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

BY ESAYAS EMENE ENICHA (REV.)

4.4. WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR YOU TO BURY THE LORD’S TALENT IN THE GROUND? WHAT LED THIS PERSON TO BURY HIS TALENT?

Burying of the talent can be looked at from different perspectives, according to the research participants. Burying of the talent symbolically refers to unproductive use of God-given resources, like time, knowledge, skill, and spiritual gifts253 , or it can signify disobedience or being negligent to work on the given gift. It also implies ignorance regarding helping the needy and using resources self-centredly, and this entails living only for your own sake and dying without benefiting others. 254 Some expressed burying as denying the call of God to His kingdom, 255 and “killing” the God-given ability or gift. 256

The participants offered some practical examples of burying a talent. If a minister who is blessed with a talent of teaching turns out to be lazy in preparation and prayer, he will lose the chance of teaching and, consequently, he misses to equip people for the kingdom of God. 257 In developing countries, burying of talents happens when leaders have been entrusted to administer the resources for their people; however, majority of leaders are engulfed with corruption. 258 In the same way, some of the leaders in developed countries are not free of burying. While people are dying of poverty in other poor countries, they have accumulated big amounts of resources, and do not share sufficiently. 259

Regarding the reason for burying the talent, some assumed that the third servant was disappointed of being offered less talents than his colleagues, and also that he was afraid of losing it by working on it because he had only this sole talent. Likewise, this servant pretends that burying is the best way of keeping the talent, because he did not want to pay the cost of working on it. 260 The lack of knowledge of the third person about the talent and his master was another proposal for burying. 261

4.5. IN THE PARABLE, THE MASTER REWARDED THOSE TWO SERVANTS WHO TRADED AND GAINED, CONVERSELY, HE SEVERELY PUNISHED THE ONE WHO BURIED HIS TALENT. WHAT IS THE REWARD AND PUNISHMENT?

253 Informant 5, 3 July 2018.

254 Informant 1, 4 July, 2018.

255 Informant 7, 15 July 2018.

256 Informant 6, 13 July 2018.

257 Informant 3, 1 July 2018.

258 Informant 1, 4 July, 2018.

259 Ibid.

260 Informant 1, 4 July, 2018.

261 Ibid.

The reward and punishment are seamlessly recognized by research participants as material and spiritual, or earthly and heavenly. Earthly, it denotes having more opportunity to serve and develop talents here in this world, satisfaction with earthly life, and promotion, growth in capacity and abilities (cf. Matt 19:27-29). Heavenly, it implies the everlasting life after Jesus’ second coming, and this is described as entering into the happiness of the Master (2 Cor. 5:10). 262 Likewise, the punishment is regarded as losing one’s position here in this world, either in the spiritual sphere or related to any secular vocation, losing acceptance in the community, and finally it denotes the punishment in hell. 263

4.6. ARE THE CONGREGATIONS IN SWS EFFECTIVELY MAKING THE “TRADE” AND “GAINING” THE PROFIT?

Research participants understand that the trade and gain for the congregations are to preach and teach the gospel, to counsel those with problems, to reconcile those who are in conflict and to evangelize non-believers spiritually. Socially, the congregation is expected to help the needy, to handle the culturally out cast, to support widows, and to work for justice and peace. 264 More importantly, congregations should be involved with community development, like constructing the roads in the area of the community and maintaining houses for those who are poor. 265

However, the congregations give less attention to being involved in secular business; they are more focused on the spiritual. 266 In terms of preaching the gospel (trade), congregations are effective compared to the diaconal work (gain). There is ineffectiveness of the congregations in physical services related to the initial evangelization focus (see 4.3 the description about trade and gain). Currently, the so-called prosperity gospel has distorted the congregations by the teaching of personal prosperity only, not focusing on sharing with our neighbour in need as a way of blessing and as a means of getting reward in the eternal life (Matt.6:19-21). 267

In the effectiveness of the congregations fulfilling the trade and gain, most of the congregations in the SWS have been ineffective (except a few congregations, like Mafo). Even the spiritual gifts are not effectively used in the congregations. An unsuccessful

262 Informant 5, 3 July 2018.

263 Informant 6, 13 July 2018.

264 Ibid.

265 Ibid.

266 Informant 5, 3 July 2018.

267 In this point I am not opposing material prosperity, my point of departure is to indicate that our responsibility of supporting others in need.