Parable of the Talents

There are a number of Scripture texts that shatter this picture.  One is the image of the ideal wife in Proverbs 31.  The Blessed Virgin Mary read this passage and, as the most perfect of Israelite wives, most probably modeled herself after the woman portrayed here.  Does the Proverbs 31 woman sit around passively, praying a lot, and wearing beige?  No.  The first few verses of the chapter poetically tell how she is more valuable than pearls, a true prize.  The rest of the passage tell us why she is such a catch–she knows how to roll up her sleeves and hustle.  The passage tells of her side business ventures that increase the family’s wealth, which she shares with the poor.  Of course if she hadn’t worked so shrewdly and diligently, there would not be anything to share with the poor.

Another Scripture that shatters the picture of Christianity as passivity is the famous parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30).  Note that it is money (yes money!) that the master entrusts to his various servants, different amounts according to varying abilities.  Two servants realize that the master wants a return on his capital, so they invest it and each double it.  The master does not expect to get the same sum back from these two because they started with different amounts.  But they both received the exact same praise because they both gave him a hundred per cent return.

The servant of least ability, on the other hand, buried the money for fear of losing it.  Instead of praising him for being conservative, the master is outraged.  If you entrusted your retirement nest egg to a stockbroker, and years later it had not grown at all, would you be happy?

The master was angry because the servant had allowed fear to paralyze him.  So afraid was he of losing money that he did not even take the very modest risk of depositing the money in the bank (there was no FDIC insurance in those days).

The Lord has entrusted lots of things to us: money, natural talents, spiritual gifts, the saving truth of the Gospel.  He expects us not just to conserve these things but to grow them.  In the last supper discourse (John 15) he speaks of the disciples as bearing much fruit.  In the Parable of the Sower and the Seed he speaks of grain that bear 30, 60, and 100 fold.  Whatever labor we are involved in–economic, family, apostolic–the goal should be to develop, increase, and grow what God has given us, for his honor and glory.

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