Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money.
After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’
Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.’
His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’” (Matthew 25:14-30)
The standard way of interpreting this parable is we must us our talents, our abilities, to help others. We make Jesus “joyous” when we share, and the more we have, the more we should share. All well and good. This makes sense.
Nevertheless, talents are money (not abilities or skills), and the Master – believed to be Jesus – was a “demanding person, harvesting where he did not plant and gathering where he did not scatter.” Moreover, the Master (Jesus?) said about the servant with one talent: “throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.” This attitude and characterization don’t seem to properly describe Jesus. They more likely pertain to the passive and non-violent resistance of the Jewish people to Roman oppression.
The Romans and wealthy, high-ranking Jewish sympathizers confiscated land and oppressively taxed the Jewish people thereby “harvesting where they did not plant and gathering where they did not scatter.” This drove Jewish farmers – the poor – deeper into poverty and then into slavery forcing them to work on their land stolen by their overlords through taxation and lending with high interest to pay back.
The servant with one talent refused to comply by making the master’s money grow at the expense of friends and neighbors. This is the servant we should emulate – that “wicked, lazy servant” according to the cruel master. He refused to participate in the Master’s scheme “to harvest where he did not plant and gather where he did not scatter.”
And, neither should we. This refusal also applies to our not going along with conspiracy theories and believing lies told to increase the power of those seeking to master us. For example, we make our masters’ money grow – their propaganda to spread more widely – through social media. We must bury the lies and disinformation, not spread them.
For those of us that do otherwise, our masters slyly consider us to be “good and faithful servants.” We are joyful dupes.
Deacon David Pierce
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