Faith-Filled Investments (Matthew 25:14-30)

What would you do if your employer handed a large amount of money over to you and asked you to look after it for them?

There are so many things we could do with that money! For example, we might put it in a long-term savings account and earn a reasonable amount of interest. Or, if the person who loaned us the money was not going to ask for it back for a long time, we could “borrow” the money to buy something we’ve always wanted and pay it back before returning it. We could maybe get a bit more aggressive and put the money into higher-risk investments to try to increase the return. Or, with the markets being as volatile as they are, we could play it safe and put the money under our mattress or bury it in our backyard. At least that way we probably won’t lose the money and we could give it back when the person wanted it.

In his parable from Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus challenges us to think about what we might do if someone entrusted to us something of significant value. This story is often called the ‘Parable of the Talents’ because the word used to describe what the master handed over to his servants is a Greek word which is translated as ‘talent’. This has led a lot of people to think this parable is about how we use the gifts and abilities God has given us.

However, in the ancient world, a ‘talent’ was actually a measure of weight, probably around 34 kilograms. So each ‘talent’ was a bag of coins which weighed about 34 kilograms. That was roughly as much as a day-labourer at the time would earn in about 20 years! Now let’s think about the story again: The master in the story hands over to the last servant an amount of money which was worth about 20 years of earnings. He gives about 40 years’ worth of wages to the second, and almost one hundred years’ worth of wages to the first servant. For the people who were listening to Jesus tell this story, it was a staggering amount of money!

An important question in understanding the parable is what do the bags of silver represent? We can see that the master is Jesus, the time he is away is the time between his ascension to heaven and his return at the end of time. The servants are his followers, both then and now. But what has Jesus handed over or entrusted to his disciples across the centuries?

The parable gets really interesting when we begin to ask, what has Jesus handed over to us that is so valuable? There are a number of ways we can answer this question, depending on our faith. A lot of people who read this parable interpret what the master handed over as their gifts and abilities because of the use of the word ‘talent’. However, we’re not going to say that’s the only answer. At a few different Bible studies during the week, I asked people what the most valuable thing God has given them might be. Some of the answers included eternal life, faith, the Holy Spirit, and more. Our purpose today isn’t to say what the correct answer is, but to ask the question and to encourage each of us to reflect for ourselves: What is the most valuable thing our Lord Jesus has entrusted to us?

Because maybe the point of the story isn’t to correctly define what the bags of silver represent in our lives. Maybe instead Jesus wants us to explore the next important question: What are we doing with what our Lord Jesus has entrusted to us?

Both the first and second servants put what their Lord had handed over to them to work. We don’t know what they did with their bags of silver coins, and we don’t know how long their master was away for, but when he returned, they each gave him double the amount that he had entrusted to them. That’s a 100% return on their money! I’d like to talk with their financial advisor to find out what they did to earn that kind of return! Whatever they did, they must have taken risks with it. You don’t double your money by playing it safe. You only double your investment when you take risks and put it to work in creative ways.

They took risks because they trusted their master. When their lord returned and they gave him their profits, he praised them by telling them they were ‘good and faithful’ (vv21,23 NLT). The Greek word Matthew uses literally means trustworthy, believing, or full of faith. These two servants trusted in their master’s goodness, were full of faith, so took risks with what they had been given for their master’s benefit. The third servant, however, was afraid of their master, so did nothing with what he was given, and lost it all. Jesus is telling us that when we act out of fear, we will lose everything. When we are full of faith and use what God has entrusted us for his glory, then we can take risks and do big things with it.

Whatever the valuable thing might be that our Lord Jesus has given us, the question remains: What are we doing with what God has entrusted to us? Whether the bags of silver represent eternal life, faith, the Holy Spirit, or possibly God’s unconditional grace, love, forgiveness, or acceptance for the sake of Jesus, what do we do with these valuable gifts when we receive them from our Lord Jesus? Our natural response might be to act out of fear, like the third servant, and keep them safe in case we lose them. However, Jesus’ message is clear: when we act out of fear and try not to lose what God has given to us, we will lose everything.

Instead, the parable is encouraging us to act more like the first and second servants by being full of faith and investing what Jesus has given us, even if it’s risky. We do that when we invest what God has given us in the lives of the people around us. It can mean showing grace to people who need grace, loving people who are hard to love, forgiving people that we don’t want to forgive, or accepting people who seem unacceptable for any reason. It means investing the goodness of God we receive through faith in Jesus into the lives of everyone we know, especially those who deserve it the least but need it the most. When God gives us his goodness and grace in all its forms, and we invest them in others, we are living faith-filled lives. It might be risky and might not always yield a good return on our investment, but it’s what Jesus first did for us by investing his goodness and grace in us!

This parable presents us with two questions to carry with us through the week: What is the most valuable thing our Lord Jesus has given to you? What are you doing with what Jesus has given you? This parable’s warning is that if we hide what Jesus has given us out of fear, we will lose it all. Its promise is that when we are full of faith and invest what he has given us in the lives of others, he will bless us with an abundance of his goodness for eternity.

More to think about or discuss:

• If someone entrusted a significant amount of money to you, what would you do with it?
• What do you think the bags of coins in Jesus’ parable represent? What is the most valuable thing Jesus has entrusted to you?
• What are you doing with what Jesus has entrusted to you – keeping it safe or investing it into risky people? Who is one person you might invest in this week in some way…?