The Parable of the Talents is in the second sermon on a mountaintop (24:1-25:46). The sermon is on the end time; it is about God’s victory over evil, sin, and death. The genre is apocalyptic. This literature abandons linear time. The predictions of God’s victory are future tense, not yet. But disciples can reach the goal, an encounter with Jesus Christ, in every act of compassion and kindness (25:31-46). The time of the apocalypse is both not yet and now.
Let’s put the text (Matthew’s words) in history. Jesus lived, died and rose around 30-33 AD. Matthew wrote his Gospel around 85 AD. The first Christian generation thought Jesus would return in their lifetime. Fifty years later, many, perhaps most, of the apostolic generation had died. Some faced martyrdom. Believers also witnessed a terrifying catastrophe. In 69 AD, Israel’s zealots rebelled against oppressive Rome. In 70 AD, the Roman army murdered countless people and destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. The faith of Jesus Christ, founded upon the faith of Abraham, required rethinking.
Matthew wrote for a traumatized community. Here’s his solution: Matthew ends his Gospel differently than St. Luke (Lk 24:50ff). Matthew does not record an ascension. Instead, Jesus offers his church a reassuring commitment: “behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (28:20). The Parable of the Talents addresses disciples who have lost confidence in the Lord’s presence and lost their courage to continue His ministry. The parable aims at restoring conviction—in Matthew’s day and for any disciple who has lost it since.
The first step toward renewal considers the gifts given. The parable begins with the gifts. The rich person endows his servants with enormous wealth. A biblical talent is not a capacity to play the piano or become a shortstop. It is a measure of wealth. A talent is around 6000 denarii; a denarius is the wage for a day’s work. A talent, therefore, represents the wealth accumulated through sixteen or seventeen work-years. One talent is massive wealth; two or five is beyond imagining. Consider God’s gifts. Through creation, God gifts us with life, with natural beauty, the earth’s bounty, and an awesome universe. Affection and relationships enhance our lives. The faculties to create, learn, and grow enrich our time. Through salvation, God gifts us with the promise of eternal life, the Gospel, the sacraments, especially Eucharist, and the community of fellow believers. Each person can receive God’s forgiveness, mercy, peace, and love. Disciples begin their renewal by considering the overwhelming gifts.
The second step is the re-investment of the gifts given. We are to re-engage in the Lord’s ministry, sharing the gifts to improve the human condition. The two servants who invested their master’s wealth are doing what the Lord commissioned them to do. Read the conclusion of Matthew (28:18-19). Disciples find fulfillment in the Lord’s ministry. They hear, “Well done…. Come share your master’s joy” (25:23).
Ministry remains a risk. Recall the two Beatitudes foretelling difficult situations for disciples: "Blessed are they who are persecuted…” and “Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me…” Blessed persecution and blessed insults are oxymoronic unless disciples have conviction that they are in the Lord’s presence. Recall how St. Paul rejoiced that he shared in the Lord’s passion as he ministered to God’s people (Col 1:24-29).
The parable ends with the unproductive disciple being cast out into the darkness. A pessimistic and fearful disciple will experience emptiness for failing the Lord. A faithful disciple ministers in this world confident that the Lord is present.