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The Parable of the Talents?
Parables
Tonight we are going to be taking a look at one of the parables of Jesus. Now sometimes parables are taken to be like little morality tales – like Aesop's fables – And sometimesthe parables DO have good ethical points to make – but more often than not they unsettle our expectations, turn our world view on its head. Workers paid equally regardless of how much work theyactually do. A farmer who scatters seed around regardless of whether or not the ground is fertile. Arebellious son who seems to receive more honor than a faithful one. This is not the kind of practicalwisdom that is necessary to be successful in the world. But the parables are not talking about how theworld works – they're talking about heavenly things.How does Jesus begin almost every one of his parables? - The Kingdom of Heaven is like.Prudence and moderation are the kind of wisdom you need to get by in a world – a world of limitedresources, and limited power. Workers willing to give a fair days work for a fair days pay, will loosetheir incentive to work if you don't treat them right. A farmer who sows carelessly will not haveenough seed to, A father can only bare to have his heart broken so many times.Read / Pray
Bosses.
 
So I'd like to start by asking you some questions about bosses. Now you don't have to answer if youare self-employed, unemployed, or if your boss comes here to church with you.How many of you like your boss?How many of you are afraid of your boss?How many of you think your boss is every unfair? Now let me ask you another question. If you were to think of Jesus as your boss, what kind of bosswould he be? That's what this parable is about isn't it? But he's more than a boss. When we read the bible most of us put an “=” between master and boss, because these are both categories of people towhom we have some obligation to work But what's the difference between a boss and a Master? - A boss just buys a couple hours of your time,a master buys YOU!If it makes a difference in your life whether or not you have a good boss, think of the kind of differenceit would the kind of Master you have would make?
 
The Servant's Allegations.
So a Master is preparing to go on a long journey – and he calls his three servants to him, and givesthem each differing amounts of money to work with while he's gone. The first two get to work rightaway and turn a profitWhat does the third one do? - He buries it. Why?The servant says, I knew you were a HARD MAN – so I buried it, because I was afraid.Was this performance anxiety? Did he think he wasn't up to the task? Did it have anything to do withhis sense of his ability? - NO! He blames the Master.He says “I knew you were a Hard Man – reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where youhave not scattered seed.” What's he saying? - You come here expecting something from me, and youhaven't given me
anything 
to work with.The master does nothing to deny the servant's allegations, in fact his actions seem to confirm theservants charge. He calls him a Wicked and Lazy servant, and has him thrown out. And to add insultto injury, he takes his talent and gives it to the guy who already has ten. You'd think he'd give it to theguy with four to help him get ahead, wouldn't you? So, are the servant's allegations true. Is the master really being unfair. Let's look at the master and see if we can find some answers.
The Master's Defense
The servant's complaint against the master is that he's is expecting something back from him when hehasn't given him anything to work with. Is this true?
What's a Talent Worth?
How much was he given? - A talent.So he was given something. How much do you think a talent was worth? Was it a small sum of money? There are a lot of factors involved – like whether or not you were talking about a silver talentor a gold talent. Then there's inflation – the average person only made about $.20 a day back then. Soits really hard to know what a talent would be worth by today's standards. But it regardless of theactual value it was a LOT OF MONEY. One estimate places a Gold talent at $84,000. So a talent was probably worth several years wages at least. Could you do something with that much money?What would make the servant think he had nothing to work with? – he must have been looking at whatthe other servants got. There was probably a bit of envy there. These other guys get to go around townwriting the big checks – accomplishing great things.Does the amount of money he has to work with really matter? - No.At the end of the day, the money belongs to the master? It all goes back to him. It would be foolish tothink that anything the master gives me to work with should brings any greater glory to myself. Andthose who would honor me more highly because I seem to be making the big things happen are fools – and if I believe them, I'm an even bigger fool. At the end of the day I'm a servant – only one thingmatters.
 
How Do You Measure Success?
How do you think that the servant is expecting to be evaluated – if he's looking at his fellow servants?He sees the guy with the five talents and he thinks – of course he's going to succeed – he's got FIVETALENTS, and I've just got one. He's going to do at least five times better than me, the master is goingto be five times happier with him. How can I compete with that. And the guy with two talents, he'sstill got twice as much as I do. He's going to do twice as well. The master's will definitely be happier with him than he is with me. What's his conclusion? - you've set me up to fail.Is that true? How do YOU think the master will judges the work of his servants? What standard doeshe use?Is he going to judge his servants based on the amount of money they bring back to him? - NOHow does he address the first two servants when they come to him? - Well done GOOD andFAITHFUL servant. Good here does not refer to the servants performance - it refers to their character  – It has nothing to do with the size of their accomplishments.They've each been given differing amounts of money, how can they possibly be judged based on whatthey've been given – something which they had NO control over.They are judged on something they all have equally within their power – to be faithful with what theywere given.So Did the master set anybody up to fail? No – It says he gave to each “according to his ability.”Some people will fail because you give them too little to work with, some people fail because you givethem too much to work with. The master doesn't want anybody to fail – he knows his servants and hegives each one what they are capable of handling.And how were they rewarded? Did the servant who brought home ten talents get a better reward thanthe one who brought home two? - No, they are rewarded equally – look again at the reward given to thefirst two servants. “Well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful in a few thing, I will put you in charge of many things. Come and enter into your master's happiness.
Conclusion about the Servant
So the the servant fears the master, he has set a standard of performance for himself, and already judged himself by it before the master has even left town. Only he doesn't think he's doing this tohimself, he believes this is what the master is like. How did his perspective get so bent out of shape – that he would see his master as evil and unjust? - He was looking at the other servants – maybe he waseven envying them. What did the other's do when the master left? - They went right to work. Theyknew that success depended on faithful obedience – so it didn't matter who got what. The third servantforgot what it meant to be a servant? He lost sight of what standard he was being judged by? And because his beliefs got so out of whack – he was compelled by what he believed to be true, to actdisobediently.
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Schmicr

Not sure why I have a question mark in the title.

reply02 / 23 / 2009
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