The closing thoughts from yesterday’s post continue with today’s parable which is called the Parable of the Talents or Minas. We will find here a combination of some of the ideas presented in that closing plus a continuation of the ideas of watch<\/em> and be ready<\/em>. Yesterday we discussed, from Luke’s version of the parable, Jesus’ words saying that “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required<\/span><\/em>” (Luke 12:48)\u00a0<\/span>and with this we combined, in our text, His words saying “….whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath<\/em>\u201d (Matthew 13:12). There is also the idea in today’s parable of the difference between knowing and not knowing which we discussed yesterday as well. All these points continue here in the two versions of the Parable of the Talents from the Gospels of Matthew and of Luke and which are strikingly different in some ways. The overall idea however\u00a0is similar in both and we will, as we did yesterday, address them together. Let us look at them as they appear in the King James Version (KJV):<\/p>\n From Matthew<\/strong>: We pick this up from the last verse of the\u00a0preceding\u00a0parable; \u00a0the Master says:\u00a0Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour where in the Son of man cometh. For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee rulerover many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said , Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown , and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given , and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth<\/em>. (Matthew 25:13-30).<\/p>\n From Luke<\/strong>: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying , We will not have this man to reign over us. And it came to pass, that when he was returned , having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.\u00a0And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities. And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid upin a napkin: For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down , and reapest that thou didst not sow. And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury? And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hathten pounds. (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.) For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him. But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me<\/em>” (Luke 19:12-27).<\/p>\n It is unclear whether these two versions are in any way related in the ministry of Jesus. Some place them together and offer some comparison while others treat them as totally different. This, for our purposes, does not really matter as they are, both of them, teachings by the Master. Based on their differences we will take\u00a0from these differing presentations that the Master is talking to two different audiences in telling these stories and we will\u00a0develop\u00a0our\u00a0interpretation\u00a0accordingly. The story line is the same in each and that is that each is given something upon the departure of the ruler and not told what to do with that something. Some, including Vincent, believe that in Luke the idea of occupy means that the servants were to trade with the ‘pound’ which in the end of the story may make sense as those who profited were praised plus, the KJV does refer to, upon the return of the\u00a0nobleman, the act of trading. Occupy however can be viewed also as a sort of ‘carry on\u00a0<\/em>with what you have been doing’ and the trading, rendered as doing business in the New American Standard Version (NAS), can be seen in the same light. Now we do not know if these servants were traders or not in the first place and it may not be prudent to think they were to become so when they are left alone. The important part of this is that they were given some thing, in this case a pound, with which to carry on in the absence of the ruler. We will discuss the part of the dislike of the\u00a0nobleman\u00a0or ruler a bit further on. The general idea is the same in the Gospel of Matthew; there are three servants that are given a talents, each which is considerably more than a pound. Here we are told that the amount given each is according to each’s ability, one five, another three and the last one. Here there is no direction or implication of what should be done with them.<\/p>\n Again, we must remember that these are parables and the story itself need not have anything to do with the\u00a0actual\u00a0teaching but is just meant to infer that teaching. So here we have men left without their ruler and guide in the world and each given something with which they are to make their way. To what do we liken this then? We can see this as the Father putting us here in the world with some degree of resources and we are to put that resource to work to live and be profitable….to live well as prosper if you will. Now this is fine but there is no spiritual message in this line of thought and, knowing the teachings of the Master, there must be a spiritual point to be made or He would not have told this parable to us. Understanding then the general idea that we have established let us proceed on our own journey through what we can discern from the Master’s words. We said earlier that we would look at this as thought there are two audiences, one for each version. We should realize then that these are two messages as well, one for each audience. Beginning with Luke we find that this is a nobleman who we can assume, as does Vincent, is a Roman and is in control of much has many servants****. We also find that his citizens,\u00a0<\/em>perhaps subjects would be a better word, \u00a0hate him and do not want him as their ruler. Can we liken this to the average Jew around that time who, from the Old Testament, we can see as resisting their ruler, their God. Can we also see this individually as men resisting the influence of their own Spirit or Soul in their lives.<\/p>\n Here, in this story each is given the same thing, a pound, and this is for the average citizen his view of equality in God’s eyes. This equality is testified to in the statements of the Apostles regarding the Lord’s view of people as well, for example, the measure of Faith each does receive. Paul tells us while speaking on how one should think of himself that we should see ourselves “according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith<\/em>” (Romans 12:3) making us equal before the Lord. Peter affirms this in telling us that “that God is no respecter of persons<\/em>” (Acts 10:34). Both these sayings and the gist of this section of the parable tell us that, until we take on the service of the Lord, we are equal in His eyes; we all have the same pound<\/em>. Building towards our next thought for the version in Matthew we will posit here the idea that taking on the service of the Lord, becoming a disciple or aspiring disciple, puts one out of the class of the average citizen and into a place where we can have increased faith, beyond the measure of before.<\/p>\n So here we have the ten servants left alone with their one pound each; the ruler leaves and the test is in what it is that we do with what we have, this measure of faith. We see that the citizenry on a whole is resisting the Lord but\u00a0individually\u00a0some take to their\u00a0responsibilities and increase in their faith and their service; one tenfold, another fivefold but the third has no increase at all. In the parable those who profited are given more\u00a0responsibility “because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities<\/em>” which we should see from yesterday as the effect of\u00a0\u00a0“For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required<\/em>“. This is to say that this man increased his faith and his service and we must assume that in this his understanding and his Love as well. \u00a0With this increased treasure he is given increased responsibility and, now having more, opportunity to grow yet some more in this treasure. And so it goes for all who have made increase but for those who do nothing with their pound<\/em>, even that is taken away because they do not take to their responsibilities. We should also see this in the Light of yesterday’s saying by the Master: “but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath<\/em>“. These are left wandering in the world with no\u00a0spiritual\u00a0treasure. To those who totally resist the Lord comes a similar fate of being dead in their sin; never looking to the Lord. We can assume here for the sake of understanding that the ten who are given a pound by the ruler are those who he thought would take to their\u00a0responsibility and that these are but a few out of the total citizens. This may have been a picture of the world then and it is a picture of the world now.<\/p>\n Spiritually and individually we should view this in the relationship between the Soul, the Christ Within, and the conscious personality of those average citizens that we see every day. These people do not know or hear the call and they therefore have little responsibility. Some of these resist the Lord totally and others just stand idly by. Those that were chosen to receive the pound <\/em>can be seen as those, who still average citizens, are beginning to know and are hearing the call; these then have more responsibility and they are rewarded for their growth and their activity. The saying from yesterday fits well in here also:\u00a0“And that servant, which knew his lord\u2019s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes<\/em>” (Luke 12:47:48). The ten, in this parable, know the Lords will and are now more responsible for their actions than those who do not know His will, the average citizen. The one of the ten who does nothing is the one who “knew his lord\u2019s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will” <\/em>and thus his many stripes and his loss of what he had. This same is for us as well; we are chosen, we are hearing the call and should we act upon this we will be\u00a0rewarded in spiritual growth; should we not act upon what we know we will likely lose or give up what it is that we have.<\/p>\n This last idea is expanded upon in the version from the Gospel of Matthew which we will discuss in the next post. We have looked today at Luke’s version seeing that ten of the average citizens have opportunity to grow into aspiring disciples and those succeeding are rewarded for their action while those that fail to act lose their opportunity plus whatever treasure they may have had to bring them to the opportunity. These are relegated back to the average citizenry and to those who may or may not be resisting the Lord.<\/p>\n This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.<\/p>\n For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. (2 Corinthians 4:6-7).<\/strong><\/p>\n Today’s Quote of the Day says to us in the words of the Apostle Paul speaking to fellow disciples that God has shined in our hearts (our consciousness) and gives us the knowledge of the glory of God in the countenance of Christ. This is Christ in us, the Light of God, flowing through from Spirit and Soul into this earthen vessel, the conscious personality; that we may display the excellency of His power and not the\u00a0appearance\u00a0of our personal selves.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" YES, HE is Talking to YOU! (continued) Love is the Fulfilling of the Law The closing thoughts from yesterday’s post continue with today’s parable which is called the Parable of the Talents or Minas. We will find here a combination … Continue reading Note on the Quote of the Day<\/h2>\n
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