Gospel of Matthew Chapter 25 Vs. 14

 The Parable of the Talents

Verses 14-23: The parable of the talents further emphasizes the need for personal preparation and faithful service to the Master (see also Luke 19:11-28). The talents represent units of money and are distributed according to ability (verse 15). Far country indicates the time during which Jesus is in heaven, between His first coming and His final return.

The three servants are typical of three types who are entrusted with various tasks in accordance with their own ability. Not all are expected to produce the same results, but all are to be faithful with what they have had entrusted to them.

The phrase after a long time gives a veiled indication of the length of Christ’s session in heaven during the present age. Each of those producing results is commended by the Master. Well done … good and faithful servant and is promised to be a ruler over many things, with a view to continued service in the millennial kingdom.

Verses 14-30: The parable of the talents illustrates the tragedy of wasted opportunity. The man who goes on the journey represents Christ, and the slaves represent professing believers given different levels of responsibility. Faithfulness is what he demands of them, but the parable suggests that all who are faithful will be fruitful to some degree. The fruitless person is unmasked as a hypocrite and utterly destroyed (verse 30).

Matthew 25:14 “For [the kingdom of heaven is] as a man travelling into a far country, [who] called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.”

For the kingdom... Fifth parable in Matthew 24-25, illustrating diligence in view of His coming (Mat. 25:14-30). See Mat. 4:17; 19:24. Our Lord adds another parable to illustrate the Gospel dispensation, or its visible church state; or the state of things respecting the church of Christ, before and at his second coming. And during the interval between his ascension and that the man here, is meant Christ.

Who in the everlasting covenant agreed to become man, was prophesied of as such, frequently appeared in human form, under the Old Testament dispensation; and in the fullness of time, really became man. Though he was not a mere man, but was God as well as man, having all the perfections and fullness of the Godhead dwelling bodily in him.

as a man... This man is said to travel into a far country; by which heaven is designed, and is so called, not only because of its great distance from the earth, and which is very great; indeed, but because the better country and land afar off, is out of sight. And what views we have of it, are very distant ones. And is far off, in respect of our state of pilgrimage in this world, in which, whilst Christ was here.

He was a pilgrim and a stranger too, who might be said to be as a man travelling, whilst he was in it, and when going out of it, and ascending to heaven. He came from thence, and stayed here a while, walking up and down, and doing good. And when he had finished what he came for, He ascended on high, went to His God and Father and entered into heaven, where he is received until the times of the restitution of all things.

Travelling (ἀποδμηῶν)

The sense is more nearly about to travel, like our going abroad.

Who called his own servants before he took his journey, to entrust them with Talents. These were not wicked, slothful, graceless, which is not true of anyone of the elect: but believers of the word are here meant. Who are eminently the servants of Christ, his own, whom he has called, qualified, commissioned, and sent forth.

For the servants of the word, whether faithful or slothful, good or bad, are in a very lively manner described in this parable, which is a distinct one from the former.

and delivered unto... The Gospel, that rich treasure of divine truths, the dispensation of it, and gifts to preach it; all which are Christ’s goods and his gifts, and not man’s. Which in a very eminent manner was done; when Christ ascended on high and received gifts and gave them unto men.

Just before He was ready to go, He gathered his disciples together; and renewed and enlarged their commission to preach the Gospel. And quickly after that, gave them greater and larger gifts of the Spirit than before; and has been ever since giving ministerial gifts to men, to some more, others less, and which are signified by the talents following.

Here, the master is going on a trip and He had called his servants together to take care of the kingdom until he returned. You see, Jesus has gone away into heaven, and is now sitting at the right hand of God. He has left His church in the care of His believers (servants), until He returns.

The Parable of the Talents deals with the same subjects-viz., the professed disciples of Christ; only instead of searching the reality of their inner life, it tests the faithfulness of their service. As in the former parable so in this, stress is laid on the time that must elapse before the Lord’s return. The employer of the servants travels into a far country; and it is after a long time (Mat. 25:19) that He cometh, and reckoneth with them. Similarly, in the cognate parable of the pounds, reported by St. Luke, we. are told that it was spoken, because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear". (Luke 19:11) It would seem, therefore, that both these parables were intended to guard against the temptation to make the anticipation of the Lord’s return an excuse for neglect of present duty.

There is evidence that within a short time some Christians in Thessalonica fell into this very temptation, -so much so as to render it necessary that the apostle Paul should write them a letter, his second epistle, for the express purpose of reproving them and setting them right. His first Epistle to the Thessalonians had laid stress on the suddenness of the Lord’s coming, as Christ Himself does again and again throughout this discourse; but the result was that some of them, confounding suddenness with imminence, gave themselves up to idle waiting or feverish expectancy, to the neglect even of the most ordinary duties. To meet this he had to call attention to the Divine ordinance, that if any would not work, neither should he eat, and to enforce it with all the authority of Christ Himself: Now them that are such (viz., those excited busybodies working not at all) we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread; (2Thes. 3:10-12) following it up with a caution, on the other hand, against allowing the Lord’s delay to discourage them in their activity in His service: But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.

All this helps us to see how necessary it was that the parable of waiting should be followed by a summons to work, and to admire the marvelous insight of our Lord into human nature in recognizing beforehand where hidden dangers would lurk in His people’s path. Unhappily, it is not necessary to go back to the case of the Thessalonians to see how needful it is that the parable of work should go along with the parable of waiting; we have painful illustration of it in our own day. Thanks to the clearness and strength of our Lord’s teaching, the great majority of those who in our day look for His almost immediate return are not only diligent in work, but an example and a rebuke to many who do not share their expectations; but on the other hand, there are not a few who have been so far led astray as to give up positions of great usefulness, and discontinue work in which they had been signally blessed, with the idea that the great event being now so near, the sole duty of the believer is to wait for it.

The parable assumes that all disciples are servants of Christ, and that all of them have work for Christ to do. There is no reason, however, for narrowing the field of service to what is in current phrase distinctively spoken of as Christian work. All the work of Christian people should be Christian work, and is Christian work, if it be done as it ought to be done, as to the Lord. There must evidently, however, be the desire and purpose to "serve the Lord Christ," whatever the nature of the service be.

(Luke 19:11-27) In another parable on faithfulness, Jesus told the story of a master with three servants. The master went on a journey and gave each servant a specific amount of money, talents. The talents were of silver (money in Mat. 25:18 is argyrion, which means silver money).