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For the novel by Octavia Butler, see Parable of the Talents (novel).

The parable of the talents, depicted in a 1712 woodcut. The lazy slave searches for his buried talent, while the two other slaves present their earnings to their master.

The Parable of the Talents (also Parable of the Minas, or Parable of the Pounds), is one of four parables of Jesus concerning the sign of the Son of man and the end of the age. It appears in two canonical gospels of the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke; a thematically variant parable also appears in the apocryphal (non-canonical) Gospel of the Hebrews. The context of the New Testament parables are essentially the same, with differences being in the details.

In both Matthew and Luke, both describe a man in authority who before embarking on a journey summons his slaves and commits to them his money, instructing them to increase his belongings. Then, when the man returns, he holds his slaves accountable for the way they used the money. Both accounts also contain a warning about what would happen if Christ’s disciples developed the characteristics of a wicked slave. (Matt. 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-27) The allegorical elements of the parables suggest that the master is Jesus, the slaves are his disciples, and the talents/minas are "his belongings".

Talents and minas

The message of the parable of the talents was given on two different occasions to two different audiences. Jesus is described in the Gospel of Matthew (24:45 to 25:46 ) as giving the parable of the talents to his close disciples in his Olivet discourse. Then in the gospel of Luke (19:12-27), Jesus delivers the same message as minas, tailoring the parable to a different audience, the common crowd.

The talents (M)

The setting of parable of the talents in Matthew 24, is the Olivet discourse. It is the third parable, in a four part series, of Jesus conveying to his disciples when the sign of his presence would be (or second coming), and the end of the age (or end times). The other three parables being Faithful and discreet slave, Parable of the Ten Virgins, and The Sheep and the Goats. Jesus gave the parable of the talents as part of the answer to his disciples’ question about “the sign of [his] presence and of the conclusion of the system of things.” (Matt. 24:3) The man in the illustration possessed eight talents, a huge fortune in those days. Before traveling abroad, he distributed the talents among his slaves, expecting them to do business while he was gone. The master gave to one slave five talents, to another two, and to still another just one. (Matt. 25:15) Although each slave received a different number, the master expected all of them to be diligent in using the talents. (Matt. 22:37; Col. 3:23) Both slaves doubled what the master gave them, so both were equally diligent. When the master comes, he finds that the first two slaves—the one given five talents and the one given two—have proved faithful, each doubling their talents. The Master who rightly expects results, acknowledges their efforts and notifies them they will be appointed over many things. (Matt. 25:21, 23)

(29) The talents (Mt 25:14-30). This illustration about a man who was about to travel abroad was spoken by Jesus to four of his disciples just three days before his death, not long after which he was to ascend to heaven. It, too, is part of Jesus’ reply to the question found at Matthew 24:3.—Mr 13:3, 4.

Unlike the illustration of the minas, in which each slave was given just one mina, here the talents are given “to each one according to his own ability.” (Lu 19:11-27) The silver talent, which is apparently referred to here, would be as much as a laboring man could earn in 14 years in those days. The slaves should all have been interested in the master’s estate and so should have traded diligently and wisely with the master’s goods committed to their care. The least they should have done was to deposit the money with the bankers, so that, if they did not themselves want to increase their master’s goods, the money would not lie completely idle but would earn interest. But the wicked and sluggish slave hid in the ground the talent committed to him, thereby, in effect, working against his master’s interests.

The minas (L)

In the parable of the minas in Luke 19, Jesus tailors his message to an open crowd, where Zacchaeus seeks the Lord. The crowd, however, was looking to Jesus for the Kingdom of God to be setup immediately.

In the Gospel of Luke (Lu 19:11-27), while Jesus is en route to Jerusalem for the last time, he addresses an open crowd who "were imagining that the kingdom of God was going to display itself instantly". Although Jesus delivers the same message that he gave to his disciples in the Olivet discourse, he tailors it with different details to an audience of people who were not close associates.

It was a common practice in the Roman Empire for a person of noble birth to travel to Rome in quest of kingly power. Archelaus, the son of Herod the Great, had done this, but the Jews sent 50 ambassadors to the court of Augustus to bring charges against him and, if possible, thwart his quest for power. The silver mina that was initially given to each slave would be worth $65.40 in today’s values but was equal to 88 days’ wages in the first century CE.

Allegory

Jesus entrusts his disciples with the gospel to spread Christianity (2 Cor. 4:7). In the first century, starting at Pentecost 33 C.E., Christ’s followers began doing business with the talents. Their diligence in the preaching and disciple-making work is well-documented in the Bible book of Acts. *—Acts 6:7; 12:24; 19:20. 4 Read Matthew 25:14-30. Our publications have long explained that the man, or the master, in the illustration is Jesus and that he traveled abroad when he ascended to heaven in 33 C.E. In an earlier parable, Jesus reveals his purpose of traveling abroad, namely, “to secure kingly power for himself.” (Luke 19:12) Jesus did not immediately secure full Kingdom power when he got back to heaven. * Instead, he “sat down at the right hand of God, from then on waiting until his enemies should be placed as a stool for his feet.”—Heb. 10:12, 13. 6 Jesus attached great importance to his preaching and teaching work. (Read Luke 4:43.) Hence, shortly after his resurrection and before his ascension to heaven, he gave his disciples the weighty commission: “Go, therefore, and make disciples.” (Matt. 28:18-20) Jesus thus entrusted them with a precious treasure, the Christian ministry.—2 Cor. 4:7. When giving his followers the commission to make disciples, Jesus was, in effect, committing to them “his belongings”—his talents. (Matt. 25:14) The talents refer to the responsibility to preach and make disciples.

Jesus will come to settle accounts with his slaves toward the end of the great tribulation just ahead. What leads us to this conclusion? In his prophecy recorded in Matthew chapters 24 and 25, Jesus repeatedly mentioned his coming. Referring to the judgment during the great tribulation, he said that people “will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven.” He urged his followers living in the last days to be vigilant, saying: “You do not know on what day your Lord is coming” and “the Son of man is coming at an hour that you do not think to be it.” (Matt. 24:30, 42, 44) Hence, when Jesus said that “the master of those slaves came and settled accounts,” he was evidently referring to the time when he will come to execute judgment at the end of this system. —Matt. 25:19. The last slave buries his talent instead of doing business with it or even depositing it with the bankers. This slave shows a bad spirit, for he deliberately worked against the master’s interests. The master pronounces him “wicked and sluggish.” The master then takes the talent away from him and gives it to the one who had ten. The wicked slave is then thrown "out into the darkness outside. There is where his weeping and the gnashing of his teeth" would be.—Matt. 25:24-30; Luke 19:22, 23.

References

• Hultgren, Arland J. (2004). The Parables of Jesus : A Commentary (Pbk. ed., 3. [Dr.]. ed.). Grand Rapids, Mich. [u.a.]: W.B. Eerdmans. p. 271-281. ISBN 0-8028-6077-X.
• Insight (1988). Insight on the Scriptures, Vol. 1. Pennsylvania: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. p. 1183-1184.