Masters nowadays do not give servants their money to trade with,
when they leave home; but the incident is true to the old-world
relations of master and slave. Our Lord's consciousness of His near
departure, which throbs in all this context, comes out emphatically
here. He is preparing His disciples for the time when they will have
to work without Him, like the managers of some branch house of
business whose principal has gone abroad. What are the 'talents'
with which He will start them on their own account? We have taken
the word into common language, however little we remember the
teaching of the parable as to the hand that gives 'men of talent'
their endowments. But the natural powers usually called by the name
are not what Christ means here, though the principles of the parable
may be extended to include them. For these powers are the 'ability'
according to which the talents are given. But the talents themselves
are the spiritual knowledge and endowments which are properly the
gifts of the ascended Lord to His Church. Two important lessons as
to these are conveyed. First, that they are distributed in varying
measure, and that not arbitrarily, by the mere will of the giver,
but according to his discernment of what each servant can profitably
administer. The 'ability' which settles their amount is not more
closely defined. It may include natural faculty, for Christ's gifts
usually follow the line of that; and the larger the nature, the more
of Him it can contain. But it also includes spiritual receptiveness
and faithfulness, which increase the absorbing power. The capacity
to receive will also be the capacity to administer, and it will be
fully filled.
The second lesson taught is that spiritual gifts are given for
trading with. In other words, they are here considered not so much
as blessings to the possessor as his stock-in-trade, which he can
employ for the Master's enrichment. We are all tempted to think of
them mostly as given us for our own blessing and joy; and the
reminder is never unseasonable that a Christian receives nothing for
himself alone. God hath shined into our hearts, that we may give to
others the light of the knowledge which has flashed glad day into
our darkness. The Master intrusts us with a portion of His wealth,
not for expending on ourselves, but for trading with.
A third principle here is that the right use of His gifts increases
them in our hands. 'Money makes money.' The five talents grow to
ten, the two to four. The surest way to increase our possession of
Christ's grace is to try to impart it. There is no better way of
strengthening our own faith than to seek to make others share in it.
Christian convictions, spoken, are confirmed, but muffled in silence
are weakened. 'There is that scattereth and yet increaseth.' Seed
heaped and locked up in a granary breeds weevils and moths; flung
broadcast over the furrows, it multiplies into seed that can be sown
again, and bread that feeds the sower. So we have in this part of
the parable almost the complete summary of the principles on which,
the purposes for which, and the results to faithful use with which,
Christ gives His gifts.
The conduct of the slenderly endowed servant who hides his talent
will be considered farther on.