Matthew 25:14-18 14“For it will be like when a man was going on a journey, he called his servants and entrusted to them his possessions, 15and to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability, and he went away. 16Immediately, after going out, the who had received the five talents worked with them, and he made five talents more. 17So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18But he who had received the one talent after going away and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.
Jesus next gives one of his longest parables. The parables builds on the previous one by explaining how disciples can be The parable can be divided into sections, with the first section providing the basic background. The assumed comparison is with the kingdom of heaven from verse 1. The parable has four main characters: a master and three of his servants. The master is simply called a man at the beginning. He has significant wealth because he entrusted eight talents to his servants. A talent was a weight of metal equivalent to about 75 pounds (34 kilograms) that could be in gold, silver, or copper. In the first century, a talent of money was worth 6,000 drachmas, which was worth a daily wage. The man basically invested 480,000 days of wages or at least 1,500 years of work in these three servants. He was giving these three what was beyond most people’s imaginations.
Jesus adds the important idea at the end of verse 15 that each of the servants was given a certain amount according to his ability. Not everyone is gifted with the same skills or knowledge. God in his creative genius makes all of us different and able to do different things. The point in the parable is not the amount but what the servants do with what they received. The master has a certain expectation that comes through at the end. It seems that the third servant does not know his master well while the other two know what the master would want in this situation. The first two servants worked with what they had and gained more through their work. They have a degree of faith in their investments. The last one may have lived in fear because he buried what he had been given.
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