THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS IN MATTHEW 25:14–30

BY ESAYAS EMENE ENICHA (REV.)

Therefore, the master refers to the one who, with his ascension, has left the church and will return at his Parousia only after a long time.118 Consequently, the time of the church is the period of absence between the advents of Christ during which every believer has to be at work and ready for the Master’s return and the accountability they will have to Him.119 However, how can the church be a church in the absence of the Lord?

In this regard, interpreters have argued that Christ is distant only according to His human nature (the doctrine of two natures), but He is “everywhere in accordance with the nature of divinity. Even when the Lord is absent, the church does not live in the darkness of God’s absence.”120 In this regard, the promise of Jesus in His ascension saying “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of this age,” expresses the divine presence of God among His church, working by the power of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:20b; Acts 1:8ff.).

The next verse deals with the servants (the church) who had received the master’s possessions (τὰ ὑπάρχοντα , ta yparchonta), namely, the talents, and also deals with the manner of the Lord’s giving the talents to his servants.

3.2.3 THE MASTER ENTRUSTS THE SERVANTS WITH DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF TALENTS ACCORDING TO THE ABILITY OF EACH (V. 15)

(15) And he gave to the one five talents, to the one two, to the other one, each according to his own ability, and went away.

In verse 15, it is recounted that the master entrusted his servants with different amounts of talents (five, two, and one), based on their individual ability. Then the master departed. In dealing with this verse, the focus is to examine the meaning of the talent and to analyse its literal and symbolic meaning, and to investigate the reason why the master gave the servants different amounts of talents.

A. LITERAL MEANING OF THE TALENTS

“And he gave to the one five talents, to the one two, to the other one.” In this sentence, the term (τάλαντον, talanton “talent” ) shows that the responsibility is expressed in terms of money.121 To understand the value of talent in today’s context is difficult. The

118 Luz, Matthew 21-28, 259.

119 Osborne, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Matthew vol.1, 923.

120 Luz, Matthew 21-28, 259.

121 Hagner, Matthew 14-28,734.

“talent” was not a coin, but a unit of monetary reckoning.122 It was the largest weight in normal use (see Matt. 18:24). When used for money, it might refer to either gold or silver or copper.123 Thus, some estimate that “talents” (τάλαντα , talanta) was the amount of weight a soldier could carry on his back and referred to seventy-five to a hundred pounds of gold or silver.124 The following biblical texts clearly portray the weight of the talent:

“Naaman said, ‘please accept two talents.’ He urged him, and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and gave them to two of his servants, who carried them in front of Gehazi.” (2 Kings 5:23, NRSV).

“And huge hailstones, each weighing about a talent, dropped from heaven on people, until they cursed God for the plague of the hail, so fearful was that plague.” (Rev. 16:21, NRSV).

Often it is estimated that one talent is approximately 6,000 denarii and this was analogous to the modern “million”.125 Osborne specifies that, by the calculation then, a talent is worth $800,000 in today’s money.126 Hence, at any rate, the point is not the precise amount but rather that it was a huge amount of money.127 Based on this understanding, five talents represent a considerable sum of money, two was not a small amount, and one was a sum not to be disregarded.128 In this regard, Nolland argues that a series of business engagements would be possible with any of the three amounts.129

B. THE SYMBOLIC MEANING OF THE TALENTS

Though the talent literally demonstrates money, the real issue at stake is not money but the stewardship of what has been given to individual disciples.130 However, the interpretation of the talent is subject to different meanings.

Firstly, in common usage today, “talent” often refers to the natural endowment of a person, 131 or it denotes “a natural ability to do something well.”132 Broadly, talents are

122 Wilkins, Matthew: The NIV Application Commentary series,23.

123 Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, 627.

124 Osborne, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Matthew vol.1, 923-924.

125 Hagner, Matthew 14-28. 734.

126 Osborne, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Matthew vol.1, 924.

127 Harrington, Matthew, 352.

128 Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, 627.

129 Nolland, The Gospel of Matthew: The New International Greek Testament Commentary, 1014.

130 Ibid.

131 Wilkins Matthew: The NIV Application Commentary series, 819.

132 Oxford Advanced English Learner’s Dictionary, 6th edition, (England: Oxford University Press, 2000), 1222.