I have always been dissatisfied with traditional understandings of the servants and their talents in Matthew 25 – often presented as a morality tale about how to use the abilities God has given you. Read it here. It always seemed like a sleight-of-hand concealment: “talents” in the story are really enormous sums of money. Nevertheless, the traditional interpretation of the parable has bolstered both the notion of the Protestant Work Ethic and late-stage capitalism.
The story is told by Jesus as the second of three parables prior to his arrest, trial and crucifixion. They all call for different levels of alertness. Much of what happens to the hapless servant who challenges the master and his system is about to happen to Jesus himself – Jesus, whose presentation of the Kingdom of God is counter to the power of Rome and the economic systems of its vassals. William Herzog explores this perspective in Parables as Subversive Speech: Jesus as Pedagogue of the Oppressed (1994).
So let me enter Banjo Paterson mode and offer this rendering:
The Man with the One Talent
There once was a bloke, a humble sort,
Who worked upon the land,
While others strutted round the place
With fortunes in their hand.
The boss called in his minions three,
Said, “Lads, I’m off away.
Here are sums for you to invest
Till I return one day.”
The first two took their money out
And made a tidy pile,
They traded hard, they took their risks,
And prospered all the while.
But our bloke with just the single quid
Had seen how fortunes fall;
He’d watched the big end of the town
And wasn’t fooled at all.
He knew his master’s reputation,
A hard and grasping man,
Who’d reap a crop he hadn’t sown
And harvest where he’d never planned.
“So I’ll not play your crooked game,
Nor gamble what you’ve lent.
I’ll keep it safe beneath the ground,
And there it won’t be spent.”
The master came back full of pride,
To count his big windfall.
The first two minions took their bows,
And pleased him most of all.
But when the one-talent man stepped up,
The master turned quite red:
“You lazy, good-for-nothing lout!
You might as well be dead!”
But our bloke stood his ground that day,
And answered without fear:
“Your ledger might be looking good,
But justice isn’t here.
You take what others labour for,
You harvest others’ sweat;
I won’t help you fleece the poor,
And I won’t do it yet.”
The master called him wicked, then,
And ordered him away.
But something stirred among the crowd
Who’d gathered for the day.
For some had seen the truth before,
But dared not speak their mind;
And now one little servant bloke
Had left them all behind.
So spare a thought for number three,
The one who wouldn’t play.
Perhaps he saw a different world
Beyond the master’s pay.
For talents aren’t the measure
Of the worth of any man;
And sometimes those who bury gold
Have got the better plan.
A disturbing, even disorienting rendition? Good, that’s what parables are meant to be, especially as the texts reach the climax of Jesus’ life and ministry!
