Matthew 25:14-30
Of all the parables, the point of this one seems to be so obvious that you could reduce it to a one-liner: God gives us talents and resources that we are to use, not bury. Because what we don’t use, we lose.
But there’s a problem with traditional understandings of this parable which often interpret Jesus’ parables allegorically, so that the Master in this case symbolizes God. What do we do with the third servant’s description of the Master: “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter seed”.
The master in this story is simply that and no more. He was the head of one of the great households of the Middle East, which at the time were more than extended families, but above all, the source of concentrated wealth. These were enterprises, trading houses, which gained most of their amassed wealth by foreclosing on small farmers or merchants.
The three servants in the story would be more like part of the household retinue, bureaucrats who helped manage the estate holdings. The talents they were given might be seen as venture capital to invest for a profitable return to the master when he returned from his trip. The servants would make a return on their investment, like the master, by taking advantage of the tenant share croppers, the day laborers, & the mom & pop merchants.
That’s why, when the master returned, he could say to the first two servants who had doubled his principle, “Well done, good and trustworthy servants”.
And that’s exactly why the third servant in this story turns out to be the protagonist. He buried the talents, effectively & symbolically taking the master’s money out of circulation. Now this servant’s words begin to make sense. “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter seed”. The third servant, who at one time was part of the system of oppression, no longer is going to use & manipulate the working poor just to make a profit for the sake of the master.
On this level the parable says: the Reign of God is breaking in where people no longer manipulate others for their own gain, nor use the labor of others for profit, for the sake of the CEO’s salary or shareholder value. There’s a time to take that kind of oppression out of circulation. There’s a time not to bury one’s sense of justice and God’s righteousness.
