Matthew 25:20, “Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.”
What did the faithful servant do with the talents (an ancient measure for money, probably gold) that his Master had given him? How did he turn the five he received into five more? Was it shrewd investment? Was it careful buying and selling of goods? Did he purchase promising land and then reap a full harvest? We aren’t told in this parable, however, the parable that follows (the sheep and the goats) seems to give us an answer.
In the parable of the sheep and the goats, it is not wisely invested money that receives the Master’s commendation, but a life spent for the sake of the poor, the needy, the sick, and the “least of these.” The money given to the servants in the first parable may—in light of the second—be understood as the entirety of their lives (time, energy, ability, all that they are). Additionally, the second parable shows us that the wise investment of this “money” is, in fact, the self-giving love for the “least of these” commended by the Master of the sheep.
So, the parable of the sheep and goats allows us to see that wise investment of the Master’s money is to spend that money—which is our lives—for the least of these. This should not surprise us since it is nothing other than using the Master’s money in accordance with His own character. He Himself displays for us the manner in which we are to invest our talents by the way that He spends His own talents on Calvary…..Yes, above all, the cross teaches us that the wisest investment we can make with the talents of our lives is to pour them out unreservedly for those who cannot possibly pay us back.
THIS is the commerce of heaven….it is foolishness in the marketplace of Babylon, but that is to be expected. May God give us grace and wisdom to invest the lives our Master has given us in accordance with our Master’s own heart so that—in losing them in this world—they might produce a rich return in Him for eternity.
