In today’s Gospel reading from the RCL (Matthew 25:14-30) is the familiar parable of the talents. One interesting thing I learned in studying this passage this week is that our word talent, meaning a skill or ability, comes from this parable. The “talents” in the parable are units of measurement, particularly of silver. (A talent was equal to 1,000 denarii. A denarius was a day’s wage. Therefore a talent was worth approximately three years’ wages.) Because each servant in the story is given talents of silver by the master, an ability or skill that we possess as a gift from God has come to be known, metaphorically, as a “talent.”
But that’s not the best part.
As you may recall in the story, the master gives the first servant five talents of silver, the second two, and the last one talent. The one who gets five earns five more, bringing ten talents to the master at the end of the story. The one who gets two earns two more, bringing four to the master. The last one opts for “buried treasure” and hides his money in the ground, bringing back just the original one talent to the master.
The first and second servants each get a 100% return on their investments. Amazing! I’ve often assumed that it is for their amazing success that they are commended by the master.
But it isn’t.
The master says to each, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” “Faithful” in the original, means, literally, “full of faith” or “believing,” not “faithful” in the sense we usually think of it: “trusty” or “loyal.” They are commended, not for their success, but for their faith. After studying the language in the passage, I’m convinced now that even if the first two servants had invested all that money and completely lost their shirts (or, more correctly, the master’s shirt), he still would have commended them in the same way: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Another clue to this is found in the reason the master gives for condemning the third servant. The master calls him “slothful.” It’s not that he didn’t bring back a huge return. It’s that he didn’t do anything!
We don’t need to worry about being successful. We need to worry about being faithful. God grants success. And God defines success. Who are we to say when we are or aren’t successful in serving him? We have no idea what his ends might be. Let him worry about results. And let him define success for himself.
No buried treasure.
7 responses so far ↓
1 cancerman // Nov 17, 2008 at 6:47
No fear of failure either.
2 MarkD // Nov 17, 2008 at 8:21
John,
Love your blog. This one is especially well-timed for me. We are so programmed to think if we:
exercise hard we build strength,
practice music or art a great deal we become very good,
work hard on our job gets raises,
know lots of scripture we are good Christians.
The “no buried treasure” is a good visual reminder of being faithful letting God define success.
3 Cap'n Whook // Nov 17, 2008 at 14:21
Musically, it used to be that I was given four and earned three with it; now I get two and earn two, which is better. (Since the mid-90s, I have “issues” with my right hand, and have to choose literature around what I can physically manage.)
4 Mo // Nov 20, 2008 at 8:23
I’ve always wondered why scripture makes it hard for us to get to that point … where we understand that it was faithfulness, not success that is commended … because the two who were faithful rocked the Dow. It’s far to easy to make the “if A, then B” connection and then move quickly to “if B, then A” and the more disconcerting “if not B, then not A”. (B = 100% return, A = faithfulness). It’s great logic, but it may not necessarily be good theology.
I’m reminded of a story that I take great comfort in about a young monk whose first task given him by the abbott was to beat on a large rock with a hammer. Toward the end of the day, the abbott came to see how he was doing. In frustration and anger, the young disciple threw down the hammer at the abbott’s feet and said “I’ve had it. I’ve been beating on this thing all day and I can’t see any sign that it’s going to break … ever.” The abbott gently replied, “Your task was not to break the rock. Your task was simply to beat on it with the hammer. You have done everything I asked you to do.”
Sometimes I need that story, because the handle of the hammer blisters my hands.
5 Wanda Bankson // Nov 20, 2008 at 14:31
You’ve got it. God places the faithful where they are needed. Sometimes it’s not in the Flagship, but in the tugboat or rowboat. His love is steadfast.
6 Cap'n Whook // Nov 20, 2008 at 16:53
Were he not a monk, he may have forgotten that he had work gloves in his back pocket. (Monks’ habits haven’t any pockets, n’est-ce pas?)
Anyhoo, I do get it. I just think the FLUID amount of talent or ability in an individual is interesting–that one can be rewarded or find the same amount (or more) success with lessened capacity.
Good ol’ hermeneutics.
7 Mo // Nov 20, 2008 at 16:54
Herman who?
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