Matthew 25:14-30

In a parable, the master says to his faithful servant, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a little, I will entrust you with much more. Come and share your master's happiness!"

In the parable of the talents a man before leaving on a journey gives three of his servants some talents (a talent in first century Palestine was a lot of money). The servant receiving five talents trades them and makes five more. The servant receiving two talents similarly makes two more. But the servant with one talent buries his talent, and thus has only the one talent to show the master when he returns. The master welcomes the first two servants to share his happiness, but he takes the talent from the third servant, gives it to the first servant who already has ten talents, and orders the "worthless servant" cast into "the outer darkness" where "men will weep and gnash their teeth."

The literal meaning of this parable is that if your master gives you money, you had better invest it. But the parable is placed by the author of the gospel of Matthew just after the parable of the ten maidens waiting for the bridegroom to celebrate his marriage feast and just before the announcement of the coming Son of man and the great judgment of all peoples. From its context we know this parable concerns the kingdom of heaven (there is an explicit reference in the parable of the ten maidens) and the coming judgment. It does not simply concern money, but is about what is entrusted to us.

Having said that, we are left to draw our own conclusions. Will those who fall short of their master's expectations be cast literally into "the outer darkness"? Or might we say that this is figurative language connoting despair and separation from God's love?

In reading a parable that is not intended to be taken literally, because it is about the kingdom of heaven rather than money entrusted to servants when their master is gone away, we should reject the conclusion that the punishment for unworthiness in the parable must be understood literally. Reading the gospel of Matthew in the context of the entire New Testament, we find that the other gospels and the letters of Paul have a more reassuring message of forgiveness for those who repent.

Grace and peace...Bob