Those Rich Who Have Ears, Hear! Reflections on Mt 25:14-30, 25th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

by John C. Holbert on Friday, September 18, 2026

         Today’s text, the parable of the talents, has too often been read as a capitalist’s fever dream. At last, we rich folk cry, a Bible pericope, straight from the mouth of Jesus, that counsels us to use our money wisely, invest it carefully, and thereby receive the heavenly reward. And it warns us that poor and overly safe investment (i.e. “burying our money in the ground”) will lead to rejection, and an eternal punishment in Hell, where there is “wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Mt.25:30). Or if we read the story more metaphorically, assuming the “talent,” clearly a vast measure of money in the ancient world, may refer here to our gifts, our personal talents, then the tale tells us to use what we have been given for the “master” (Jesus), in order to ensure our just reward. That has been a very common way to hear this story, and has provided us relief from those pesky tales like the rich ruler, whose wealth was an impediment to life in the kingdom, rather than a possible ticket to paradise. 

         As I tried to say last week, when dealing with the parable of the ten maidens, I simply could not understand how such a story made it into the gospels—the talents parable is found also in Luke 19:11-27, albeit with significant differences in the scene and in particulars. With Jesus so intent on warning us against an excessive love of money, seen as a serious hurdle to our willingness to “to take up our cross and follow,” why tell such a story, giving weight to the careful use of money, even the vast increase of it? Something was amiss.

         Let me offer another way to hear this narrative. We must take with great seriousness the first-century context; this story was not uttered to a crowd of would-be capitalists, eager for the next scheme to increase their wealth. In the first century, any person who sought to increase their individual portfolios was not seen as a productive member of the community. To the contrary! They were viewed as thieves and robbers, concerned only for themselves, without concern for other members of the community. Exodus 16:16-20 warned that when God demanded that every member of the wilderness assembly went out to gather the God-given manna, they must be careful to gather only enough for that day, and if they dared tried to gather more, that excess would rot and bring worms into the house. The community demands that every one of its members must gather only what they need. Also, in Lev.25:36-37, on how to treat kin who have fallen on hard times, it is made plain that “taking any interest in advance,” that is charging them interest on the money you have given them for their help, is rejected: “you shall not lend them their money at interest, or provide them food at a profit (to you)” (Lev.25:37). Attempting to gain wealth by lending money at interest was strictly regulated in Israel, and remained a proscribed activity for subsequent years in Judaism.

         Given that reality, the whole context of the Parable of the Talents may be heard quite differently. The wealthy man who goes away on a journey at the beginning of the story (Mt.25:14) can hardly be any representation of God or Jesus. We should note that the parable begins not with “the kingdom of heaven is like..” as does the parable of the ten maidens, but merely states “for (it is) like a man away on a journey” (Mt.25:14). 

         This traveling man is obviously fabulously wealthy, for he hands five talents to one of his servants, two talents to a second, and one talent to a third. We cannot determine now just how much a talent might be in modern money, but perhaps we might say each talent is at least equivalent to 20 years of labor, hence in our language, “millions” will do. The first servant takes his five and invests wisely (“did business with them”) and gained another five. Likewise, the second servant did the same with his two and earned another two. However, the third servant took his talent and buried it in the ground.

         Upon the man’s return, he asks each of his servants for an accounting of his money. To both the first and second he says, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will set you over many. Enter into the joy of your master” (Mt.25:21). But the servant who buried his talent in the ground, and has now dug it up and brought it back to the master, explains, “Sir, I knew that you were a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you have not scattered. Being afraid, I went away and hid your talent in the ground. Look, you have what is yours” (Mt.25:24-25). The master’s response is unchecked fury. “Wicked and lazy servant, you knew I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter; you should have (at least) invested my money with the moneychangers; I could have gotten back what is mine with interest” (Mt.25:26-27). He grabs the third servant’s talent, and gives it to the first servant, adding it to his ten. “For to everyone who has will it be given, and he will have an abundance. But the one who does not have—even what he has will be taken away from him. Throw that useless servant into the darkness outside” (Mt.25:28-30).

         Now we must ask how the first-century crowd would react to this tale. Given what I have said above, I think the crowd would have applauded the one-talent servant and hissed the master and his two other servants off the stage! This is so because they would have seen the last servant as a hero, calling into question the acquisitive lifestyle of this harsh master and his two servants, reminding them of the crowd’s need to uphold the way a community is to be maintained. By burying his talent, the man announces his absolute refusal to play the acquisitive game of the master and his fellow servants.  If any members acquire far more than their share of the goods and services and wealth of the community, the community can no longer retain its equilibrium; too much wealth in the hands of too few people creates jealousy and strife and flies in the face of God’s desire for all to have enough. Of course, the harsh master of the story rejects the third servant and throws him out into the darkness, because he has called into question the greedy ways of that man, and has thereby called into question the comfort and satisfaction of those who are rich at the expense of those who are poor.

         Thus, this tale becomes one for our own time. We, too, live in a world where too few have too much, while too many have far less. We need to ask ourselves just how we can call into question a world where at least two billion people live on less than five dollars a day, while billionaires sail the seas on multi-million dollar yachts. How difficult is it for a rich man to get into heaven, says Jesus elsewhere; or perhaps better stated, how difficult is it for those who are rich to see and understand just what the rule of God can look like, blinded as they are with the accumulation of their riches.