Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted, Who He Was

But there are other problems with the parable. In Matthew’s gospel it is included in a larger composition of parables about the return of the Son of Man, that is, the Christ of the Parousia. It is quite clear that Matthew (and the early church with him) understood the parable in that light. The master who goes away is now the exalted Christ. When he returns he will demand a reckoning from each according to her or his abilities. The accounting given by the slaves is thus the judgment of the world. Whoever withstands the judgment receives a share in the eternal banquet of joy (“enter into the joy of your master”). But those, like the third slave, who do not withstand the judgment will lose everything and will be thrown into the outermost darkness.

Thus Matthew interpreted the traditional Jesus parable, in light of the early church’s expectation of the return of Christ, as being about the judgment of the world, and apparently in doing so he also made changes in the text of the parable. In using it for his own teaching he updated it. That is the right of every Christian teacher. Every preacher today also does something similar in interpreting the Sunday gospel: she or he brings it up to date. Luke did something similar with parallel material in the parable of the pounds (Luke 19:11-27).

None of that should prevent us from inquiring about the meaning Jesus intended in the parable. Was Jesus really talking about his own return in the parable of the talents? What was this parable about originally?

A Millionaire on a Business Trip

We can most readily enter into the imagery of the parable if we begin with the figure of the man who hands out the talents to his slaves. This is another of those immoral figures we encounter rather often, as we have seen, in Jesus’ parables. This “master” is one of the very wealthy, because he hands out enormous sums of money to his “slaves” or “servants”—that is, highly placed slaves or employees with significant responsibilities. In addition, this man is a boaster because he calls these huge sums “a few things,” or “a little,” that is, minor matters. That is, of course, an obvious understatement. Bankers nowadays talk casually of “peanuts” in much the same way. This boaster confirms quite candidly in his dialogue with the third slave that he conducts his business in immoral ways: “You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter?” (Matt 25:26 // Luke 19:22). That is, the man uses evil methods in his business. He exploits other people. He lends money at usurious rates. He collects harshly; he sucks up everything. Probably he speculates habitually in high-risk ventures. Now he goes abroad for a while, perhaps to exploit new financial sources or to collect money.

In any case, this reconstruction of the original story in the parable is partly hypothetical. It could also be that the sums entrusted were elevated so enormously by Matthew himself, since the Lukan parallel speaks of “minas” (Luke 19:13), which are considerably less valuable than talents. In that case “trustworthy in a few things” (Luke 19:17) would not be ironic but intended seriously. But even if the original parable went that way, what follows must in any case have been part of it: slaves one and two are worthy reflections of their master. While he is abroad they each increase the capital entrusted to them by a hundred percent. That, obviously, could not have been done with solid buying and selling but only by methods executed behind closed doors, by daring acts outside the realm of legality that, of course, corresponded exactly to those of the master.

The third slave is afraid to run such risks. He dares nothing, not even depositing the money given to him in a “private bank.” After all, even a bank could go bankrupt. He hides his master’s money in the storehouse most commonly used in antiquity: he buries it. In this way he loses nothing, but he makes not a cent of profit.

And precisely in that way he loses everything. He belongs to a company that values lightning-fast action, initiative, pleasure in risk, and—high returns. When his master returns from abroad, the third slave is kicked out. His professional existence is destroyed.

Thus in telling his parable, as he sometimes does, Jesus makes use of unusual, tension-building material. The stuff of the story he tells is neither religious nor moral. Jesus places his listeners in a world that is harsh and reckless. People there who do not risk everything cannot last. They will be fired.