The Parable of the Talents

Welcome to Wondercafe2!

A community where we discuss, share, and have some fun together. Join today and become a part of it!

Register Log in
unsafe said:
No it is very simple to get the true narrative -----if you read the Bible the way it is suppose to be read ------Scripture interprets itself -----Chapter 24 tells you what 25 is about -----
Click to expand...
What do you mean by True Narrative?
 
This is such a curious passage. The three servants are entrusted with varying amounts of property according to their abilities.

The first two servants trade with the property and double the amount of the treasure. They are praised by the master for being trustworthy.

How does this make them more trustworthy than the third servant? Shrewder with money I can see. Also less risk adverse than the third guy.

At any rate, this is sounding much like a balanced portfolio to me. High rate of return on two investments and no losses on the third. It almost makes the man who went on the journey seem rather greedy.
 
If the parable doesn't make sense to you regarding the bags of money as money

Then maybe they aren't supposed to Literally be Money but a metaphor for something else?
 
Delightful Life said:
If the parable doesn't make sense to you regarding the bags of money as money

Then maybe they aren't supposed to Literally be Money but a metaphor for something else?
Click to expand...
That is definitely possible. We have talked about the bags of gold as symbols for other gifts/ talents or even for the teachings of Jesus. (What do we do with these teachings now that we have heard them, right?)

It's the aspect of trustworthiness that is intriguing me right now.
 
I can see how the two servants are more trustworthy

Taking thw Bags of Gold as God Given Gifts or like

Which requires them to Trust God

the Third servant didn't Trust God

Therefore, less Trustworthy?
 
Delightful Life said:
On why Parables

I've thought that why Our Lord sometimes used this is because he Knew His Audience?

Like when explaining Quantum Mechanics, you don't explain it the same way to a 5 year old as you do to a University Graduate?
Click to expand...

Admit whatever you explain it is just chance they understand because of overwhelming deficiencies of the great mystery!
 
paradox3 said:
That is definitely possible. We have talked about the bags of gold as symbols for other gifts/ talents or even for the teachings of Jesus. (What do we do with these teachings now that we have heard them, right?)

It's the aspect of trustworthiness that is intriguing me right now.
Click to expand...

It is said that in a quantum domain anything is possible given enought time ... Timaeus is critical when known as Thomas ... w/o doubt!

May resemble a bad wind to disbelievers in quantum chance!
 
I'm curious about how the master determined the "abilities" of the three servants. Obviously, servant #3 had few abilities than the other two. And again, I empathize with this figure. I am not very good with money. It is not a talent of mine. I have donated thousands to insurance companies and my church by never getting organized enough to submit receipts. If someone wished me to take too much money and look after it for them, I'd deposit it in an interest-bearing account that I could not access. If the greedy bankers messed it up, I would blame them.
 
In the end when all has to be returned to the source ... who will have the thinnest bones of the story? The fish of course ... even though it smells ...

Its the way it is when virtue is denied ... thus the fish gets bigger every instant ... until it is just a hollow fissure ... abyss from the deeps?

Kind of like a Gnostic message ... rather hidden understanding as the powers despise understandings ... knowledge is out ... and you can see the opposition growing everyday ... isn't that stupid? Alas, a preparation for the end and few can see it in a mortal power (that's limited eh)! Everyone with a wee piece ... and yet gather little ... minor affiliation?
 
A worship leader could certainly focus on the subject of trust or being trustworthy in a sermon as @jimkenney12 is planning.

A frequent take from this passage is to view the talents metaphorically and talk about how we use our gifts. That certainly works too as a sermon starter.

I am still baffled by the man who went on a journey. He seems judgmental and capricious to me and probably not of good moral character.

If the purpose of the parable is to educate us about the kingdom of heaven, could the purpose of the story be to provide a contrast?

Sure wish I knew what Jesus had in mind with this parable!
 
paradox3 said:
I am still baffled by the man who went on a journey. He seems judgmental and capricious to me and probably not of good moral character.
Click to expand...
Wealthy or powerful (the two did not always go hand in hand in those days) guy clearly on a journey of some import. Judgemental and capricious kind of goes with the territory. Clearly Jesus chose to use such a figure as a main character in the story for a reason.

paradox3 said:
If the purpose of the parable is to educate us about the kingdom of heaven, could the purpose of the story be to provide a contrast?
Click to expand...
One possibility, eh.

I wonder if the idea is that the wealthy and powerful don't value what they should. In which case, why is it important that he did not value the third man preserving the capital rather than investing it (whether that capital represents actual wealth, or something metaphorical like talents or gifts)?
 
This reminds me of two parables from Luke. I hosted BPoTW threads about them (almost two years ago) and called them the Lulu's from Luke.

The Unjust Judge or the Persistent Widow (Luke 18: 1-8)

The Dishonest Manager (Luke 16: 1-13)

So it seems that the leading characters in the parables of Jesus are not always the most upstanding of citizens. :rolleyes:
 
My view on different interpretations ------

When one reads the Scripture without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit -----they are just reading and interpreting the Logos Word as they see it and understand it with their own reasoning Mind ----it is the worldly way of reading the Scripture --there is no Spiritual discernment there -----all human reasoning is just that ---it comes from our human intellect only --so for that mind set it becomes their truth ---so you have many different versions of how the human mind interprets what they are reading in the Bible -----

When you have the Holy Spirit indwelling in you -----the Holy Spirit help the person interpret the Spiritual truthful Meaning of what the Scripture is saying ------your Getting the Spiritual Revelation behind the Logos-----which is called the Rhema Word ------

The Holy Spirit knows where each believer is at in their walk with Christ and will only reveal the Spiritual truth behind the Word they can handle at the time ----

As Paul says ----

1 CORINTHIANS 3:2
AMPC
I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not yet strong enough [to be ready for it]; but even yet you are not strong enough [to be ready for it],

So the Spiritual interpretation will have different interpretations do to where the person is in their walk of Faith as well ----but the Holy Spirit will never veer from God's Word ----so the Revelation given will always be Spiritual and will always be the truth -----

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth ------


So on page 5 I wrote

Here is something to ponder ------what does it mean that each person was given according to his ability ------1 was given 5 bags ----1 was given 2 bags ----1 was given one bad -----

how did the manager know what their abilities were to divide the bags of Gold to each person as he did -----?????

What is the meaning of each got according to his ability -

jimkenney12 said

This is how I intend to use the story, pointing to the master knowing his slaves and how much trust he could have in them. I will invite listeners to consider how they make decisions to trust and how they can live to earn the trust of others.

I say ---
So ability to him here seems to be trust -----and he says the Master knowing his Slaves knew how much trust he could have in them -----this makes sense with human reasoning -----

But here is where it kinda falls apart in my human reasoning ----If the Master knew his slaves and knew how much he could trust them -----the Master kinda fell short of knowing his trust in the one who buried and hid his given resource ------

So for jimkenney12 this is his how he interprets this to presents to his people in the church ---It is about trust -
I will invite listeners to consider how they make decisions to trust and how they can live to earn the trust of others.


But there is a Spiritual interpretation for this as well ------

ABILITY as used in this scripture -----

a-bil'-i-ti (dunamis, or ischus):
Matthew 25:15); of spiritual strength, "minister, as of the ability which God giveth"


Also there is a Spiritual meaning for the talent used here -----so a talent is a weight ----

Strong's Concordance
talanton: a balance, hence that which is weighed

1. the scale of a balance, a balance, a pair of scales

2. that which is weighed, a talent

a. a weight, varying in different places and times.

a balance (as supporting weights), i.e. (by implication) a certain weight

to bear patiently one's conduct

-------------------------------------------------------------​

So here we can say that the master gave to each person a weight that each could handle

So the first person was able to handle the 5 weights -----the second person was given the weight he could handle ---and the third was given the weight he could handle -----

So what is the Spiritual meaning of weight ---

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
burden, weight.
in the New Testament only, figuratively, a load, authority -- burden(-some), weight.

The 3 had authority or burden of weight to carry while the Master was away ------2 carried it well 1 failed in his task to carry the weight -----

Many Christians cave under the weight of what God expects of them --------

So while we can read the Scripture -----there are 2 Lens to view it from -----the Bible is a Spiritual book so without the Holy Spirit to guide you to the true Spiritual meaning ----you will just read the Logos word and interpret it with your Human reasoning ------

Born again Christians who employ the Holy Spirit to help them in understanding the Scripture will come to the same agreement as to the Spiritual interpretation of what the passage is revealing ------there is one True Spiritual meaning behind the words of the Scripture ----and the Holy Spirit is the only one who can guide a Spiritual person to that truth -------
 
In your worldview or theology @unsafe, how does one go about obtaining the indwelling Holy Spirit?

If you are going to say one needs to be Born Again, please explain how this part of the process happens.
 
paradox3 said:
If you are going to say one needs to be Born Again, please explain how this part of the process happens.
Click to expand...

The Scripture tells you how to be Born again ------

Well first of all you need to have the right faith -----which comes by hearing the word of God --

Strong's Concordance
pistis: faith, faithfulness

The Lord continuously births faith in the yielded believer so they can know what He prefers, i.e. the persuasion of His will (1 Jn 5:4).

In Scripture, faith is God's warranty, certifying that the revelation He inbirthed will come to pass (His way).

Faith is only (exclusively) given to the redeemed. It is not a virtue that can be worked up by human effort.

Faith (4102/pistis) enables the believer to know God's preferred-will

---------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the scripture that tells you how to be saved ------

Romans 10:9-11
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition​

9 Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

10 For with the heart a person believes (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Christ) and so is justified (declared righteous, acceptable to God), and with the mouth he confesses (declares openly and speaks out freely his faith) and confirms [his] salvation.


I say ---when one obeys this scripture ---the Holy Spirit immediately comes to reside in the person ------as promised by Jesus --and the person is then heaven bound ------and the process to mature in your walk with Christ begins ------
 
And, yet, I have known many people to whom Romans 10:9 would apply (confessed a heartfelt belief in Jesus and the Resurrection) who did not agree with each other on Biblical interpretation. I suppose you would just say that some of them did not really believe in their heart so lacked the Spirit but given that you did not know them, I think you're stretching to pass that kind of judgement. Either the Spirit is really, really picky or there is more involved than the simplistic formula in Romans 10:9.
 
Last edited:
Hi @unsafe.

So this would be what I need to do.

Step 1: Hear the word of God.

Step 2: Develop the right faith which God will continuously birth in me if I have it right.

Step 3: Confess with my lips that Jesus is Lord.

Step 4: Believe in my heart that God raised Jesus from the dead.

Step 5: Now the Holy Spirit will immediately come to reside in me. At this point I am heaven bound and I will begin to mature in my walk with Christ.

This is so interesting and it helps me understand your perspective Unsafe.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top