Discipleship and the Parable of the Talents

Parable of the Three Servants (or Parable of the Talents)

¹⁴ “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. ¹⁵ He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.

¹⁶ “The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. ¹⁷ The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. ¹⁸ But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.

¹⁹ “After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. ²⁰ The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’

²¹ “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’

²² “The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’

²³ “The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’

²⁴ “Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. ²⁵ I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’

²⁶ “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, ²⁷ why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’

²⁸ “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. ²⁹ To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. ³⁰ Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ -Matthew 25:14-30, NLT

When I read this this morning it made sense to me in a new way.  I had a thought “could this principle be talking about discipleship?”  Every believer has been given the deposit of the Holy Spirit in their heart from the Father to “invest” and give him a return.  The “talent” I am thinking of in this context is our own relationship with God and our “ability” could refer to our natural ability to communicate the Gospel with others.  In the very least, God gives us himself and He asks us to “go make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them everything He has commanded us.” (Paraphrase of Matthew 28:18-20). Even to those he seemingly doesn’t gift with many talents –the destitute, the disabled, the socially awkward, He still expects a return on his investment of his Holy Spirit in them.

I started to compare the wise servants with the foolish one.  I thought about the difference between an investment and a savings account.  An investment actually costs you something up front.  You are putting that money somewhere where you can’t use it elsewhere for a period of time and there is risk involved.  The greater the risk, the greater potential to get back much more than you put in. 

When you put your money in the bank it essentially doesn’t cost you anything; you are just putting your money in a place where you have accountability to keep track of it and it grows naturally.  Hiding the money, or burying it in this case, is foolish because even the person that hid it could forget about it and that money becomes totally useless.  I was just thinking about this yesterday actually when I found some Mongolian Togrogs in a pocket of a coat I haven’t worn in a while.  Good thing I found that before I left the country, otherwise it would have just become scrap paper.   

The foolish servant with one talent buried his talent where he didn’t pay any attention to it.  This servant didn’t even grow in his own relationship with God; instead he hid it from everyone, including himself.  Putting our “talent” in the bank could be compared to living in community with other Christians and going church where we are at least reminded of God’s investment in us and we are held accountable to following Him. 

The truth is, even if we don’t consciously try to put ourselves out there to share the Gospel with others, if we are at least kept aware of our own relationship with God, then we will naturally reap a reward.  When others see the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) growing in our lives and we point people to Jesus when they witness our fruit, then there will naturally be people that want to follow Jesus with us –thus earning a return on God’s investment.

Matthew 5:14-16 says “You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

God commands us to go and tell others about the Good News we’ve found for ourselves in Jesus.  To hide this from others is the same as hiding it from ourselves.  Maybe we are not all gifted evangelists, preachers or teachers, but we all, as believers, have God’s Holy Spirit in our hearts and access to live through His power.

So I will end this thought with an encouragement to those of you who are actually putting yourselves out there, risking reputation and ridicule to share with others about the Hope you’ve found in Jesus.  Yes, proactively following Jesus through sharing your faith costs you a great deal up front.  In free countries like America and Mongolia, most of the time that cost to you is sweaty palms or getting left out at the company Christmas/New Year’s party because you’re not getting trashed with everyone else.  But that is still a real cost to you and that matters to God!  For my friends living in places where it is illegal to share your faith, your risk is much greater, but don’t forget, so is your reward!  The world tells you that you’re a fool, but listen to the words of your Father who sees everything you’re going through:

“Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!”