietly tucked in before he barreled into another memorable anecdote, this one about a plaque in his home featuring C. T. Studd’s poem, “Only one life, twill soon be past / Only what’s done for Christ will last.”[1]

I encourage you to go to YouTube, type in “Piper seashells” and listen. It is indeed a powerful moment! And it is a powerful moment because it powerfully presses home something we know to be true: that it is possible to waste the life that God has given you and it is possible also to use it for great good.

In Piper’s story, he contrasts Ruby and Laura. In Jesus’ story of the talents he contrasts the faithful servants who made much of what they had been given and the unfaithful servant who squandered it.

Jesus’ coming may seem to come suddenly, catching you off guard, or may seem to come belatedly.

Let us begin by noting that this parable, like the parable preceding it, is about the kingdom and the coming again of Jesus. We know this because of the opening words of verse 14: “For it will be like…” What is that “it”? “It” harkens back to Matthew 25:1–13 and the parable of the virgins and their lamps.

This is an interesting point because, in that parable, the point is made that Jesus may come suddenly, catching you off guard. “At midnight there was a cry…” (25:6).

But, in this parable, the master of the house returns “after a long time,” providing plenty of opportunity for his servants to show the good fruit of their efforts.

¹⁴ “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.

¹⁹ Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

As we mentioned in our consideration of Matthew 24, it is not for us to predict or prophecy. It is for us to be ready. The parable of the talents precludes any notion of us sitting around in idle speculation. It certainly cautions against the kind of foolish and reckless behavior we see in a group like the Millerites. Consider:

William Miller was a devout Baptist and careful student of the Bible. In 1818 he calculated a date for the end of the world by using a strictly literal reading of the first chapters of Genesis and other prophetic events in the Bible. He aligned these events with the prophetic numbering systems in the Books of Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelations. He became convinced that he could use this system to determine the exact period of time between the birth of Jesus, the fall of Jerusalem, and the return of the Messiah. Jesus, Miller predicted, would make his millennial return and the world would end on October 22, 1844. After publishing a book about his theory in 1831, he set off on a speaking tour of the Northeast.

Despite many scoffers and doubters, he steadily gained followers. By 1840 Miller had gathered a sizable following. Most of these “Millerites”— between 50,000 and 100,000 in 1844 — lived in central and eastern Massachusetts. Their religious meetings had all the emotional passion of tent revivals

As the year of the expected apocalypse neared, believers in the prophecy began to give away their belongings, abandon their crops, and sell their land. In the town of Harvard, one man sold his cows at great sacrifice because there would be no one to care for them when he was “gone up.” Women in the Worcester area cut off their hair, removed the ruffles from their dresses, threw or gave away their jewelry, and, in some cases, everything they owned. Others broke up all their furniture declaring that they would no longer have use for tables or chairs or beds. Wanting to be suitably attired for heaven, Millerites made long white garments for themselves that they called their “ascension robes.”

In the Spring of 1844, a prophetic sign appeared: Miller’s prediction that the end of the world was near gained new weight, and new adherents, when a great comet was seen moving across the Massachusetts sky at noontime.

On October 22^nd, believers donned their robes. A large gathering lived in or around Groton. Believing that Christ would return on a mountaintop, they climbed up Mt. Wachusett to await the coming of the Lord. One respectable but arthritic old man from Harvard who could not make it up the mountain stationed himself at the very top of the tallest apple tree in his orchard and waited out the night. In New Bedford, a whole family perched on the branches of an apple tree dressed in their white robes. According to one story, a man accosted Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Reverend Theodore Parker on a Concord road and excitedly asked if they realized that the world was going to end that day. “Mr. Parker said: ‘It does not concern me, for I live in Boston.’ And Mr. Emerson said: ‘The end of the world does not affect me; I can get along without it.'”

The vast majority of Millerites were devastated, and some impoverished, by the failure of the prophecy. A remnant continued to believe. They reinterpreted the meaning of the prophecy and came to see October 22, 1844, as the day of Christ’s cleansing of his heavenly, rather than earthly, sanctuary. Today’s Seventh-day Adventists carry on Miller’s teachings.[2]

Not knowing the time, it does not behoove us to act rashly on the assumption that we do! Rather, this entire parable reminds us that Christ’s return may seem sudden or may seem delayed. This means it is best for us to be focused, industrious, and, as we will see, kingdom-minded as we wait!

What Jesus has entrusted us with in His absence is of great value.

So the master of the house goes away and entrusts to his servants a number of talents.

¹⁵ To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.

So three servants are given talents: five, two, and one, respectively. And these are “according to his ability.” The master is wise in his giving. He knows his servant. But there is no shame in the lesser and no pride in the greater. All are expected to produce fruit from what they have been given!

What is a talent? As it turns out, it is an enormous sum of money!

Iaian Duguid correctly observes:

Notice that the master bestows great resources on his servants. He does the same in the real world, investing his servants with the resources for grand tasks.[3]

He then explains:

A talent represents the largest unit of money in that era. A talent was a weight of metal, normally silver and typically 75 pounds (34 kg), although the amount could vary from one place and time to another. The purchasing power of one talent was six thousand denarii, the equivalent of twenty years’ wages for an ordinary laborer. A laborer would toil one hundred years to earn five talents.[4]

Craig Keener offers further information.

Although the exact value of a talent varied from period to period and place to place, we may estimate the values of these investments at roughly thirty to fifty thousand, twelve to twenty thousand and six to ten thousand denarii. Since one denarius was close to an average day’s wage in this period, this would be a “small sum” (25:21, 23) only to a very rich master.[5]

Why does this matter, this fact that a talent is a large sum of money? It matters because it speaks of the great value of what has been entrusted to followers of Jesus. He has not left us with small and unimportant things. No, Jesus has entrusted His church with great and valuable possessions! These include:

• Our lives, to be lived for His glory.
• Our witnesses, to be maintained for the furtherance of His kingdom.
• The gospel, to be shared for eternal life.
• Our individual giftings, to be exercised for the strengthening of the body of Christ and the evangelization of the world.
• Our families and friends, to be impacted for Jesus.

These are our talents. These are what have been left for us to steward. And I do truly believe that when Jesus returns we will be asked:

• Did you waste your life?
• Did you maintain your witness?
• Did you share the gospel?
• Did you use your gifts?
• Did you impact your families and friends?

Yes, it is significant that a talent is so very valuable, that it is not cheap or paltry. You have been given a great treasure to steward and to multiply!

There is an expectation of advancement and growth in our lives, for the kingdom, in His absence.

And what are we to do with these valuable treasures with which we have been entrusted? Three things:

• Do not squander them through waste.
• Do not rob them of their potential through fear.
• Advance and grow what you have been given in Christ.

The remainder of the parable lays out (a) what the three servants did and (b) how the master responded to what they did. First, what did they do.

¹⁶ He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. ¹⁷ So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. ¹⁸ But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.

So the first two, though given different amounts, both doubled what they had been given through good stewardship and joyful, expectant engagement with what they had been given. But the third hid his talents.

Now, the response of the master.

¹⁹ Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. ²⁰ And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ ²¹ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ ²² And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ ²³ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

The master enthusiastically rewards these faithful servants by:

• Saying, “Well done…”
• Calling them “good.”
• Calling them “faithful.”
• Promising them more.
• Being invited “into the joy of your master.”

This is the trajectory of the Christian life. To be found faithful. To be called a good and faithful servant! To be invited into the joy of Christ! To be invited into the kingdom of plenty and of blessing.

But what of the unfaithful servant.

²⁴ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, ²⁵ so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’

First, let us observe that the servant operated out of fear based on a faulty understanding of the master’s character. We can call it faulty because the master certainly was not “hard” with the first two. He was generous and kind toward them. The unfaithful servant impugns the character of the master. He admits, “I was afraid.” His mentality seems to have been that at least in burying his talents they would not be lost, even though there would be no gain.

What does it mean to bury one’s talents? While we must be careful of over-allegorizing scripture, Gregory the Great made an interesting observation when he wrote:

Hiding a talent in the earth means employing one’s abilities in earthly affairs, failing to seek spiritual profit, never raising one’s heart from earthly thoughts. [6]

I think this hits the mark. It is the one who professes to be a believer but who plays it safe, is ultimately afraid of God, and does nothing to advance his own life or the kingdom or the spread of the gospel in the world. His or her face is bent toward the earth. They are not kingdom-minded.

The master is furious indeed!

²⁶ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? ²⁷ Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.

But what of the illegality of lending with interest among the Jews? Craig Keener offers an interesting observation.

Although usury, charging interest on a loan or a deposit, was technically against Jewish law (Ex 22:25; Lev 25:36-37; Deut 23:19-20; Neh 5:7; Ps 15:5; Prov 28:8; Ezek 18:8, 13, 17; 22:12), Gentiles were not bound to refrain from it; further, Jewish people could charge Gentiles, and many wealthy Jewish aristocrats followed Greek custom more than official Jewish teaching anyway.[7]

It must be remembered that this is a parable, not an allegory. It is not necessarily a commendation of interest and neither does the interest have to have a spiritual meaning. Rather, it is a device, commonly understood by Jesus’ audience, that is simply intended to make a point: the wicked servant, with the most minimal of effort, by doing next to nothing, could have increased that which was bequeathed to him. Simply depositing the funds with a lender, a “bank,” if you will, would have brought about something. Which calls into question the servant’s efforts to present himself as operating on the basis of thought and reason, i.e., not wishing to lose the master’s money. No, in point of fact, he simply did not value the master and the treasure he had been given enough to do anything at all!

In Matthew 5, by the way, I believe Jesus gives a parallel to burying your talents. There, He says:

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Do not bury your talents!

Do not put your lamp under a basket!

This is what the unfaithful servant did. What is the result?

²⁸ So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. ²⁹ For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. ³⁰ And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

God will entrust the faithful with more. The unfaithful and the wicked will lose all they have.

Christian, you are intended to advance, to multiply, to grow, to bear fruit! Jesus says this in a quite surprising way in John 14.

¹² “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

My goodness! How will we do “greater works” than Jesus? Whatever else it means, it certainly includes this: that the church is spread all over the world, contains the Holy Spirit of God, is the body of Christ, and has been commissioned by Christ to preach the gospel the world over! Jesus is likely speaking of our works in contrast to the works of His thirty-three years of earthly incarnation. But now His body, the church, is so much bigger, so much “greater,” in a sense.

Do you understand what is at stake? Do you understand why it matters that you must not bury your talents? That you must let them grow and expand and multiply? Because your talents—your life, your witness, the gospel, your friends, your neighbors, your family—is the arena of your influence and that which God uses to speak light into the darkness!

Jesus has not left His church poor and lowly, though materially the church might be! Rather, we have the very riches of Christ! Let us exercise our talents well, church! Let us be found faithful when King Jesus returns!

 

[1] https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/how-john-pipers-seashells-swept-over-a-generation/

[2] https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/millerites-await-end-of-the-world.html

[3] Iain M. Duguid. “ESV Expository Commentary: Matthew–Luke.” Apple Books.

[4] Iain M. Duguid. “ESV Expository Commentary: Matthew–Luke.”

[5] Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. (IVP Bible Background Commentary Set) (pp. 111–112). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

[6] Williams, D.H., ed. Matthew. The Church’s Bible. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Compnay, 2018), p.468.

[7] Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, p.111–112.