the gospels they relate The words of Jesus, his miracles, his death and resurrection. Let us remember that when Jesus taught, he often did so through parables. In fact, the Gospel of Matthew presents us with various parables, among which we find the parable of the talentssimilar to parable of the ten pounds narrated in the Gospel of Luke. We invite you to discover the story of the master who gave different amounts of talents to his three servants, and to carefully analyze this text to learn some very valuable lessons that God wants to show us.
Gospel Audio Reflection – Pontifical Mission Societies
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The Parable of the Talents in the Gospel of Matthew
“14 The kingdom of heaven is also like a man who, going on a journey, called his servants and entrusted his goods to them.
15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, and only one to a third, to each according to his ability; and then he left. Right away,
16 he who had received five talents went to trade with them and gained another five.
17 In the same way, he who received two gained two more,
18 But he who received only one dug a well and buried his master’s money.
19 After a long time, the lord came and settled accounts with his servants.
20 The one who had received the five talents went forward and presented another five to him. “Lord,” he said to him, “you have entrusted me with five talents: here are the other five that I have earned.”
21 “Okay, good and faithful servant, said his lord, since you faithfully responded in a little, I will entrust you with much more: enter to participate in the joy of your lord.”
22 Then the one who had received two talents came and said to him, “Lord, you have entrusted me with two talents: here are the other two that I have earned.”
23 “Okay, good and faithful servant, since you faithfully responded in a little, I will entrust you with much more: enter to participate in the joy of your master.”
24 Then came the one who had received one talent. “Lord,” he said to him, “I know you are a demanding man: you reap where you have not sown and you gather where you have not scattered.
25 That’s why I was afraid and went to bury your talent: here’s what’s yours!”.
26 But the lord answered him, “You wicked and lazy servant, if you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered,
27 you should have placed the money in the bank, and thus, on my return, I would have recovered it with interest.
28 Take away the talent and give it to the one who has ten,
29 For whoever has, will be given and have more, but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away.
30 Cast out into the darkness this useless servant; There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”.
To each according to his ability
reading this biblical passage we realize that when the Lord distributed the talents to his servants, he looked at the capacity of each one. This allows us to understand that the talents that God gives us correspond to the capacity we have to execute them. To illustrate this, we can think of a boss who assigns a certain job (talent) to his employee because he knows that he has the skills to do it: a title, the aptitude (capacity) to perform his function and the possibility of contributing benefits to the company with his work. Therefore, we can highlight an interesting and positive aspect of this text: each one of us plays an important role or has a specific function that has been assigned to him, knowing that we can always be better, and that the more we are willing to give , the more we will receive the ability to do so.
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good and faithful servant
Let us bear in mind that of these three servants mentioned in the Bible, only two pleased the heart of their master because they worked to make the money entrusted to them bear fruit. This allows us to understand that God expects us to multiply everything that he makes available to us. In fact, when God created man, “He blessed them, saying: “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it; dominate the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky and all the living things that move on the earth». (Genesis 1:28). You may be wondering, why did this third servant not live up to the master’s expectations of him? If we analyze the biblical text well, the servant’s actions let us see that he had a bad image of his master, since she did not trust him, but was afraid of him. Note that fear even led him to bury his talent so as not to lose it or spoil it. In this way, if we want to be good and faithful servants, it will be necessary to know better the goodness and faithfulness of our Lord Jesus. Let’s keep in mind that the confidence that comes from understanding God’s faithfulness will give us the courage to go and use our talents, so that we can delight the heart of the teacher.
Make your talents bear fruit with !
The Lord created us – each one of us – to bear fruit. However, very often we are more interested in succeeding according to the predetermined criteria or models of society, than in searching for our true vocation or our personal talent. To help you better understand what God’s plan is for you, invites you to delve deeper into prayer and discover these online prayer communities. For example, you can:
- Join the community “let’s walk with the saints” so that you discover some lines about their personality and you can walk inspired by them towards God.
- Be part of the novena “holiness for all, with Saint Therese” so that you accept the call that God has made to all of us to be saints consecrated to Him.
- Sign up for this prayer community so that you can walk with Christ towards God, since He is our best model and guide.
Discover God’s plan and make your talents bear fruit with !