Parable of Talents

[Joe_in_RP]

Is the Parable of Talents about money? Or is it deeper?

What is the context?

Before it are four parables about Jesus return and after it is a parable about the judgment.

Why would Jesus put a parable about money in this context?

Why does He close the parable with weeping and gnashing of teeth?

[Joe_in_RP]

It starts out:

14 "Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them.

"Again" because he is continuing to tell them a series of parables in response to their question: 3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

So this parable is about the time of the end of the age. Its not a generic Christian stewardship lesson. Its about last day events.

[Joe_in_RP]

it will be like

So Jesus is saying its not really about money.

[Joe_in_RP]

There is a belief that God is withdrawing His spirit from the people of the earth. Actually SOP says He is withdrawing His protection from the earth. She never says He is withdrawing His Spirit from the people of the earth.

Were does this outpouring of the Spirit that is talked about in the bible and SOP come from? Is God withholding some of the Spirit until the latter rain and then releasing it?

Why would God hold back?

What if in the last days , God decided to take away His Spirit from those who were not using it for His glory and give it to those who were.

Is that what the parable is really about? Would those without the spirit be: "throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Does it now fit in with the other parables including the 10 virgins?

[BobRyan]

Is the Parable of Talents about money? Or is it deeper?

What is the context?

Before it are four parables about Jesus return and after it is a parable about the judgment.

Why would Jesus put a parable about money in this context?

Why does He close the parable with weeping and gnashing of teeth?

The parable of Talents is about "knowledge of God".

From those who have it and do not use it -- even what they have is removed and to those who have less - more will be given.

How often do we see this in the lives of fellow Christians -- raised in Christian families rich in the knowledge of God. And then after they leave home several decades later we find that even what they used to know -- they no longer know -- they must be taught all over again.

in Christ,

Bob

[Joe_in_RP]

This parable is a prophecy. Jesus is prophesying about the last days. "It will be like". Its a warning to us. We who think we are saved by don't have the Spirit. What little we do have God will take away. Or maybe He has already taken away from some.

[BobRyan]

This is where it pays to quote the text and point out the details in the text to make a case.

in Christ,

Bob

[Joe_in_RP]

NIV Mat 25:14 "Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them.

NASB 14"For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them.

Words not found in the original

Here is a similar story:

Luke 19:12-27

So He said, "A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return. "And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, 'Do business with this until I come back.' "But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us.'

"When he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know what business they had done.

"The first appeared, saying, 'Master, your mina has made ten minas more.' "And he said to him, 'Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.'

"The second came, saying, 'Your mina, master, has made five minas.' "And he said to him also, 'And you are to be over five cities.'"Another came, saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.'

"He said to him, 'By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow?

'Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?'

"Then he said to the bystanders, 'Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.'

"And they said to him, 'Master, he has ten minas already.'

I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.

"But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence."

So clearly this is not a story about money. Jesus calls them enemies. Those who have the Spirit taken away are enemies of Jesus.