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Bible Questions and Spiritual Discussion

Confused over Mathew 25:14-30 The Parable of the Talents
This parable has always confused me, I get that it's supposed to be about using your gifts or loose them but I have always been a little confused by the description of the master as "a hard man, reaping where you did not sew and gathering where you scattered no seed" and the ending "For to everyone who has more will be given but from those who have not, even what they have will be taken away" Can anyone explain what the ending means, why would God take away the little we have? And why if the master is supposed to represent God He's described as "a hard man, reaping where you did not sew..." in some translations its even "an evil man". Is this just supposed to be the view of the 1 servant or is it true of the master's character and I'm miss understanding something?
Thanks for your help.
Louise Wyllie 05/03/2013 13:30

Replies:
Ted C 05/04/2013 01:10
It's good to keep in mind that the one who called Him "hard" was one who apparently did not know Him. Psalm 18:25,26 NASB says, "With the kind You show Yourself kind; with the blameless You show Yourself blameless; with the pure You show Yourself pure, and with the crooked You show Yourself astute." I think we tend to project qualities onto God and in the Matthew 25 parable it appears the servant entrusted with one talent was projecting an idea that God is mean. Was God mean in taking the talent from the one who refused to even carry it or execute it? Burying it was tantamount to rejecting it. If I was someone who would eventually depend on the wealth in that talent, I would appreciate it having been re-gifted to someone who would develop it. I wouldn't want it left with someone who would leave me no support and the wealth missing in action buried in a hole somewhere.

Notice what God said to the two servants who were faithful with His possessions - "enter into the joy of your master". That sounds pretty positive to me. I feel bad for the one who rejected God's call and it sounds like it was their own choice to do so. According to 2 Peter 3:9, God is, "not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." And He says, in Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me." When we cut ourselves off from Him and His blessing it is generally by our own will. Isaiah 59:2, "But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear." So I wouldn't characterize God as "hard". I believe that everything being taken away from people who reject God's possessions - things like Love, Joy, Peace, Life, etc. - is really being taken away by the people themselves, through the very act of rejection. John 3:16-21, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."

I hope some of these thoughts help!
Catholica 05/08/2013 10:25
I'll add my own thoughts, which may be flawed but reflect my understanding of the passage.

I believe that the "talents", which were an ancient form of currency, symbolize God's grace in our lives. In the life of grace, we are meant as part of the family of God, to be channels of that grace to others. Grace is meant to flow into us and then flow out of us. I suppose one could see the grace as taking many forms, one form could be the particular abilities (another meaning of talent) that God gives us. I don't think that is an appropriate interpretation because though that type of talent may slowly gather dust or we may become rusty, it is never really "lost" or "taken away". Rather I think that this form of grace is the life in Christ that we live when we are truly connected to God - the desire to spread the gospel, the desire to love God and our neighbor, the perseverance to live the sometimes difficult life of faith, to live a life of virtue.

In this way I see that these type of gifts from God, the gifts that are truly life giving, are truly lost if they are not shared, that is, if we through the gifts of God don't become a conduit of grace for others. Our faith can grow luke-warm, as it did for some in the book of Revelation, we can start to shove our faith off in a corner of our lives and live a simply natural life, almost returning to whence we came. The parable of the talents shows that when grace flows through us, God resupplies us with even more grace, and through that grace we become even more alive. When we don't allow that grace to flow through us, we run the risk of dying and retreating from the good life that Jesus wants to offer us.

One example for me that is memorable is the comparison between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The Jordan river runs in and out of the Sea of Galilee and that sea is full of aquatic life and fresh water. The Jordan river runs into the Dead Sea and does not run out, and that Sea is heavy salt and every kind of aquatic life that enters it dies because it cannot sustain life.

Thus the parable of the talents in this way demonstrates to us the realities of the life of grace that God offers to us.
Louise Wyllie 05/08/2013 13:00
Thank you both. Very different ways of looking at the parable than how I have been looking at it and ways that I have never thought of before. I love the image of the River Jordan, that image is so applicable to so much of Jesus's teaching. I am so guilty of drifting too far down stream toward the dead sea too often and my attitude becoming too like the Son who wouldn't come into the party (parable of the prodigal son). Thank you for your thoughts and help, I have a lot to mull over and process now.
TRWord 05/13/2013 18:11
Using the relationship between three servants and their master Jesus is illustrating the relationship between us and our Father. This parable explains the third commandment and the difference between the God of the old testament and the God of the new testament.

Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Ex. 20:7

In the old testament we have a Lord that’s cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, and who is ready to lay the land desolate to destroy all sinners.

Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. Is. 13:9

In the new testament we are told that God is love.

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8

Similarly in the parable one servant knew his master as a hard man.

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 strewed: Matt. 25:24

While the other two did not see him that way.

God is different in the two testaments because His name is different.

Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; when revealed, tells us that the name or nature we ascribe to our Father has consequences, it affects both our relationship with Him and our relationship with each other.

The name or nature of God in the old testament was wrath and vengeance, therefore our relationship with God and with each other was based on wrath and vengeance.

The name of God in the new testament is love, as revealed by our Lord Jesus Christ, therefore our relationship with God and with each other is based on love.

Similarly the master was hard on the servant who saw him as a hard man.

That’s why Jesus is instructing us here to replace the old relationship that was based on wrath and vengeance with a new one based on love.

Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. Matt. 5:38-39

Jesus came to reveal the true nature of the Father as spirit and to teach a new covenant or relationship with the Father.

Jesus is giving us here the key to the kingdom.

For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. Matt. 25:29

It’s all according to our faith.

Example it’s written:

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Phil. 4:19

If we believe that our needs are met or “that we have” then we will have abundance: but we don’t believe that our needs are met or “ that we have not” then even what we do have will be lost.
Marcie in MO 05/16/2013 09:28
Ted C, what an enlightening explanation! Thank you! God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He does not change. But depending where we are in the sanctification process, our perceptions do.
Davidwayne Lackey 05/16/2013 19:51
Amen Ted, I agree with Marcie. Probably the best explanation I've heard so far. Like Andre's take on it too. Neither take on the passage excludes the other, rather complements each other. One of the things I love about scripture is it talks to us all within our ability of understanding without contradiction with both practical and esoteric view points.

As for being hard and I take it to be mean spirited I can explain no better that Ted already has.

As for losing what you already have I have a more practical outlook on that. It is well known especially by educators that once out of School students that don't rehash what they learned during the previous semester forget most of what they learned. It is the same way with our talents. If not used regularly our talents(abilities) atrophy and we loose what we once had. Especially true with our relationship with The Lord and the lessons we learned through His word. Before long we have slid down the dark path so far away from The Lord that all that we once knew is no longer recognizable to us. Thus what we once had was taken away from us.

So it is not God that willfully takes away what we once had but our own neglect the does it.
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