For the second last Sunday in the Church year, the three assigned readings are Zephaniah 1:7-16; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 and Matthew 25:14-30. The text chosen to preach on is Matthew 25, verse 25, “And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground.”

As we have noted elsewhere, a parable is not talking about what it is talking about. So if the parable is talking about shepherds and sheep, it’s not about sheepherding; if it talks about money, it’s not about money. While the parable of the talents appears to be about our use of money and other gifts given to us by God, we therefore conclude that cannot be the application.

The other important L&G principle is that when God criticizes someone, it is not only because of sin but specifically because of unbelief. And conversely, when God praises someone it is specifically because of faith. Thus, we need to discover the promise which the faithful servants believe and which the unfaithful servant does not believe.

The 19th chapter of Luke has a similar parable which helps to fill in some of the blanks in this parable. But the bottom line is that the promise found in this parable is that the lord will return. Therefore, the parables in this chapter deal with the End Times and specifically the Day of Judgment.

The disciples are under the impression that Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem to bring in the new kingdom of God. Little are they aware of the predictions from the Old Testament that Jesus is going to die, rise from the dead and then ascend into heaven not to return until He is ready.

The parable, therefore, is whether we believe that Jesus will return as He has promised. Those who regard God as a cruel Judge demanding the harvest from which He has not sown seed are those who do not have proper faith in the God of mercy and grace. Therefore, they get an eternity with the god in which they trust–the devil himself.

It is not that the servants have been profitable in what they did (The “done” of verse 21 and 23 is not in the original Greek). Rather, they have been faithful (same verses) in believing the promise that He will return and in His own good time. The gain in trading refers to the fruit of the Holy Spirit that those of faith spontaneously exhibit and which God looks for on the Day of Judgment as the evidence that the believer has truly been grafted on to the vine. (See next parable)