User:This lousy T-shirt/Parable of the talents or minas

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For the novel by Octavia Butler, see Parable of the Talents (novel).
The parable of the talents, as depicted in a 1712 woodcut. The lazy servant searches for his buried talent, while the two other servants present their earnings to their master.

The Parable of the talents or minas, (also known as the Parable of Talents and/or The Parable of the Pounds), is one of the well known parables of Jesus. It appears in two of the Canonical gospels of the New Testament. The differences between Matthew 25:14-30 and the Luke 19:12-27 are substantial, and the two parables may not be derived from the same source.[1] In Matthew, the opening words appear to link the parable to the preceding parable of the Ten Virgins,[1] a parable about the Kingdom of Heaven.

A variant of the Parable of the Talents is also found in the noncanonical Gospel of the Hebrews.[2]

Parable of the Talents[change | change source]

The parable in Matthew 25:14–30 tells of a master who was leaving his home to travel, and before going entrusted his property to his servants (property worth 8 talents, where a talent was a large unit of money, as discussed below). One servant receives five talents, the second two talents, and the third one talent, according to their respective abilities.

Returning after a long absence, the master asks his servants for an accounting. The first two servants explain that they have each put their money to work and doubled the value of the property they were entrusted with, and so they are each rewarded:

His lord said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord."

— Matthew 25:23, World English Bible

The third servant, however, has merely hidden his talent in a hole in the ground, and is punished for being lazy:

He also who had received the one talent came and said, "Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter. I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the earth. Behold, you have what is yours."

But his lord answered him, "You wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I didn't sow, and gather where I didn't scatter. You ought therefore to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back my own with interest. Take away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will be given, and he will have abundance, but from him who doesn't have, even that which he has will be taken away. Throw out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

— Matthew 25:24–30, World English Bible

Parable of the Minas[change | change source]

The similar parable in Luke 19:12-27, the Parable of the Minas, is generally similar, but differences include the inclusion of the motif of a king obtaining a kingdom,[3] and the entrusting of the servants with equal amounts, measured in minas rather than talents (1 talent = 60 mina). Additionally, Luke includes at the beginning an account of citizens sending a message after the Master to say that they don't want him as their ruler, and at the end Luke adds that the Master instructs that his opponents should be brought to him and then be slain.

The parallels between the Lukan material (the Gospel of Luke, and Book of Acts) and Josephus' writings have long been noted.[4][5][6][7] The core idea, of a man traveling to a far country being related to a kingdom, has vague similarities to Herod Archelaus traveling to Rome in order to be given his kingdom; although this similarity is not in itself significant, Josephus' account also contains details which are echoed by features of the Lukan parable.[8] Josephus describes Jews sending an embassy to Augustus, while Archelaus is travelling to Rome, to complain that they do not want Archelaus as their ruler;[9][10] when Archelaus returns, he arranged for 3000 of his enemies to be brought to him at the Temple in Jerusalem, where he had them slaughtered.[9]

Interpretations[change | change source]

A Talent was a unit of weight of about 80 pounds avoirdupois,[11] although there is some scholarly disagreement about the exact size of a talent. See Talent (measurement). Although a talent could measure anything, when used without qualification it was understood to refer to silver as a unit of currency, worth about 6,000 denarii.[1] Since a denarius was the usual payment for a day's labour,[1] a talent was roughly the value of twenty years of work by an ordinary person.[12]

In Matthew, the opening words appear to link the parable to the parable of the Ten Virgins, which immediately precedes it.[1] That parable deals with wisdom in an eschatological context.[1] This parable, however, has been interpreted in several ways.

As a teaching for Christians[change | change source]

Traditionally, the parable of the talents has been seen as an exhortation to Jesus' disciples to use their God-given gifts in the service of God, and to take risks for the sake of the Kingdom of God.[1] These gifts have been seen to include personal abilities ("talents" in the everyday sense), as well as personal wealth.[1] Failure to use one's gifts, the parable suggests, will result in judgement.[1]

The poet John Milton was fascinated by the parable (interpreted in this traditional sense),[13] referring to it repeatedly, notably in the sonnet "On His Blindness":[13]

When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent, which is death to hide,
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest He, returning, chide

This interpretation seems to be the origin of the word "talent" used for an aptitude or skill.[14]

As a critique of religious leaders[change | change source]

Joachim Jeremias believed that the original meaning of the parable was not an ethical one about every man. Instead, he saw it as aimed at the scribes who had withheld "from their fellow men a due share in God's gift."[15] In his view, Jesus is saying that these scribes will soon be brought to account for what they have done with the Word of God which was entrusted to them.[15]

Jeremias also believed that in the life of the early church the parable took on new meaning, with the merchant having become an allegory of Christ, so that "his journey has become the ascension, his subsequent return ... has become the Parousia, which ushers his own into the Messianic banquet."[15]

As a social critique[change | change source]

William R. Herzog II notes the traditional interpretation of the parable,[16] but gives a liberation theology reading in which the image of the absentee landlord, who reaps where he didn't sow, is taken literally. On Herzog's reading, the third servant is a "whistle-blower"[16] who has "unmasked the 'joy of the master' for what it is, the profits of exploitation squandered in wasteful excess."[16] He is punished for speaking the truth, not for failing to make a profit. For Herzog, the point of the parable is the need to act in solidarity when confronting injustice.[16]

Allusions in the arts[change | change source]

The parable of the talents has been depicted by artists such as Rembrandt, Jan Luyken, and Matthäus Merian.

The parable of the talents is referenced in Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files book number eight Proven Guilty.

A number of hymns mention the parable, notably John Wesley's "Servant of God, Well Done!", which refers to Matthew 25:23, and was written on the death of George Whitefield.[17] It begins:

Servant of God, well done!
Thy glorious warfare’s past;
The battle’s fought, the race is won,
And thou art crowned at last.[18]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Parable of the Talents.

See also[change | change source]

References[change | change source]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Arland J. Hultgren, The Parables of Jesus: A Commentary, Eerdmans Publishing, 2002, ISBN 080286077X, pp. 271-281.
  2. ↑ Eusebius, states that in the "Gospel of the Hebrews" the threat not against the man who had hid the talent, but against him who has lived dissolutely – for it told of three: one wasted his master’s possessions with harlots and flute-girls, one multiplied his gains, and one hid the talent. Accordingly, one was accepted, one was only rebuked, and one was shut up in prison. Eusebius, Theophany on Matthew 22
  3. ↑ Luke Timothy Johnson and Daniel J. Harrington, The Gospel of Luke, Liturgical Press, 1991, ISBN 0814658059, p. 292.
  4. ↑ Steve Mason, Josephus and Luke-Acts, (1992), pages 185-229
  5. ↑ Gregory Sterling, Historiography and Self-Definition: Josephos, Luke-Acts and Apologetic Historiography (1992)
  6. ↑ Heinz Schreckenberg, Flavius Josephus and the Lukan Writings (1980), pages 179-209.
  7. ↑ Max Krenkel, Josephus und Lukas (1894)
  8. ↑ Luke Timothy Johnson, Daniel J. Harrington, The Gospel of Luke (1991), endnote 12, page 289
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 17:11
  10. ↑ Luke Timothy Johnson, Daniel J. Harrington, The Gospel of Luke (1991), endnote 14, page 290
  11. ↑ Ridgeway, William, "Measures and Weights" in Whibley, Leonard (ed). A Companion to Greek Studies, Cambridge U. P., 1905, p. 444.
  12. ↑ At 6 days of paid work per week, and roughly 50 weeks per year, 6,000 paid days = 20 years.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 David V. Urban, "The Talented Mr. Milton: A Parabolic Laborer and His Identity" in Milton Studies, Volume 43, Albert C. Labriola (ed.), Univ of Pittsburgh Press, 2004, ISBN 082294216X, pp. 1-18.
  14. ↑ The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 6th ed., 1976: "talent."
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Joachim Jeremias, The Parables of Jesus, Scribner, 1954.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 William R. Herzog II, Parables as Subversive Speech: Jesus as pedagogue of the oppressed, Westminster John Knox Press, 1994, ISBN 0664253555, pp. 150-168.
  17. ↑ James Thomas Lightwood, Samuel Wesley, Musician: The story of his life, Ayer Publishing, 1972, ISBN 0405087489, p. 222.
  18. ↑ The Cyber Hymnal: Servant of God, Well Done!

External links[change | change source]


Talents, Parable of the Category:Bible Category:Christianity Category:Jesus Christ

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