2024-05-05 The Parable of Trust
14 For it is like a man, going into another country, who called his own servants, and delivered his goods to them.
15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his own ability, and he went on his journey.
Matthew 25:14 – 15World English Bible
12 So He said to them, 'A man of noble family travelled to a distant country to obtain the rank of king, and to return.
13 And he called ten of his servants and gave each of them a pound, instructing them to trade with the money during his absence
Luke 19:12 – 13Weymouth New Testament
Wesley Methodist Church Kampar, Sunday Service, Matthew 25:14 – 30
This morning, for the first time after having read this passage numerous times over the last forty years, I realised that the Parable of the Talents, a name commonly given to the parable narrated by our Lord in Matthew chapter 25, is actually not a parable about how many talents are increased or multiplied by each of the three servants, but rather how trustworthy the servants have been in carrying out the work entrusted to them by their master.
My meditation on this parable brought to mind three observations about the Trust that the master showed to his servants and the kind of Trustworthiness shown by the servants as Trusteess, in taking care of the business entrusted to them. My observations are as follows:
Firstly, the Commitment of the Trust
The master was a businessman. He was from a noble family. When he wanted to travel to a distant country, he had to find some way to ensure his business continues to go on without disruption. He decided to entrust his money to his servants.
The account in Matthew chapter 25 tells us that he gave different amounts of money (or "goods" as mentioned in Matt 25:14, WEB) to each servant "according to his own ability" (Matt 25:15 WEB). In contrast, the account in Luke chapter 19 says that the master gave the same amount of money — one pound — to each servant (Luke 19:13 WNT).
Regardless of the amount of money given to each servant, the master had one purpose in mind — he wanted to entrust his servants with his business. He committed his goods, or money, into their hands to continue running his business while he was away on a long journey to a distant land. Luke 19:13b WNT tells us that he instructed the servants to "trade with the money" during his absence.
It was a commitment of trust.
Secondly, the Conduct of the Trusteees
We can see from the parable that the servants conducted themselves in two different ways.
Some of them conducted themselves in a trustworthy way. They carried out their duty to their master, to trade with the money entrusted to them. Regardless whether they were given much or little, these servants used their money to make gains by trading.
In Matthew 25:20, we read that the servant who was entrusted with five talents had gained five more. Further on in verse 22, we are told that the servant who was entrusted with two talents gained two more. They had proven themselves worthy of trust, when in the long absence of their master they had diligently carried on with doing the master's business with the money put into their hands.
Such was the conduct of the trustworthy servants.
In contrast, some servants conducted themselves in an untrustworthy way. They refused to carry out the duty of doing their master's business while he was away. They did not trade with the money given to them. They did not make any gains at all. The master's business came to a standstill at the hands of these untrustworthy servants.
Verses 24 and 25 of Matthew chapter 25 tells us that the servant who had been entrusted with one talent began making excuses when asked by his master to give an account of what he did with the money. He said he had buried his one talent in the ground while the master was away because he "knew" his master was a hard and demanding person who "reaped where he had not sown".
Such was the conduct of the untrustworthy servant.
Thirdly, the Consequence of Trustworthiness
The trustworthy servants were highly commended by the master. They were given a promotion to be entrusted with more wealth. (Matt 25:21, 23 NIV).
In both verses 21 and 23 of Matthew chapter 25 (NIV), the master told the trustworthy servants:
Come and share your master's happiness!
As a consequence of their trustworthiness, the servants became partakers of their master's happiness.
The opposite happened to the untrustworthy servant. His master called him "wicked and lazy" (Matt 25:26 NIV). The one talent that had been entrusted to him was taken away by his master and given to the most capable servant, the one who had shown his ability to use his ten talents to gain ten more.
Our Lord explained the taking back of the one talent from the untrustworthy servant with these words:
For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
Matthew 25:29New International Version
What does this mean? What kind of consequence does this verse imply for both the trustworthy and the untrustworthy servants?
I have been struggling with this teaching of our Lord, both in Matthew 25:29 as well as in Luke 19:26. In particular, I ask myself why does the Lord practise such unfairness, that those of us who already have much will be given even more whilst those among us who have "nothing" to start with, even whatever little we have will be taken away from us.
Doesn't this tell us that God appears to rob the poor to reward the rich? God forbid that I should think thus.
Today I have come to a new understanding of Matthew 25:29 — that everyone of us who has trustworthiness will be given more wealth in the kingdom of God. And anyone among us who does NOT have trustworthiness, whatever little wealth we have will be taken away from us in the kingdom of God.
Brothers and Sisters in the Anointed One, let us ponder over the gifts, the "goods" or "talents", that our Lord Iesus has entrusted to us in this world to carry out His business. Are we living as trustworthy servants?
Are we doing his business in the kingdom of God while he is away? Will our Lord find us trustworthy when he returns to receive us to be with him in heaven? Our Lord told his disciples in John chapter 4:
"My food," said Iesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work."
John 4:34New International Version
Let us also have the same mind as our Lord Iesus. Let us make it our food to do the will of our Lord who has sent us into the world, with gifts that he has given us.
Let us do his will. Let us finish his work.
