“The kingdom of heaven is like a man travelling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them …” Mathew 25: 14
The parable of the talent, one of the many parables given by our Lord Jesus in the gospel of Mathew 25: 14-30 and Luke 19: 11-27 is profound as it was one of the instructions given before our Lord’s death. There are a number of deductions we can make from the talent given. The first is the existential importance of this talent. It is a prized good belonging to the master. The servants are to live by it while the master is away and they will give account of it and get rewarded on it when the master returns.
Secondly, we can deduce equivalence in the content of the talent given by the master to each servant. The talent given to one is the same talent that every servant receives, there is no variance.
Thirdly, we can deduce fairness in the master, he gave each servant according to his ability which is a function of responsibility.
Fourthly, the talent did not engender any conflict or struggle among the servants, each works out how he uses or trades with what he was given. So it is an inherent treasure.
Fifthly, the talent grow with use, it does not diminish with use like temporal goods so this is a spiritual entity
The next natural thing to ask is what is this talent that is existential in importance to every servant, that does not attract envy from among the servants and which determines the reward of each servant when the master returns.
Since the fall of man and after he took on a nature that is different from the nature of God, the law and prophets have ever been given to man. The law and the prophets were to point man back to God. Our Lord Jesus came and He made it clearer. He said in Mathew 22: 40 that on love hang all the laws and the prophets. We know that God is love. If a man love God, he will keep His commandment (John 14: 15), he will do no evil to his neighbour (Romans 13: 10). Ever since that man fell and became carnal, we know by the scripture that the carnal man is in enmity with God and cannot submit to the law of God (Romans 8: 7). Man that is incapable of being suject to the laws of God and is in enmity with God cannot love his neighbour. Scripture in the book of Genesis records that man filled the earth with violence so much that God said in Genesis 6: 5 : “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.” Verse 6 of same Genesis chapter continued: “And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” The end of this was the flood that destroyed all mankind except Noah and his family that were righteous. So we can deduce from all these biblical accounts that love is the missing link and the existential need of all men.
God demonstrared His love for man. In the fulness of time, He gave His only Begotten Son. The book of Galatians gave a full insight. Galatians 4: 4-7 reads: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, that He might redeem those under the Law, so that we might receive the divine adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Here is the sum, God the Father who is love, gave man who is in enmity with Him, His only Begotten Son to redeem man and has put the Spirit of His Son in our hearts so we could call Him Father. Only the sons know the will of the Father, the servants do not know. The spirit of sonship is to do the will of the Father and here is the Father’s ultimate will: “To love God with all of our hearts and souls, mind and strength. And to love others as ourselves.” Any departure from this will only fill the earth with violence like in the days of Noah which led to the flood. Love does no evil to his neighbour (Romans 13: 10), it does not kill others in the name of God, love is kind, love does not envy (1Corinthians 13: 4 -10). The scripture concludes that love is the fulfilment of the laws (Romans 13: 10). This is what God has put in our hearts, love. His nature is love and we have received that which us of Him through faith in Christ who is the Mediator between God and man. This is the talent that the Master gave to each of his servants.
The Master is gone to receive a name and a kingdom and to return (Luke 19: 12). It is not a kingdom of violence that He is returning to, it is a kingdom of peace for He is the Prince of Peace. Scripture affirms this. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy (Romans 14: 17). It is a kingdom where the will of God is done by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God that bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. The spirit of sonship is the spirit that does the will of God. Our Lord Jesus says in John 15: 15: “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” The Spirit of God the Father is one with the Spirit of His Son, Jesus. Just like the Spirit of God manifest differently in the diversity of gifts namely: word of wisdom, word of knowledge, working of miracles, gifts of healing, gift of prophecy, gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues, gift of discerning of Spirit, and the Spirit is one. So also is the Spirit of the Father and the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ one. When we partake of the Spirit of Sonship in Christ, we partake of this oneness and we come to the knowledge of the will of God. The knowledge of the will of God comes in an increasing measure. It grows as we exercise ourselves in obedience to His will. The earth is consequently filled with righteousness of God and not with violence, every man provoking others to more love of God and love for fellow men as each of us work out our salvation with fear of the LORD and trembling that is devotion that comes out of gratitude to God.
The account of love of God shed in our hearts through faith in Christ echoes time and again in the scriptures. We read in Roman 5: 5: “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” The talent given to every man as depicted in the parable of our Lord Jesus in gospel of Mathew chapter 25 is His love, given to us by His Spirit. The Spirit of the LORD came down because our Lord Jesus ascended into heaven. The account of the pentecost in Acts chapter 2: 1- 4 was a vivid physical evidence that the Holy Spirit came down to men as promised by God the Father. In the book of Joel. Joel 2: 28 we read: “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.” If we have His Spirit, we have His love also shed in our hearts by His Spirit. What are we going to do with this love, this existential talent given to every man. Are we going to spend this love upon the things of this world such as pursuit of money, power, fame, violence, immoral pleasures and the likes or are we going to set our love on God who has given us this gracious gift.
The scripture says in 1John 2: 15: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” The love we have been given, evidenced by the spirit of sonship we have been given, is to know the Master’s business that is, the will of God on earth which is to love God with all of our heart and strength and love others also as ourself. Anything or any teaching outside of this is not from God for God is love and He cannot give us anything apart from Himself. It is time we get back to our right mind and repent for the Master comes sooner than we think and every man shall give account of what He did with the talent, the Spirit of God and the love He made known to us to live by.
The Lord speaks expressly in Revelation 22: 12: “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.” Verse 11 of the same chapter reads:
“Let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm; let the one who is vile continue to be vile; let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously; let the one who is holy continue to be holy.” But the choice is ours, shall we continue to do harm (by our actions, thoughts and words) and fill the earth with corruption and violence? Or shall we continue to live righteous and holy. In this season of Christmas, we must have a change of heart to fill the earth with what God delights in that is, righteousness, peace and joy. The judgement that befell the generation of Noah cannot be set aside if we practice what they practiced then, for the same LORD is the Judge yesterday, today and forever.
