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The Parable of the Talents
1 Comment | Posted by Jeff Mercadel in Leviticus, Matthew, New Testament, Old Testament
In our OT reading God is still talking to Moses regarding offerings. He explains to Moses the sin offering, He gives Moses some scenarios in which some one will need a sin offering. God explains the details of the burnt offering, the grain offering and what the priests or to do for each. He explains what part they shall eat, if any. He explains what the priest shall wear and where the offerings shall be burnt. I must say that reading these different offerings and the detail involved in each of them makes me so grateful for the work that Christ did for us on the cross. The writer of Hebrews says: Heb. 10:10 “By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.”
In the NT reading Jesus teaches the parable of the talents. He gives an example of three servants or slaves, one is given five talents, one is given two, and the other is given one talent. Two of the servants put their talents two work and doubled their share, for which they were rewarded. The other guy did nothing with his and when the master came back said he did nothing because he knew the master was a mean guy and basically calls him a thief. The master says if you knew this stuff about me then why didn’t you at least deposit the money so I can get interest. In this parable the servant with one talent didn’t know the master (Christ). We don’t know where he got his ideas of who the master was; but we do know that those of us who know the master know He is the exact opposite of what this guy described. When we don’t know Him we don’t bear any fruit. When we don’t know Him we are useless to the Father. The bible calls this guy a worthless servant or a good-for-nothing slave and says he will be cast into outer darkness.
Because of Christ’s work on the cross we can experience the love of the Father, and be thankful to the Father that we who were all at some point in our lives very similar to the guy in this parable (one talent guy) have received the grace of the Father so that we can truly know who the Father is.
1 Comment for The Parable of the Talents
Joy | February 8, 2010 at 2:19 pm
One of the biggest lessons from the parable of the talents for me is that IT ALL BELONGS TO THE MASTER. Whatever God gives us, whether it be knowledge, money, family, natural talent, etc., it all belongs to HIM, he just places it in our keeping. He does so according to our ability, but He expects us to use them in the way that He would. We have to know Him to know His will. We should keep in mind at all times that we, ourselves as well as all He has “given” us, still belongs to Him, the master, and He does have expectations of us and it is Him that we will answer to. It all belongs to Him, not to us.
Many Christians and church members today do not know Him. Many do not read or study the Word and many are not filled with the Holy Spirit. How then can they know Him? We cannot know Him by just listening to sermons, sunday schoold teachers or TV preachers or just by joining a church and sitting in a pew once a week.
And too many are timid and afraid and refuse to even try to talk to non-Christians about Christ or they think it is only the responsiblilty of the pastor or missionaries to do so. They fear confrontation or controversy or conflict or someone disagreeing with them or getting their feelings hurt or feeling uncomfortble, so they don’t even try. The servant with only the one talent didn’t even try because he was afraid. That was not acceptable to the master. TIMIDITY WON’T CUT IT. God expects each of us to add increase to the kingdom of heaven and we aren’t going to do it by just meeting with church members because they are so nice to be around and don’t challenge us. And just because we only have a little ability and the master only entrusted us with one talent, doens’t mean we aren’t expected to try.