In the parable of the talents, God entrusts men with their gifts or talents and expects them to develop them to produce fruit. Failure to do so, whether due to fear, excessive concern, cowardice, laziness, or conscious omission, is criticized by Jesus.
The Lord Jesus had a characteristic in his teachings, He spoke through parablesand each one of them offers wonderful mysteries which many could not understand in their time and even today, for several believers it is difficult to understand the meaning of some parables that the Lord gave to the disciples and the crowd.
Knowing the meaning of the Parable of the Talents is important, therefore, do not worry if you still do not know it, in this article you will find the meaning of the parable and the teachings that we must apply in our lives, so continue reading.
The parable of the talents is found in Matthew 25:14-30 and talks about a man who gave his servants his goods, to one he gave five talents, to another he gave two talents and to another one talent, these servants in the end had to give account of what has been received.
See also: What is the meaning of the Parable of the Lost Sheep?
The historical context of the Parable of the Talents
The Parable of the Talents is found after the Parable of the Ten Virgins. And it is part of a series of teachings about the second coming of Christ. After the Lord taught the signs about his second coming and the end of the world.
The sermon begins to register in the 24th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew and naturally continues throughout the next chapter. The final part of the teaching focuses specifically on the need to be vigilant and do the things that God wants because he will return and ask for an account. Furthermore, Jesus says very clearly in the Parable that the wicked servants and the faithful servants will be separated, one for darkness and the other for blessing.
Important: Many people confuse this parable with the parable of the ten minas found in Luke 19:12-27. However, these two parables are not different and were spoken by Jesus at different times in his ministry.
See also: What does your rod and your staff give me breath?
Summary Parable of the Talents
Jesus in this parable talks about a man who had a lot of property. This man, before traveling, entrusted his goods to his servants. To one he gave five talents; to another he gave two talents; and to the last he gave him a talent. The man distributed the money in this way because he knew the capabilities of each one (Matthew 25: 14-15).
See also: The Parable of the Watchful Servant in the Bible
The first two servants worked hard and invested the money and doubled what their Lord gave them. However, the third dug a hole in the ground and buried the talent!
After a long time, the owner returned and called his servants to account for what they had done. The first servant doubled his five talents and his master rewarded him (Matthew 25:19-21). The second also duplicated his two talents and was rewarded by the Lord from him just like the first.
The third servant gave up his talent in the same way that he received it from his Lord. And he apologized saying that he did nothing because he was afraid of the severity of his teacher (Matthew 25: 24-25). However, his Lord, far from understanding him, became very angry with his servant and reproached him that at least he should have put his talent in the bank to receive interest. He then ordered his helpers to take the talent and give it to the one with ten and throw the evil servant into the darkness (Matthew 25:28-30).
The servants who doubled their talents, in addition to being congratulated and blessed, were also invited to participate in the joy and joy of their Lord, that is, to celebrate with him, where they sat at the table with their master and rejoiced together. with the results.
However, the useless and negligent servant who buried the talent, unlike the others, was not invited to participate in the feast and joy of his Lord. Instead, he lost any privileges and was taken into the dark, where he is going to have to pay jail time, to what the Bible calls the damage of the second death.
Explanation of the Parable of the Talents
The “talent” given to the serfs was a kind of currency that at that time had great utility. According to several scholars, a talent was equivalent to six thousand denarii.; where a denarius corresponded to the salary paid for a normal working day. Therefore, a talent could have been equivalent to about 20 years of work for most people at that time. Something incredible, don’t you think?
The man who handed over his goods was a very rich man, and in his absence, he hoped that his money would not sit still. On the contrary, by entrusting these sums of money, the owner expected to receive benefits upon his return.
Another very important feature is that the master entrusted different amounts of talents to each servant according to their ability. This means that he knew very well that some had more abilities than others. Under this logic, each servant was given an appropriate number of talents to manage.
Meaning of the Parable of the Talents
The meaning of the Parable of the Talents speaks of the responsibility of the things that God has given us and the rendering of accounts in the Judgment Seat of Christ. This parable is addressed to all the Lord’s people, not to unbelievers, because the Lord gave his servants his talents, not to people who do not even recognize him as Lord.
So, the parable is addressed to all Christians, to spiritual believers who are constantly working, meditating and serving the Lord, and it is also directed to carnal Christians, those whose lives are still governed by the passions of the flesh as they are. the sins of fornication, idolatry, lies, envy, pride, etc. those, who bury their talent and do not use it for the Lord’s work to advance.
See also: Fornication in the Bible
The meaning of the Parable of the Talents emphasizes the principle that all believers receive gifts and opportunities. A faithful servant is one who acts responsibly and diligently. While a useless servant is one who does not take advantage of what God gives them and despises his commandments.
Related: The 10 Commandments in the Bible
Important: It is important to clarify that many allegorical interpretations of this parable have been made. In general, these interpretations seek to assign specific meanings to each element described by Jesus (Lord, servants, and talents). In either case, it is important to be careful not to ignore the main message of the parable.
Conclusion on the Parable of the Talents
Several conclusions and applications to our life can be drawn from the Parable of the Talents, therefore I want to highlight the following:
1. The Parable of the Talents teaches that God is just. God gives each believer talents (gifts, talents, opportunities) according to his ability. In other words, the Lord will not give the mission to go to other countries to preach the gospel, if the person cannot, for example, bear the unbearable heat that exists in some regions of Latin America.
2. The parable of the talents teaches that we must take advantage of what God gives us. Some people say that the useless servant received very little (a single talent). However, when we analyze what that talent represented, we see that it was an amount close to 20 years of salary for a worker of his time. Therefore, we must take advantage of everything that God gives us, regardless of whether it is much or little, we must serve the Lord, because if we are faithful in little, He will put us in much.
3. The Parable of the Talents teaches that we are stewards and not owners. The word teaches us that we are administrators and that we must watch over what God has given us. He is the owner of the talents and will continue to be so. And when He considers it, he will call us to account.
4. The Parable of the Talents teaches that we must multiply what God gives us. Upon receiving the talents, in gratitude to God for having placed so much trust in us, we must perfect them so that they are useful for the expansion of the kingdom. The result of the talents we have received should only glorify our Lord.
5. The Parable of the Talents teaches how ungrateful we can become. When the evil servant declared “reap where you did not sow”, is a declaration of accusation against his master, where in other words he is saying you are a cruel owner. That is, the bad servant, he means that his master demands something that he has no right to demand, since whoever does not sow should not reap.
However, the Lord is not cruel, on the contrary, he is merciful, the truth is that this lord would only have been unfair when trying to reap where he did not plant, if he had not given that servant any talent, but he gave him a talent for the which one should answer
6. The Parable of the Talents teaches that there will be a difference between faithful servants and unfaithful servants. In the end times, when the Lord returns, he will make a distinction between spiritual Christians and carnal Christians. He will reward his faithful servants, those who did everything possible to leave the name of the Lord on high. But the carnal Christians, those who denied the Lord with his acts and disobedience, those who did not want to be sanctified by the Holy Spiritthey will be punished along with the disbelievers for a time, until they pay their last quadrant.
If you want to know the difference between the Parable of the Talents and the Parable of the Mines, we invite you to watch the following video from our friends at Tesoros Cristianos.