Let's talk about the parable of the talents in Matt 25:14-30


It's a famous story and one of my favorites. The main characters are a business owner and his employees. 

Firstly the context. Both this and the previous parable of the 10 virgins (a parable about being ready) are linked and as you will see, so are the following verses about judgment. The phrase "The Kindom of Heaven/God is like" is commonly used to explain the Kingdom of God in past, present, and future time frames. These parables are Jesus telling us how to live in the current invisible Kingdom, the here and now.

Jesus is telling us that in His Kingdom being built by believers on the earth right now, there are business people with employees. Jesus is endorsing entrepreneurship. Of course, Socialism discourages this. This business owner was obviously very successful. A talent is a measurement of weight, about 60-80 pounds. In today's value, 5 talents of silver are worth around USD150,000. What it was worth in that day's value I have no idea. The point that Jesus is making is that this particular business owner was very rich. And these kinds of people inhabit His kingdom.

Let's talk about the employees for a moment. Firstly, the only way you can have employees is to run a business that produces more than its costs aka a profit. As a plumber, you might be able to make five house calls a day. If you want to do 100 calls a day you need to make a profit, take the risk of investing that extra income, and scale your business by employing more plumbers. This is basic capitalism. Offer a product or service to the marketplace and see if they want to buy what you are selling. Healthy competition sets the price and everyone wins. I get my toilet fixed and the person makes a living for himself and potentially others.

What were these employees asked to do? Essentially they were asked to steward money owned by the business owner. It says he "entrusted his money". This is what employees do every day. They work for the betterment and growth of a company. If the company does well, they do well. From having a secure job to sharing in the profits, as you will see later. Hard work is a bible ethic. Read Proverbs and you will see the many benefits of hard work, either for yourself or others, God blesses and rewards hard work. What makes people work hard? Incentive. What system incentivizes people to work hard and see the fruits of their labor, Capitalism or Socialism?

Verse 15 tells me that the individual freedom of the owner allows him to give five, two, or one talent of silver to the employees. Mmmmm, should he have given everyone the same amount? Wouldn't it have been more equitable to give them all five talents? One of the goals of Socialism is to "distribute" more fairly or equally so everyone has the same. The distributors are the State and it's in their purview to make sure everyone gets their "fair" share. Of course, this never works. 

Individual liberty and self-responsibility in submission to God and His Word create opportunities for anyone and everyone. Socialism is trying to solve the wrong problem. Taking people's money and distributing it to those less fortunate just makes everyone poor. Giving everyone equal opportunity should be the goal. One got five talents, another got two and another got one. Different amounts but all three had the opportunity to do something with what they were given. 

Answering my initial question, have you been given talents? Yes, you have God-given abilities, strengths, gifts, and dreams to steward for God.

I'm only two verses in and only just getting started. As always, respectful comments are welcome. I try to respond to everyone.