Actually, what you are asserting is that in all of recorded Christian history, you, and you alone, actually understand what Jesus actually intended with this parable. I must admire you for your hubris.
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Everyone got this Parable wrong!
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Actually, what you are asserting is that in all of recorded Christian history, you, and you alone, actually understand what Jesus actually intended with this parable. I must admire you for your hubris.
Jesus also walked up to the Pharisees and their thousands of years old religion to tell them they are wrong and that Moses......Well, they basically drove him to madness with their unceasing complaints!
I'm a big fan of Jesus, that's all.
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I’m sorry but this interpretation is only a fraction of the Truth of God’s entire Word given to us by Him. Please don’t say that most Christians have this scripture wrong as we only know in part and so we prophecy in part - as per the Bible says.
What that means is we, as individual Christians, do not have a finished picture but only hold a few puzzle pieces that are given to us by God. Some have more than others but that also comes from asking God for His blessings, which the Bible says “ask and you shall receive “.
Your interpretation could only be for you in this moment until you ask God for more understanding, in which He will give according to His appointed times for you to understand. Just because you see something in one aspect doesn’t mean it’s the end all be all of the entire Truth of God. We can read His Word many times and still gain new knowledge of something we never saw before. How powerful He is!
What that means is we, as individual Christians, do not have a finished picture but only hold a few puzzle pieces that are given to us by God. Some have more than others but that also comes from asking God for His blessings, which the Bible says “ask and you shall receive “.
Your interpretation could only be for you in this moment until you ask God for more understanding, in which He will give according to His appointed times for you to understand. Just because you see something in one aspect doesn’t mean it’s the end all be all of the entire Truth of God. We can read His Word many times and still gain new knowledge of something we never saw before. How powerful He is!
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nonaeroterraqueous
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Uh, no. He's not the only one to come to this conclusion. It's not hubris to share a discovery.
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Yes I agree with what you said here about Jesus Christ, but I also disagree with the insertion made. Like I said before, we only hold a certain amount of puzzle pieces, just like how we are blocks of a building of the church and placed according to His will in this life for the next one to come. Only Jesus Christ had everything right on this earth, no other. Not even the apostles/disciples were perfect but had faith in God alone to keep them on the right path.
Beware of trusting in your own knowledge/understanding.
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I see the bags of money (talents) being God’s Godly type Love since it could be used as a measure of wealth in the Spiritual realm (God being the richest) and it is what we exchange when we come together (give and receive). We understand not all Christians have the same amount of Love and using God’s Love with the little faith we do have (our only real ability) the Love and faith grow.What the Parable is saying is that to "gain more" Not really to share it indiscriminately - in the context of Knowledge of the Truth and the mysteries of heaven.
Because if I share this knowledge indiscriminately and I happen to be wrong - misinterpreted this knowledge, then I would have deceived many, wouldn't I??
What's the most interesting part of that parable is what the condemned guy really did. What was his big mistake. It think this is the same mistake many (if not most) Christians are making.
Our faith and Love can grow no matter how old, weak and feeble we become, so what else can we say the same about?
The person who hides God’s Love is hurting God’s work here on earth, all we have to do even though we think we can do nothing is support (Love) others who are using God’s Love (these can be the money changers) and share in their success.
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Being a big fan of Jesus and accepting His Word as Truth is one thing. Claiming the same divine inspiration as Jesus had and telling everyone that you, and you alone, are the mouthpiece of God's word is quite another.
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Although I agree that he is hardly the first person to come to this interpretation, he does claim to be the first, and only, person to hold this interpretation. It is amazing hubris to make that claim, much less to inform everyone that they are all wrong and that he, alone, is correct.
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Yes I agree with what you said here about Jesus Christ, but I also disagree with the insertion made. Like I said before, we only hold a certain amount of puzzle pieces, just like how we are blocks of a building of the church and placed according to His will in this life for the next one to come. Only Jesus Christ had everything right on this earth, no other. Not even the apostles/disciples were perfect but had faith in God alone to keep them on the right path.
Beware of trusting in your own knowledge/understanding.
This is very interesting. If this is true, then a lot of our teachers (preachers, priests) could be unqualified to teach.
And also elders who appoint teachers might be unqualified to appoint.
That might explain why many got that parable wrong.
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Until the time I started this thread, I haven't heard anyone interpret the parable in the context of the knowledge of the Truth. Everyone seems focused on abilities, skills, money, even the number of people you win for Christ.
From my perspective, everyone seems wrong on the subject.
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Yes and that is why so many teachers will receive stricter judgement because they presume to know things, and teach others, but they dont know in some cases much of anything.
James 3 New King James Version (NKJV)
The Untamable Tongue
1 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. 2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. 3 Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. 4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.
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Even love is measured by the Truth you possess.
Many people literally "love" themselves to death by eating junk food quite literally because they don't know it's bad for them.
Is that really love? Is it possible to love without the Truth?
1 John 3:18
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
Your abilities, or literal talents, money, resources they are all worthless without the Truth. It's like driving a boat without a compass or GPS or w/e, you're not going anywhere, you're just wasting your strength.
This is why the knowledge of the Truth is the highest priority among these. You can't have the other without the Truth.
The disciples of Christ, wanting to jump into action were often chastised by our Lord.... But Mary loved to listen, no matter how long and among her other deeds, received the highest commendation from our Lord!
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ByTheSpirit
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My first response when I see someone claim everyone has something wrong and then proceed to explain how they have it right, is to do an eye roll & laugh.
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The demons Christ drove out of people knew He was the Messiah, son of God, had power and would judge them, while the people at the time new very little, so knowledge of the truth was not a measure of Love?
“Love of self”, is not Godly type Love since you first Love God and secondly others?
Little children Loved Christ and we are to be like them (trusting), so how much truth did they know?
John is addressing adult Christians in his letters who need to have knowledge and not just be “loving”, Godly type Love is not instinctive or a knee jerk reaction so it is something thought-out a decision to Love, but you can have knowledge of the truth and decide not to Love.
Paul tells us in 1Cor. 13:1-4 that without Love anything we do is worthless and did not say “without knowledge everything you do is worthless”.
Mary Loved Jesus, so she listened to Him.
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Parable of the Talents
The parable of the Talents (Mt 25:14-28) is about a servant who acts honorably by burying money given in trust, courageously denouncing an exploitive master, and as a result is consigned to extinction for his audacity.
Most people understand the story as Matthew has (cf. Lk 19:12-24). But his concluding editorial, "To all those who have, more will be given, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away" is at odds with everything else Jesus says on the subject of haves and have-nots (Mk 10:25/Mt 19:24/Lk 18:25; Mt 6:19-21/Lk 12:33-34; Mt 19:30; Mt 20:16; Lk 6:24; Lk 16:19-31); and Jesus was obviously no capitalist. Matthew's editorial implies that the first two servants are the heroes of the story, which Jewish peasants would have found outrageous.(1)
As Richard Rohrbaugh and William Herzog have demonstrated -- though in very different ways, as we will see -- the third servant is the hero of this parable, because he acted honorably and refused to participate in the rapacious schemes of the master. Contrast with the agenda of the first two servants:
"First things first: the master's initial investment must be secured, then doubled; after that, the retainers can make their profit. They are always walking a tightrope, keeping the master's gain high enough to appease his greed and not incur his wrath while keeping their own accumulations of wealth small enough not to arouse suspicion yet lucrative enough to insure their future. The master knows the system too, and as long as the retainers keep watch of his interests and maintain a proper yield, he does not begrudge their gains. In fact, he stands to gain a great deal by encouraging the process. Not only do the retainers do his dirty work, exploiting others for profit, but they siphon off anger that would otherwise be directed at him." (Herzog, Parables as Subversive Speech, p 160).
The first two servants do exactly as expected of them, doubling the master's money and presumably making some "honest graft" on the side, as all retainers did in agrarian empires. But the third servant acts completely out of character -- this alone is the tip-off that he will be the story's hero -- by digging a hole and burying the master's money to keep it intact, acting in accordance with Jewish law.(2)
When the master (naturally) rewards the two servants, the third servant acts stunningly by blowing the whistle on him (as Herzog puts it), while at the same time giving him back the money he had buried in trust: "Master, I know that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, gathering where you did not scatter." This retainer says what every peasant has always wanted to say.
An alternate version of this parable was preserved in the Gospel of the Nazorenes (now lost), reported by Eusebius. Here the third servant is accepted with joy, while the other two are condemned. In "A Peasant Reading of the Talents/Pounds", Rohrbaugh notes the chiastic structure:
The master had three servants:
A one who squandered his master’s substance with harlots and flute girls
B one who multiplied the gain
C and one who hid the talent;
and accordingly,
C’ one was accepted with joy
B’ another merely rebuked
A’ and another cast into prison.
(Eusebius, Theophania; from Hennecke & Schneemelcher, New Testament Apocrypha 1:149)
Though I'm eternally suspicious of arguments based on chiastic structures, this one is powerful. Here we have an ancient author who rejected the Matthean judgment on the third servant, while modern critics insist on vilifying him.
Like many of Jesus' parables, the Talents ends on dark ambiguity. "The whistle-blower is no fool," says Herzog. "He realizes that he will pay a price, but he has decided to accept the cost (p 167)." The question is who his friends are after banishment. Will peasants acknowledge and respect his honorable course of action, or would the fact that he was a retainer make such meeting of the minds impossible? Listeners are left pondering the fate of an unlikely hero.
Endnotes
1. The ways in which critics have followed Matthew's (and Luke's) demonizing of the third servant are astounding. C.H. Dodd thinks that the third servant's "overcaution" and "cowardice" led to a breach in trust. T.W. Manson believes that the punishment for the third servant's "neglected opportunity" was a complete "deprivation of opportunity". Dan Via says the third servant's "refusal to take risks" led to repressed guilt and the loss of opportunity for any meaningful existence. John Donahue thinks that out of "fear of failing", the third servant refused even to try to succeed. The list could go on and on. (See Herzog, p 153.)
2. According to the Mishnah, money could be guarded honorably only by placing it in the earth: M.B. Mes. 3:10; B.B. Mes. 42a.
Bibliography
Eusebius: Theophania (from Hennecke & Schneemelcher, New Testament Apocrypha, Westminster, 1963.)
Herzog, William: Parables as Subversive Speech, Westminster John Knox, 1994.
Malina, Bruce & Rohrbaugh, Richard: Social Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels, Second Edition, Augsburg Fortress, 2003.
Rohrbaugh, Richard: "A Peasant Reading of the Talents/Pounds: A Text of Terror", BTB 23:32-39, 1993.
The parable of the Talents (Mt 25:14-28) is about a servant who acts honorably by burying money given in trust, courageously denouncing an exploitive master, and as a result is consigned to extinction for his audacity.
Most people understand the story as Matthew has (cf. Lk 19:12-24). But his concluding editorial, "To all those who have, more will be given, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away" is at odds with everything else Jesus says on the subject of haves and have-nots (Mk 10:25/Mt 19:24/Lk 18:25; Mt 6:19-21/Lk 12:33-34; Mt 19:30; Mt 20:16; Lk 6:24; Lk 16:19-31); and Jesus was obviously no capitalist. Matthew's editorial implies that the first two servants are the heroes of the story, which Jewish peasants would have found outrageous.(1)
As Richard Rohrbaugh and William Herzog have demonstrated -- though in very different ways, as we will see -- the third servant is the hero of this parable, because he acted honorably and refused to participate in the rapacious schemes of the master. Contrast with the agenda of the first two servants:
"First things first: the master's initial investment must be secured, then doubled; after that, the retainers can make their profit. They are always walking a tightrope, keeping the master's gain high enough to appease his greed and not incur his wrath while keeping their own accumulations of wealth small enough not to arouse suspicion yet lucrative enough to insure their future. The master knows the system too, and as long as the retainers keep watch of his interests and maintain a proper yield, he does not begrudge their gains. In fact, he stands to gain a great deal by encouraging the process. Not only do the retainers do his dirty work, exploiting others for profit, but they siphon off anger that would otherwise be directed at him." (Herzog, Parables as Subversive Speech, p 160).
The first two servants do exactly as expected of them, doubling the master's money and presumably making some "honest graft" on the side, as all retainers did in agrarian empires. But the third servant acts completely out of character -- this alone is the tip-off that he will be the story's hero -- by digging a hole and burying the master's money to keep it intact, acting in accordance with Jewish law.(2)
When the master (naturally) rewards the two servants, the third servant acts stunningly by blowing the whistle on him (as Herzog puts it), while at the same time giving him back the money he had buried in trust: "Master, I know that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, gathering where you did not scatter." This retainer says what every peasant has always wanted to say.
An alternate version of this parable was preserved in the Gospel of the Nazorenes (now lost), reported by Eusebius. Here the third servant is accepted with joy, while the other two are condemned. In "A Peasant Reading of the Talents/Pounds", Rohrbaugh notes the chiastic structure:
The master had three servants:
A one who squandered his master’s substance with harlots and flute girls
B one who multiplied the gain
C and one who hid the talent;
and accordingly,
C’ one was accepted with joy
B’ another merely rebuked
A’ and another cast into prison.
(Eusebius, Theophania; from Hennecke & Schneemelcher, New Testament Apocrypha 1:149)
Though I'm eternally suspicious of arguments based on chiastic structures, this one is powerful. Here we have an ancient author who rejected the Matthean judgment on the third servant, while modern critics insist on vilifying him.
Like many of Jesus' parables, the Talents ends on dark ambiguity. "The whistle-blower is no fool," says Herzog. "He realizes that he will pay a price, but he has decided to accept the cost (p 167)." The question is who his friends are after banishment. Will peasants acknowledge and respect his honorable course of action, or would the fact that he was a retainer make such meeting of the minds impossible? Listeners are left pondering the fate of an unlikely hero.
Endnotes
1. The ways in which critics have followed Matthew's (and Luke's) demonizing of the third servant are astounding. C.H. Dodd thinks that the third servant's "overcaution" and "cowardice" led to a breach in trust. T.W. Manson believes that the punishment for the third servant's "neglected opportunity" was a complete "deprivation of opportunity". Dan Via says the third servant's "refusal to take risks" led to repressed guilt and the loss of opportunity for any meaningful existence. John Donahue thinks that out of "fear of failing", the third servant refused even to try to succeed. The list could go on and on. (See Herzog, p 153.)
2. According to the Mishnah, money could be guarded honorably only by placing it in the earth: M.B. Mes. 3:10; B.B. Mes. 42a.
Bibliography
Eusebius: Theophania (from Hennecke & Schneemelcher, New Testament Apocrypha, Westminster, 1963.)
Herzog, William: Parables as Subversive Speech, Westminster John Knox, 1994.
Malina, Bruce & Rohrbaugh, Richard: Social Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels, Second Edition, Augsburg Fortress, 2003.
Rohrbaugh, Richard: "A Peasant Reading of the Talents/Pounds: A Text of Terror", BTB 23:32-39, 1993.
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Thank you. It is somewhat comforting to know that many better minds than mine have pondered this parable (not to mention all of scripture) and have come up with variant interpretations, allowing me the freedom to assess their relative merits. It can be disturbing to those who latch on to one interpretation and find that there are other interpretations, some of which might actually be better.
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S.O.J.I.A.
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But you are not offering any context in Matthew 25 that proves that the Parable of the Talents is talking about having correct knowledge. What verse do you have in Matthew 25 that suggests this? Granted, while it is true that we need to have correct knowledge in order to do the proper works of God, that is not the point of the Parable. We see those who are faithful are rewarded for their faithfulness, and they are told to enter the joy of their Lord. The unprofitable servant (i.e. the one who was not faithful to the Lord or profitable for His kingdom) was cast into outer darkness. They were given a talent (a resource), and they buried it. They knew that they were supposed to do, but they did not do it. Yes, in Matthew 13, fruitfulness is tied to having root in God's Word. But I see this as strong faith in what portions of Scripture that we need in order to be fruitful. So yes. In the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13, it ties the knowledge of God's Word with fruitfulness, but this is not the point of the Parable of the Talents. Being profitable or fruitful for God's kingdom in some way is what the parable is about. Not all the parables teach the same message (even though they can be pieced together to breath in harmony with one another).
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