THE PARABLE OF THE FIVE TALENTS

Mat 25:14-30

Jesus is coming to the end of his public life. And the gospels these days are reflections on the coming of the end of time and present to us the words of Jesus about how to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Kingdom. Through the parable of the talents, today’s Gospel continues this same message about being ready to welcome the Lord when he comes to settle accounts with us. Jesus gives us a parable that the Kingdom of God is like a man travelling to a faraway land, calls his three servants to take care of some of his possessions. He gives them money each according to their ability.

But what is the deeper meaning behind this parable? What point was Jesus making through it? This parable is a direct reflection of the talents or gifts given to each one of us. Most importantly it tells us something about how God deals with us. The parable speaks, first, of the master’s trust in his servants. While he goes away he leaves them with his money to use it as they think best. He trusts them that he puts them in charge of his possessions.

In other words, we are those servants of God and we are responsible to him for the way we use the abilities he has given us. We are responsible for how we use our abilities to enrich and help each other. Jesus is telling us that God has entrusted us with so many talents, skills, graces, blessings and gifts. It may be in the form of material possession or special talent or skill. God is certainly delighted if we use all of these to the fullest. And, let us also be aware that these remains God’s property – whether it’s a talent, ability, asset, money and others, they are God’s property. We are only administrators of these gifts. We must use these talents and abilities according to God’s will, for his glory, and in the service of our neighbor.

This Parable of the Five Talents teaches serves both as an encouragement and as a warning that we are called to use profitably the gifts God has given us. Our eternal reward depends both in kind and in degree on how fully and generously we have cooperated with God’s grace and have accepted to carry out His will. You and I are the recipients and custodians of many treasures, chief among them the treasures of divine truth and grace. And Our Lord intends that we preserve and multiply our treasure for the good of our souls and the souls of others.

Jesus wants to tell his disciples and us that we are all well equipped to work in God’s vineyard. It is not a question of whether these talents are insignificant or not. It is rather a question of whether we are trying our best to use them for God and for others. Some do not know how to make use of their gifts. Others use their gifts in a wrong way. Some are gifted but they prefer to use them for their own interest. Others do not use their talents at all. Here Jesus tells us that it does not really matter what and how many talents we received. What counts is how we use these talents. Though small we might think they are, how do we use them?

All of us in the church today have received at least one talent. We have received the gift of faith. Our responsibility as men and women of faith is not just to preserve and “keep” our faith. We need to trade with it. We need to sell it to men and women of our society. We need to promote and add value to faith. Unless we do this, we stand in danger of losing the faith just as the third servant lost his talent because he did not use it. The way to preserve our faith, or any other talent that God has given us, is to put it to work and make it bear fruit.

Let us take this time to meditate on all the gifts that we have received; the gift of life, health, family, or possessions. All these are God’s gifts. Every moment of our existence is a gift for God. How do we utilize these gifts? Let us pray that our talents and gifts may be used to the fullest to bring happiness to other people and to glorify the name of the Lord.