The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
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14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
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The Parable of the Talents
Jesus gave this parable in reply to a question (Matt 24) asking what will be a sign of the 2nd coming. To the people listening at the time, they would have understood Jesus was having a go at the Pharisees who do nothing except keep rigidly to the Torah, the Law. But, as always Jesus was speaking forward to the kingdom to come and the believers that would follow him after his ascension back to glory.
So how are we going to read this parable? In prayerful preparation, I kept whistling that famous hook from the film The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. This Parable epitomises those three characters - The Good received 5 and 2 talents and Jesus describes them as ‘good and faithful servants’.
The Bad received 1 talent and Jesus describes him as lazy and wicked (let’s say - bad). And finally, there is an Ugly bit at the end which I’d rather not look at, but it’s there to be looked at and not avoided.
“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”
Matt 25:30 ‘…cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness’
The Good
So lets look at THE GOOD, Matthew 25:15 says, ‘to one he gave five talents to another he gave two…each according to his ability.’
The first issue to clear up is ‘what is a talent? Is it a picture of wealth, the gospel, life itself - all of these are valid suggestions for the symbolism of talents. Let me suggest that because of the great value of a ‘talent’ - it is meant to give the idea of some precious opportunity entrusted to these staff members. When Matthew says ‘each according to his ability,’ I believe it can mean each talent can represent something different for each one of us (this is my personal view). I believe the talent is a picture of the opportunities that life will give us to be the light of Christ, opportunities to turn a neutral situation into a kingdom opportunity.
To help us understand what I mean, I ask myself what are my talents, what have been my life opportunities [a] 10 years in business as an accountant gave me opportunities [b] my trauma and rehabilitation following accident gave me other opportunities [c] there are everyday family opportunities to speak for Jesus among relations, show them the love of Christ in the way we are, the way we behave with family (both immediate family and wider extended family). … I could go on…but I’m sure you’re making connections with your own opportunities things which are unique to you, things so precious about you that Jesus would paint a picture of a lifetime’s income, a wealth of opportunities. What are your golden opportunities? Opportunities not judged by success or failure but in terms of taking a risk or in terms of keeping it as it is - playing it safe. That’s the Good of the Good the bad and the ugly, what about the ‘bad.’
The Bad
The Bad guy is the focal point of this whole parable and I expect we’re all secretly dreading that we might end up being the Bad one in the analogy.
We’re the types who would rather have one talent of £100,000 to manage rather than £½million.
Well the good news is this : God made you like that, God knows your personality traits, if you are cautious, the reasons for that could be a character thing. God knows your family history better than you do, God knows about the times you’ve tried before and failed. When God looks at you he doesn’t just see you past and present, God sees the potential you have to bring his kingdom about the golden opportunities . also knows the golden opportunities he has for you to bring + to those around you in prayer, ministry, in witness, in worship.
The Bad guy in this story was fearful of the master(Matt25:24) ‘I knew you were a hard man.’ This was not someone who knows the master well, someone with a ‘him up there’ idea of God, the great ogre in the sky. The Bad man dug a hole and buried his God opportunities - no risks taken - safety first. BUT, it’s more than that (Matthew 25:18) says the Bad guy hid his masters money. Hid it where it wouldn’t be seen, away from the gaze of the world - so the world won’t know about it (ouch, this is starting to hurt now).
Have we a golden opportunity to make Jesus visible to the world?
Jenny Pitman following a cancer diagnosis spoke about the ‘bingo caller in the sky’. The Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National winner thought it was all down to cghance, like a lottery. I was so challenged by her view that I got up a 4am to pray for her and then felt led to write her a letter telling her that God wants to be closer to her than that’.
So where’s the bad guy in that? I am, I drafted a letter, but I never sent the letter, it was I believe a God-prompted opportunity and I’m not happy about it but the truth is that I was lazy. Do we hold back from sharing our testimony with someone do we risk it or hide it?
Looking from the church’s point of view - the BAD guy tried to stand still when God’s opportunity was to move forward. Here at St Georges Church, Fatfield, Washington, we have the opportunity during this interregnum to be stretched - or - we could try and keep it safe, stand still till the new vicar comes.
I repeat, do we play it safe or do we risk it, there are opportunities for new helpers to come through, new leaders (PCC etc), new people in ministry at all different levels. That’s the challenge (I believe) of the parable to the church.
The Ugly
As I said the ‘UGLY’ is the part of the parable I’d rather not have to look at. This parable is known as a ‘judgement parable’ and the last few verses 28-30 pass the judgement (take this talent from the Bad man and throw him o/side into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The problem with the Bad guy was he showed no sign of sadness or repentance. He tried to justify his action ‘master I knew you were a hard man’ I expect if he’d said he was sorry, he had mucked up, he’s not fit to be his servant, the parable would have had a different ending. But that’s not the way it went, it was UGLIER than that. Where there is no repentance there is no hope of salvation, where there is no remorse the BAD will never do anything to change his ways. So Jesus said throw him into darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. There is such a place, a hell of a place, and it will be the place of eternal judgement for those who go through life without any remorse about the way they have misused their opportunities in life to turn to + firstly and Secondly to be Jesus’ body on earth.
Conclusion
To finish where we started, I asked you a question at the start, how many talents would you like but it was the wrong question. The question is not how many, the real challenge is what are you doing with the opportunities God is giving you. Are you stepping outside your comfort zone into the world of risky Christian service, would you risk praying with someone giving some money to someone who has a need, would you risk telling your testimony to someone who doesn’t know the gospel, would you risk an act of kindness to a neighbour or a friend . That’s the challenge of this parable for us do we hide what God has given us or do we take a risk and do something with our opportunities.
