The Parable of the Talents

[livingwordunity]

The gospel reading for today’s Sunday’s Mass (Nov. 16, 2014) is about the parable of the talents. Here’s a commentary from my RSV-CE Ignatius Catholic Study Bible that may make this parable easier to understand:
25:26 slothful servant!: The master rebuked his servant for more than laziness—he was wicked. The servant was presumably insulted when the master entrusted him with only a single talent (25:15), while others received more. Despising his master, then, he refused to trade with—or even invest—the talent, lest his master should benefit from his stewardship. The parable thus warns against sloth that is fueled by envy (cf. Lk 19:14). - RSV-CE Ignatius Catholic Study Bible

 

[FrDavid96]

That’s a good insight.

One thing to keep in mind is that a talent was still a huge sum of money.

 

[Sheadad]

He had also “heard” that his master reaped where he had not sowed, and although the master even admits that this was true, the master had acted kindly by giving one talent to him. That should have been enough for him, but he was afraid based on what he had heard, and acted accordingly, burying the talent.

I suspect that since he listened to the “talk of the town”, by “hearing” of the master’s unfairness, he also heard that the others had received two and five talents, (much more than he), which was a cause for jealousy, whereupon burying the talent was his way of getting back at the master. In another parable, Jesus speaks of the people that worked in the field grumbling that they didn’t get paid more than the ones who had only worked a short time. I imagine the people of the time were yearning for justice, being persecuted and lorded over so much, but Jesus’ aim was to show that the Kingdom works differently.

I think fear alone, or non-action of fear wouldn’t have justified the end of the parable, where the servant is thrown out. My opinion is that the servant unjustly judged the master and his motives, he was driven by jealousy and ultimately took revenge by not investing his talent, to his own demise.

 

[fhansen]

The gospel reading for today’s Sunday’s Mass (Nov. 16, 2014) is about the parable of the talents. Here’s a commentary from my RSV-CE Ignatius Catholic Study Bible that may make this parable easier to understand:
25:26 slothful servant!: The master rebuked his servant for more than laziness—he was wicked. The servant was presumably insulted when the master entrusted him with only a single talent (25:15), while others received more. Despising his master, then, he refused to trade with—or even invest—the talent, lest his master should benefit from his stewardship. The parable thus warns against sloth that is fueled by envy (cf. Lk 19:14). - RSV-CE Ignatius Catholic Study Bible

We’re to do the best we can with what we’re given. The talents speak of grace IMO, and I doubt we can know of the level of heavenly gifts that others might have vs our own. In any case the servant didn’t even try-he buried what he was given, no fruit for the kingdom produced.

 

[ProVobis]

The common usage of the word “talent” might also be applicable here. At least that was part of our sermon at the OF.

 

[Nelka]

The gospel reading for today’s Sunday’s Mass (Nov. 16, 2014) is about the parable of the talents. Here’s a commentary from my RSV-CE Ignatius Catholic Study Bible that may make this parable easier to understand:
25:26 slothful servant!: The master rebuked his servant for more than laziness—he was wicked. The servant was presumably insulted when the master entrusted him with only a single talent (25:15), while others received more. Despising his master, then, he refused to trade with—or even invest—the talent, lest his master should benefit from his stewardship. The parable thus warns against sloth that is fueled by envy (cf. Lk 19:14). - RSV-CE Ignatius Catholic Study Bible

I don’t agree with that.

The three men were entrusted with what they expected of, you wouldn’t ask me to run a a marathon but you would be angry if Mo Farah stopped halfway through.

The third man failed to do what he was asked and therefore was punished.

 

[AmbroseSJ]

We’re to do the best we can with what we’re given. The talents speak of grace IMO, and I doubt we can know of the level of heavenly gifts that others might have vs our own. In any case the servant didn’t even try-he buried what he was given, no fruit for the kingdom produced.

Exactly. So not only is the parable a warning, it is a promise. The parable of the Talents is one of the fundamental grounds for understanding the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Mediatrix of Grace. She is the servant who was given 5 talents.

 

[FrDavid96]

The beauty of parables is that there can be many different ways of interpreting them.

 

[Gorgias]

The third man failed to do what he was asked and therefore was punished.

Hmm… I’m not sure about that. The parable simply states that the master “entrusted his property” to his servants. His anger wasn’t that the servant didn’t do what he was asked to do, but rather, that he didn’t attempt to utilize the resources given to him. It would have been perfectly reasonable for him to just return the one talent unharmed… but this parable is about discipleship and its obligations: we aren’t given the graces of baptism and the sacraments in order to dig a hole and hide them and give them back to God at the end of time. We’re called to be disciples, and therefore, we’re called to use these graces for the greater glory of God!

I think it would have shocked Jesus’ audience to hear this treatment of the servant; this particular twist, though, is what sells the story – discipleship is about works performed by virtue of the gift of God’s grace!

 

[Joe_Kelley]

I wonder about the fourth guy who got ten talents, and blew them all on a get-rich-quick scheme.