Here’s the challenge:
Read the following parable as if….
1. The master is not God, but a corrupt businessman
2. The third slave is the hero of the story
Matthew 25:14-30 – The Parable of the Talents
For it is as if a man, going
on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he
gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his
ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off
at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the
one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received
the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s
money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts
with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward,
bringing five more talents, saying, “Master, you handed over to me five
talents; see, I have made five more talents.” His master said to him, “Well
done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I
will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” And
the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, “Master, you handed over
to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.” His master said to him,
“Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few
things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your
master.” Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward,
saying, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not
sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went
and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.” But his master
replied, “You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did
not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my
money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own
with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten
talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an
abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken
away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
There
is good reason to believe that Jesus’s audience would have heard this story in
a way that’s similar to how you just read it – the master as a corrupt businessman and the third slave as the hero.
Some
scholars believe that Jewish ears of that day would have been anticipating the
third character as the hero – that this was a common parabolic form. When we
hear a joke that begins something like, “So the first guy walks into a bar….”
we don’t know what the punch line will be, but we know when to listen for it.[i] Think back to the parable
of the Good Samaritan. Two pass by the beaten man, a priest and a Levite, then
the third – a Samaritan who rescues him![ii] Now the parable of the
talents: Two bad guys who keep the master’s corrupt business going, and then a
third – the worthless slave who refuses!
What
about this master? Is he really a bad guy? His employee says to him, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man,
reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so
I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what
is yours.” And who would know better
the character of the Master than one of his trusted employees – one that he
left in charge of what would be worth about 2.5 million dollars today to manage while he
was away[iii]?
To me, reaping where you
don’t sow and gathering where you don’t scatter sounds like the very opposite
of Isaiah’s vision of what the world looks like when God’s in charge:
They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people
be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
In God’s kingdom, everyone
enjoys the fruit of their own labor. They do not labor only to have that fruit
enjoyed by someone else, or build their house only to have someone else take
it—but this master in the parable is like that: he takes from others the fruit
of their labors, he exploits them. The master in this story isn’t my God, isn't the God of Isreal.
Ched Meyers writes in his book The Biblical Vision of Sabbath Economics about some of the dirty
business going on during the time of Jesus’ that would be well known to his
audience, “Large landowners made loans to peasant smallholders based on
speculation about future crop production. With high interest rates and
vulnerability to lean years and famine, farmers often were unable to make their
payments, and faced foreclosure. Once in control of the land, the new owner
could continue to make a killing by hiring laborers to farm cash crops….In the
parable the master’s slaves do this highly profitable dirty work.” The master likely worked a system that was legal and profitable, but not ethical in God's kingdom.
Needless to say, the Jews listening to Jesus’ parable would
have heard this loud and clear—this was a very corrupt master. His bottom line was profit, and he was the character in the story guilty
of mismanaging resources. The third slave was the only one willing to call
him out on it and suffered greatly for it.
If the words from the trusted slave weren’t enough to
demonstrate the harsh master’s character, Jesus throws in something extra,
which would undoubtedly prick the ears of an early AD Jewish audience, the
master mentions interest. Interest is
not such a dirty word today, but it would be a big red flag for the Jews of
Jesus’ time. John Dominic Crossan writes about the
master’s desire to gain, at the very
least, interest on his money
entrusted to the third slave, “...[the] two versions of the Master’s
Money in Matthew and Luke contain the only mention of “interest” in the entire
New Testament (Matt. 25:27; Luke 19:23). On the other [hand], there are several
mentions of it in the Old Testament—and
every single one of them is negative.” (Ex. 22-25, Deut. 23:19, Lev.
25:36-37).”
Ezekiel’s words during the Babylonian Exile in 500 BCE ring
in Jewish ears, “[If one] takes advance
or accrued interest; shall he then live? He shall not. He has done all the
abominable things; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself…”
The Jews knew that charging interest was a very bad thing and only a very bad person would do it.
Herzog has renamed this parable The Vulnerability of the Whistle-Blower[iv]
and I think it captures much more accurately the focus of this story. The story does not focus on talents (money), although
the implications of its abuse are strong, but a person. Interest was being charged,
land was being taken, talents were being increased, profit was being made –
business as usual. Life was good in the world of the master’s (one where “to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an
abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken
away”) until
the slave couldn’t take it anymore, his heart was too heavy, he blew the
whistle – he was the game changer, he’s the focus here!
I
find it no coincidence that this parable directly follows that of the 10
Bridesmaids, in which Jesus tells his audience, “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” Jesus is calling us, to wake from our sleep![v] To turn off the autopilot!
To kill the engines whose heavy droning drowns out God’s deepest convictions in
our hearts. “Wake up!” he calls us, “Be ready and awake and alive! Wake up like
an employee who could not longer be complicit in a system that left others
destitute!” Jesus is calling, “Wake up my people for you know neither the day or the hour!”
[i]
Ched Meyers, pg 42, The Biblical Vision
of Sabbath Economics
[ii]
John Dominic Crossan, The Power of
Parable
[iii]
Ched Meyers, pg 42, The Biblical Vision
of Sabbath Economics
[iv]
William R. Herzog II, Parables as
Subversive Speech
[v] Ryan
J. Bell, Parable of the Worthless Slave,
16 Nov 2011
Another good reference: Ernesto Cardinal, The Gospel in Solentiname
