Jesus told his disciples this parable: “A man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.”- St. Matthew 25:14, 15
The amount of money in this parable was considerable – in fact, a talent was the equivalent of about twenty years’ wages for a worker. The man entrusts five talents to the first servant, two talents to the second, and one talent to the third. As Jesus tells the story, two of the servants earn an excellent return by investing wisely, whereas the third servant simply buries the money in the ground, earning nothing for his master.
Of course, the parable isn’t really about money and investments. Christ is making the point that God has given each person different gifts, and He expects us to use those gifts in His service. Certainly, people don’t have the same abilities, but the return God expects of us should reflect the gifts we have been given. As we see in the parable, the servant who received one talent wasn’t condemned for not earning as much as the others; rather he was condemned because he did nothing with what he was given. The point of the parable is that we are to use whatever gifts we have for God’s purposes.
God doesn’t give people identical or necessarily even equal gifts, nor does He expect identical or necessarily equal results from everyone's work. In the parable, one servant makes a return of five talents, the other returns two talents, and we see that the master praises them both. The point is that both servants invested for the benefit of their master, and they return to him not only his original investment, but also what they were able to make on his behalf.
It is a privilege to be entrusted with talents, resources, and opportunities to cooperate with God to bring about His purposes in the world. The parable teaches us that we if we do that, we take our place with all other trustworthy servants of God, and we can be assured that He will be pleased with the return we give Him.
_____________________________________________
Image: “The Talents” by Eugène Burnand (1850-1921)