01.03.2006 19:31
In various religious texts you can find interesting finds on self-development. One such biblical discovery is the Parable of the Talents.
“The Parable of the Talents” is one of the stories that Jesus told as instruction. Although in the story the word "talents" literally refers to money, you can obviously understand it in a broader sense. It is interesting to read it with the generally accepted definition of talent in mind.
Here's the story:
Parable of the Talents
For He will act like a man who, going to a foreign country, called his servants and entrusted them with his property: and he gave to one five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his strength, and immediately he set off. He who received five talents went and put them to work and acquired another five talents; in the same way, the one who received two talents acquired the other two; and he who received one talent went and buried it in the ground, and hid his master’s money.After a long time, the master of those slaves comes and demands an account from them. And the one who had received five talents approached and brought another five talents and said: “Sir! You gave me five talents; behold, I acquired another five talents with them.”
The one who had received two talents also came up and said: “Sir! You gave me two talents; behold, I acquired the other two talents with them.”
His master said to him: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in small things, I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your master."
The one who had received one talent came up and said: “Sir! I knew you that you were a cruel man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter, and, being afraid, I went and hid your talent in the ground; here's yours."
His master answered him: “You wicked and lazy servant! You knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter; Therefore, you should have given my silver to the merchants, and when I came, I would have received mine with profit.”
So, take the talent from him and give to the one who has ten talents, for to everyone who has it will be given and he will have an abundance, but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away; and throw the worthless slave into outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
(Matt. 25:14-30)
This simple story makes several interesting points that can be applied to personal development.
First, we are all given a different starting position. Some of us were born with abundance (five talents). Others were born in need (one talent). But what is important is not what we are given, what is important is what we do with what we are given. So Jesus acknowledges the injustice of life, but also says that the original conditions are not important. One person earns five talents, the other only two, but both receive equal recognition since both have achieved 100% profit. (I would, of course, really like to know where these servants invested the money!)
It's also a good lesson on how to deal with other people. Treat people based on their starting position, and evaluate yourself based on your own starting position. If you happen to be one of those who receive five talents, do not boast that you are already above average. If you have an abundance of talent, you must demand even more from yourself. In the same way, there may be times in your life when you have only one talent, do your best, and even if your result seems small by external standards, by Jesus' standards you have still achieved remarkable success. I already wrote about this in the article “Raise Your Standards.”
Another interesting aspect of the parable is that the talents are entrusted to us in the same way that a master entrusts money to the care of his servants. We are stewards of our wealth, and here I use the word “wealth” in a very broad sense, far beyond material possessions. For example, if I can write and speak quite well, then these are talents entrusted to me. I can bury them in the ground out of fear, or I can come out of my shell and strive to let them grow.
One of the questions I have about the parable is what would happen if one of the servants who invested money lost it instead of making it? The clue to how Jesus would answer this question is in how the master addresses the third servant: “You are a wicked and lazy servant!” The owner later calls him "no good" and physically throws him out. Quite harsh words, considering that the servant nevertheless returned all his money to the owner. Is Jesus saying that doing nothing is wrong? I think yes. In other words, if you don't do anything with your talents... if you bury them in the ground and hide them, then you are choosing to be crafty, lazy and worthless. You must invest what you are given. Don't be lazy.
Another key point is how the master praises the first two servants. He praises them for being “faithful.” Very interesting. The meaning would be completely different if the owner praised them for practicality, or efficiency, or profit. But he praises them for their faith, not for their results.
Given the words (and I hope my argument works for non-English translations of this quote), I conclude that if a servant invested money and lost some or all of the money, he would still be praised for his loyalty. But given that Jesus does not directly address this condition in the parable, he may be saying that faith is the road to success in itself—a common theme in his other teachings. So maybe if you use your talents with faith, you won't actually lose.
Another important feature of the parable is the lack of competition. Servants do not compete with each other for the master's favor. This is not a win-lose game. The first two servants, in one way or another, both contribute something valuable to their master's property.
What is the ultimate reward for faithful servants? Although Jesus does not say so explicitly, it seems clear that they are not keeping the money. Two successful servants do not work for their own profit. It's not their money. They work for their master's profit and share in the increase of his estate. Their real reward is that they share in the joy of their master. So the reward is joy, and joy comes from serving people.
I know from experience that if I take action only for my own benefit, there is very little energy in it, and it usually does not make me happy. But if I focus on the good of other people (for example, helping people grow), then I feel great joy in doing it, and in the end it benefits me too.
But there's more to it than that. Happiness is a quality I bring to my work, not something I get out of it. When I work only for myself, I look for happiness outside. Trying to achieve happiness in this way does not bring results. But when I work for the sake of others and turn off for a while the thought “What will I get out of this?”, I gain access to the source of happiness that already exists within myself. Instead of trying to achieve happiness, I achieve happily. Happiness flows out of me into the work I do, and I experience it as an outward flow, not an inward flow.
Happiness is what you give, not what you take. Are you one of those people who say: “Yes, sir, I had a reserve of happiness inside me, but I did not give it a way out?”
As Jesus implicitly says in the parable of the talents, creating abundance requires you to rise above fear. If you are too cowardly, or suspicious, or distrustful, you tend to bury your talents. And this leads to “crying and gnashing of teeth,” that is, to regrets and despondency.
You may think that fear and suspicion will keep you out of trouble, but in reality they will only cause suffering and pain. Fear will not protect you from stupid mistakes. This just requires common sense. To live a life of abundance, you must finally rise above fear and work to create abundance for others. Otherwise, you will eventually be thrown out as “worthless.” Jesus is not exaggerating here, you are truly a quitter!
Serve to create good for other people, and happiness will be your reward. Bury your talents and you will get “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The choice is yours.
And Jesus Christ spoke another parable against our laziness and negligence.
The Son of Man will act like a man who, going to a foreign country, called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to a third one talent, to each according to his strength; and immediately set off.
The one who received five talents went and put them to work and acquired five more talents with them. In the same way, the one who received two talents acquired another two with them. The one who received one talent did not want to work, but went and buried it in the ground and hid his master’s money.
After a long time, the master of those slaves returned and demanded an account from them. The one who received five talents brought another five talents and came up to him and said: “Sir, you gave me five talents; behold, I acquired another five talents with them.”
The one who had received two talents also came up and said: “Sir, you gave me two talents; here are the other two talents I acquired with them.”
The master said to him: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in little things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”
The one who had received one talent came up and said: “Sir, I knew you that you are a cruel man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter; behold, I, afraid of this, went and hid your talent in the ground. Behold. yours."
The master answered him: “You wicked and lazy servant! with your mouth I will judge you; you knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter; therefore you had to give my silver to the merchants; and I, if he returned, he would receive what is mine with profit. So, take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has it will be given to him; but from him who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. crying and gnashing of teeth."
Having told this parable, Jesus Christ exclaimed: “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!”
This parable means: all people receive from the Lord various gifts, such as: life, health, strength, spiritual abilities, learning, gifts of the Holy Spirit, worldly blessings, etc., in order to serve God and their neighbors with these gifts. All these gifts of God are meant in the parable under the name of talents. God knows how much to give to each, according to his abilities, and that is why they receive - some more, some less. Whoever used the gifts of God in what way, each person will have to give an account to the Lord at His second coming. Whoever uses them to benefit himself and others will receive praise from the Lord and eternal heavenly joys; and lazy and careless people will be condemned by the Lord to eternal suffering.
Saint Nicholas of Serbia (Velimirović)
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Gospel of the Talents
Matthew, 105 reading, 15:14-30.
God creates inequality, people complain about inequality. Are people wiser than God? If God creates inequality, then inequality is wiser and better than equality.
God creates inequality for the benefit of people; people cannot see their own good in inequality.
God creates inequality for the sake of the beauty of inequality, people cannot see beauty in inequality.
God creates inequality for the sake of love, which is kindled and supported by inequality; people cannot see love in inequality.
This is the ancient human revolt of blindness against insight, madness against wisdom, evil against good, ugliness against beauty, hatred against love. Even Eve and Adam gave themselves over to Satan in order to become equal to God. Cain also killed his brother Abel, because God did not equally despise their sacrifices. From then until now, the struggle of sinful people against inequality has continued. And until then and to this day, God creates inequality. We say “until those times,” for God created even the angels unequal.
God wants people not to be equal in everything external: in wealth, strength, rank, education, position, etc., and He does not order them to compete in any way in this. “Do not sit in first place,” our Lord Jesus Christ commanded. God wants people to compete in increasing internal goods: faith, kindness, mercy, love, meekness and goodness, humility and obedience. God has given both external and internal blessings. But He considers the external goods of man to be cheaper and more insignificant than the internal goods. He makes external goods available not only to people, but also to animals. But He reveals a rich treasury of internal, spiritual blessings only for human souls. God gave man something more than animals, which is why He demands more from people than from animals. This “more” consists of spiritual gifts.
God gave external goods to man so that they could serve internal ones. For everything external serves the internal man as a means. Everything temporal is predestined for the service of the eternal, and everything mortal is predestined for the service of the immortal. A person who follows the opposite path and spends his spiritual gifts exclusively to acquire external, temporary goods, wealth, power, rank, worldly glory, is like a son who inherited a lot of gold from his father and squandered it by buying ashes.
For people who have felt in their soul the gifts of God invested in it, everything external becomes insignificant: like an elementary school for someone who has entered a higher school.
It is the ignorant, not the wise, who fight for external goods alone. The sages wage a harder and more valuable struggle - the struggle to increase internal goods.
Those who do not know how or do not dare to look into themselves and get to work on the internal, main field of their human existence are fighting for external equality.
God does not look at what a person does in this world, what he has, how he is dressed, fed, educated, whether people respect him - God looks at a person’s heart. In other words: God does not look at the external state and position of a person, but at his internal development, growth and enrichment in spirit and truth. Today's Gospel reading speaks about this. The parable of the talents, or the spiritual gifts that God places in the soul of every person, shows the enormous internal inequality of people by their very nature. But it also shows much more. With its eagle gaze, this parable covers the entire history of the human soul, from beginning to end. Anyone who would fully understand this one and only parable of the Savior and fulfill the command contained in it with his life, would gain eternal salvation in the Kingdom of God.
For He will act like a man who, going to a foreign country, called his servants and entrusted them with his property: and to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his strength; and immediately set off. By man we must understand the Almighty God, the Giver of all good gifts. By slaves we mean angels and people. Traveling to a foreign country signifies God's patience. Talents are spiritual gifts that God bestows on His intelligent creatures. The greatness of all these gifts is shown by the fact that they are deliberately called talents. For one talent was a large coin, the value of which was equal to five hundred gold chervonets. As was said, the Lord deliberately called the gifts of God talents in order to show the greatness of these gifts; to show how generously the Most Good Creator bestowed His creations. So great are these gifts that the one who accepted one talent received quite enough. By man is meant our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, as can be seen from the words of the Evangelist Luke: a certain man of high birth. This Man of high birth is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the Only Begotten Son of God, the Son of the Most High. And this is also clearly evident from the subsequent words of the same evangelist: he went to a distant country in order to receive a kingdom for himself and return (Luke 19:12). After His ascension, our Lord Jesus Christ went to heaven to receive the Kingdom for Himself, giving the world a promise to come to earth once again - as a Judge. Since man is understood as our Lord Jesus Christ, it means that His servants are the apostles, bishops, priests and all the faithful. On each of them the Holy Spirit poured out many gifts - good, but different and unequal, so that believers, complementing each other, would thus all together morally improve and grow spiritually. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and the services are different, but the Lord is the same; and the actions are different, but God is one and the same, producing everything in everyone. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone for the benefit... Yet the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually, as He pleases (1 Cor. 12:4-11). In the sacrament of baptism, all the faithful receive an abundance of these gifts, and in other church sacraments God strengthens and multiplies these gifts. By five talents, some interpreters understand the five senses of man, by two - soul and body, and by one - the unity of human nature. The five bodily senses are given to man so that they serve the spirit and salvation. With body and soul, a person must work diligently for God, enrich himself with the knowledge of God and good deeds. And a person must devote himself entirely to serving God. In childhood, a person lives with five senses, a full sensual life. At a more mature age, he feels duality and struggle between flesh and spirit. And in a mature spiritual age, a person realizes himself as a single spirit, defeating the internal division into five and two. But it is precisely at this mature age, when a person considers himself a winner, that he faces the greatest danger of disobedience to God. Having reached the greatest heights, he then falls into the deepest abyss and buries his talent.
God gives gifts to everyone according to his strength, that is, in accordance with how much a person can bear and use. Of course, God bestows gifts on people according to the plan of the holy economy. So those who build a house do not have the same abilities and do not do the same work: they have different abilities and different tasks, and each of them works according to his own strength!
And he set off immediately. These words mean the speed of God's creation. And when the Creator created the world, He created it quickly. And when our Lord Jesus Christ came to earth for the sake of a new creation, for the sake of the renewal of the world, he quickly accomplished His work: calling the slaves, distributing gifts to them and immediately setting off.
So what did the slaves do with the talents they received? He who received five talents went and put them to work and acquired another five talents; in the same way, the one who received two talents acquired the other two; He who received one talent went and buried it in the ground and hid his master’s money. All labor activity and all trade that exists among people are an image of what happens - or what should happen - in the souls of men. From anyone who has inherited any property, people expect that he will increase this property. Anyone who has acquired a field is expected to work that field. Anyone who has learned a trade is expected to practice it both for his own benefit and for the benefit of his neighbors. Anyone who knows any handicraft is expected to show his knowledge. Anyone who has invested money in trade is expected to multiply that money. People move, work, improve things, collect, exchange, sell and buy. Everyone tries to obtain what they need for bodily life, everyone tries to improve their health, satisfy their daily needs and ensure their bodily existence for as long and as long as possible. And all this is just an image of what a person should do for his soul. Because the soul is the main thing. All our external needs are images of our spiritual needs, reminders and lessons that we need to work for our soul, hungry and thirsty, naked and sick, unclean and miserable. Therefore, each of us, who has received from God five, two, or one measure of faith, wisdom, love of mankind, fear of God, meekness, obedience to God or longing for spiritual purity and strength, is obliged to work to at least double this measure, as we did the first and second slave and as people engaged in trade and crafts usually do. He who does not increase the talent given to him - whatever this talent may be - will be cut down, like a tree that does not bear good fruit, and thrown into the fire. What every owner does with a barren fig tree, which he dug up, grafted and fenced in vain, but which still did not bear him any fruit, the Supreme Householder of the universal garden will do the same, where people are His most precious trees. See for yourself what bewilderment and contempt arouses in people the one who, having inherited an estate from his father, does nothing but wastes the inheritance on bodily needs and pleasures! Even the lowest beggar is not as despised by people as such a selfish sloth. Such a person is a true image of a spiritual sloth who, having received from God one talent of faith, wisdom, eloquence or some other virtue, buries it without using it in the dirt of his body, does not increase it through labor, and out of pride and selfishness does not bring it to anyone. benefits. After a long time, the master of those slaves comes and demands an account from them. God does not move away from people for a single moment, much less for a long time. His help to people flows like a deep river day after day, but His Judgment, His demand for an account from people occurs over a long period of time. The Quick Helper to everyone who calls on Him for help, God is slow to reward those who insult Him and wantonly squander His gifts. Here we are talking about the last, Last Judgment, when the hour comes and all workers will be called to accept their wages.
And the one who had received five talents came and brought another five talents and said: Master! you gave me five talents; Behold, I acquired another five talents with them. His master said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in small things, I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your master. The one who had received two talents also came up and said: Master! you gave me two talents; Behold, I acquired the other two talents with them. His master said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in small things, I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your master. One by one, the slaves approach their master and give an account of what they have received and what they have earned with the help of what they have received. One by one, we will be forced to approach the Lord of heaven and earth and, before millions of witnesses, account for what we have received and what we have earned. At this hour, nothing can be hidden or corrected. For the Lord’s radiance will so illuminate those present that everyone will know the truth about everyone. If in this life we manage to double our talents, then we will appear before the Lord with a clear face and a pure heart, just like these two good and faithful servants. And we will be forever revived by His words: good and faithful servant! But alas for us if we appear empty-handed before the Lord and His holy angels, like the third, wicked and lazy servant!
But what do the words mean: you have been faithful in a few things, I will put you over many things? They mean that all the gifts that we receive from God in this world, no matter how many there are, are small compared to the treasures that await the faithful in the next world. For it is written: eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Cor. 2:9). The smallest work for the sake of God’s love is rewarded from God with generous royal gifts. For the little that the faithful will endure in this life out of obedience to God and for the little that they do while working on their souls, God will crown them with glory, which none of the kings of this world has ever known or had.
Now let's see what happens to wicked and unfaithful slaves:
The one who had received one talent came up and said: Master! I knew you that you were a cruel man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter, and, being afraid, I went and hid your talent in the ground; here's yours. This is how this third servant justifies his wickedness and laziness before the Master! But he is not alone in this. How many of us are there who shift the blame to God for their malice, negligence, idleness and selfishness! Without recognizing their sinfulness and not recognizing the humane ways of God, they grumble at God for their weaknesses, illnesses, poverty, and failures. First of all, every word spoken by a lazy slave to the Master is a real lie. Does God reap where he did not sow? And does He gather where He has not scattered? Is there any good seed in this world that was not sown by God? And are there any good fruits in the entire universe that are not the results of God’s work? The wicked and unfaithful complain, for example, when God takes their children away from them, saying: “Behold, what cruelty - He untimely takes our children away from us!” Who said these children are yours? Did they not belong to Him before you called them yours? And why is it untimely? Doesn’t He who created times and seasons know when the time is for what? Not a single owner on earth puts off cutting his forest, waiting until all the trees in it grow old, but in accordance with his needs, he cuts both old and young, those that have been standing for a long time, and those that have just emerged, depending on the what he needs for his farm. Instead of grumbling against God and blaspheming Him, on Whom their every breath depends, it would be better to say like the righteous Job: The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as the Lord pleased, so it was done; Blessed be the name of the Lord! And how the wicked and unfaithful grumble against God, when a hailstorm destroys their grain, or when their ship with its cargo sinks into the sea, or when illnesses and infirmities attack them - they grumble and accuse God of cruelty! And this happens only because they either do not remember their sins, or cannot learn a lesson from this to save their soul.
To the false justification of His servant, the Master replies: His Master answered him: you are a wicked and lazy servant! You knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter; Therefore, you should have given my silver to the merchants, and when I came, I would have received mine with profit. People involved in money transactions are also called money changers. These are those who exchange one type of money for another and thus make a profit as a result of the exchange. But all this has its own figurative meaning. By traders we should understand those who do good, by silver - the gifts of God, and by profit - the salvation of the human soul. You see: in this world, everything that happens to people externally is only an image of what happens - or should happen - in the spiritual realm. Even money changers are used as an image of the spiritual reality that takes place inside, in the people themselves! The Lord wants to say to the lazy servant: “You received one gift from God; you did not want to use it yourself for your own salvation; why didn’t you at least give it to some virtuous person, some kind-hearted person who would want and be able to give it? should he transfer it to other people who need it, so that it would be easier for them to be saved? And I, having come, would have found more saved souls on earth: more faithful, more ennobled, more merciful and meek. Instead, you hid the talent in the earth of your body, which. has decayed in the grave (for the Lord will say this at the Last Judgment) and which now cannot help you in any way!”
Oh, how clear and how terrible is the lesson for those who, having great wealth, do not distribute it to the poor; or, having a lot of wisdom, keeps it closed in himself, as in a grave; or, having many good and useful abilities, does not show them to anyone; or, having great power, does not protect the suffering and oppressed; or, having a great name and glory, does not want to illuminate those in darkness with a single ray! The kindest word that can be said about all of them is thieves. For they consider the gift of God to be theirs: they appropriated what belonged to others and hid what was given. However, they are not only thieves, but also murderers. For they did not help to save those who could have been saved. Their sin is no less than the sin of a man who, standing on the bank of a river with a rope in his hands and seeing someone drowning, did not throw him a rope to save him. Truly, the Lord will say to such people what he said to the wicked servant in this parable.
So, take the talent from him and give to the one who has ten talents, for to everyone who has it will be given and he will have an abundance, but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away; and throw the worthless slave into outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And in this life it usually happens that it is taken away from those who have little and given to those who have much. And this is only an image of what is happening in the spiritual realm. Doesn't a father take money from a dissolute son and give it to a wise son who can use it profitably? Doesn't a military commander take away ammunition from an irresponsible soldier and give it to a good and reliable soldier? God takes away His gifts from unfaithful slaves in this life: hard-hearted rich people usually go bankrupt and die in poverty; selfish wise men end up in extreme stupidity or madness; proud ascetics indulge in sin and end their lives as great sinners; despotic rulers experience reproach, shame and impotence; priests who did not instruct others either by word or by example fall into more and more serious sins until they part with this life in terrible agony; hands that did not want to do the work that they knew how to do begin to tremble or lose mobility; the tongue, which did not want to speak the truth that it could speak, swells or becomes mute; and in general, everyone who hides God’s gifts die as mediocre beggars. Anyone who did not know how to give while he had it will be forced to learn to beg when his property is taken away from him. Even if the gift given to him is not taken away from some cruel and stingy selfish person just before his death, it will be taken away by his closest descendants or relatives who received this gift as an inheritance. The main thing is that the talent given to him is taken away from the infidel, and after that he is condemned. For God will not condemn a person as long as the gift of God’s grace remains in him. Before the sentence is carried out on him, a person convicted by an earthly court is stripped of his clothes and dressed in prison clothes, clothes of condemnation and shame. Likewise, every unrepentant sinner will first be stripped of all that is Divine on him, and then thrown into outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
This parable clearly teaches us that not only those who have done evil will be condemned, but also those who have not done good. And the Apostle James teaches us: if anyone knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin (James 4:17). All of Christ’s teaching, as well as His example, direct us to do good. Avoidance of evil is the starting point, but the entire life path of a Christian should be strewn with good deeds, like flowers. Doing good deeds provides immeasurable help in avoiding evil deeds. For it is unlikely that anyone can evade evil without doing good, and remain without sin without practicing virtue.
And this parable also confirms to us that God is equally merciful to all people; for He endows every created person with a certain gift, indeed, some with more, some with less, which does not change the matter at all, since He asks more from the one to whom he gave more, and less from the one to whom he gave less. But He gives enough to everyone so that a person can save himself and help save others. Therefore, it would be a mistake to think that in this parable the Lord speaks only about the rich people of various types who exist in this world. No, He is talking about all people without exception. Everyone, without exception, comes into this world with some gift. The widow who deposited her last two mites in the Temple of Jerusalem was very poor in money, but she was not poor in the gifts of donation and the fear of God. On the contrary, having wisely disposed of these gifts, albeit through two miserable mites, she received the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Truly I tell you, this poor widow has contributed more than anyone else (Mark 12:42-44).
But let's take the worst and most mysterious case. Imagine a blind and deaf-mute man who, in this situation, lived his entire life on earth, from birth to death. Some of you will ask: “What gift did such a person receive from God? And how can he be saved?” He has a gift, and a great one. He doesn't see people - but people see him. He does not give alms - but awakens mercy in other people. He cannot remind of God with the help of words, but he himself is a living reminder for people. He does not preach with words - but serves as proof of the sermon about God. Truly, he can lead many to salvation, and through that he can save himself. But know that the blind, deaf and dumb are not usually among those who bury their talent. They don't hide from people, and that's enough. For everything they can show, they show. Themselves! And this is silver, which they put into circulation and return to the Master with a profit. They are God's servants, God's reminder, God's call. They fill human hearts with fear and mercy. They represent the terrible and clear preaching of God, revealed in the flesh. It is those who have eyes, ears, and tongues who most often bury their talent in the ground. They have been given much, and when much is asked of them, they will be unable to give anything. Thus, inequality lies at the very basis of the created world. But this inequality should cause joy, not rebellion. For he was affirmed by love, not hatred, reason, not madness. Human life is ugly not because of the presence of inequality in it, but because of the lack of love and spiritual intelligence in people. Bring in more Divine love and spiritual understanding of life, and you will see that even twice the inequality will not in the least interfere with the bliss of people.
This parable of the talents brings light, reason and understanding into our souls. But it also prompts us to action and urges us so that we are not late to complete the work for which we were sent by the Lord to the marketplace of this world. Time flows faster than the fastest river. And soon the end of time will come. I repeat: time will soon end. And no one will be able to return from eternity to take what was forgotten and do what was undone. Therefore, let us hasten to use the gift of God given to us, a talent borrowed from the Lord of lords. To our Lord Jesus Christ, about this Divine teaching, as about everything else, is due honor and glory, with the Father and the Holy Spirit - the Trinity, Consubstantial and Indivisible, now and ever, at all times and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
The Son of Man, said the Lord, will act at the Last Judgment like one master who, going to a distant country, entrusted his property to his servants. To one slave he gave five talents, to another slave he gave two talents, and to a third one. This master was wise and distributed his money to the slaves, taking into account their abilities. During his absence, the first worked, toiled, traded with the money given to him and thus acquired five more talents; the one who received two talents also did the same and worked out the other two; but the one who received one talent went and buried it in the ground. Finally the master returned and demanded from his slaves an account of the money he had left them.
The first who received five talents brought the other five talents and said: “Sir? you gave me five talents; I bought the other five with them.” The master said to him: “Well done, good and faithful servant! In small ways you were harmful; I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your master." In the same way, the one who received two talents brought the other two, acquired by his labor, and heard the same praise from the master.
The one who had received one talent came up and said: “Sir! I knew that you are a cruel man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter, and, being afraid, I went and hid your talent in the ground; here's yours." You crafty and lazy slave! - The gentleman told him. If you were afraid of me, then why didn’t you trade, work, or bring me other talent? Then I would receive my goods at a profit.” Then he turned to the other slaves and said: “Take his talent and give it to the one who has ten of them; and throw this evil slave to where there is eternal weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
In this parable, Jesus Christ compares Himself to a master. Who are the slaves? This is all of us. The money that the master distributed to his slaves, all those qualities and abilities that the Lord gives us: mind, memory, strength of soul and body, health, wealth. We must use all this for good deeds to fulfill the will of God. We should not bury our talent in the ground, that is, we should not destroy our abilities and strengths in laziness and sinful pleasures. How many people do this? How many children who have all the means to learn, but are lazy and inattentive, who could be pious and kind, but behave badly! How many adults who could please God by helping their families, and who are ruining their minds, health, and time in sins! How many rich people use their wealth for evil! How scary to think about the punishment that awaits lazy and unfaithful slaves! But before the hour of our death has come, each of us can correct ourselves. Let us firmly decide to begin a virtuous life, ask God to help us make a good beginning, and let us excite our hearts with the plums of the church song: “Having heard the condemnation of the one who hid his talent, do not hide the weight of God about the soul.”
Reprinted from the book: Stories for children about the earthly life of the Savior and Lord our God Jesus Christ. Comp. A.N. Bakhmeteva. M., 1894.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.
Gal. 6, 9
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
As centuries passed, the meaning of the parable of talents told by the Savior became so universally understandable that the very word “talent,” which once meant a large sum of money, began to mean the human ability to work and master crafts, arts and sciences.
Talent is a gift from God. Everything that people are accustomed to calling their own: health and bodily strength, wealth and worldly ingenuity, the skillful hands of a master, the deep mind of a scientist, the artist’s sense of beauty - all this is not ours, but God’s. These gifts are given to people for a reason, but so that everyone, to the best of their ability, increases them through zealous service to the Almighty and their neighbors. And at the appointed hour, the Just Lord will strictly ask everyone: did you use the talents entrusted to you for good or evil?
This is how in the Gospel parable the master gives talents to his servants: one - five, another - two, a third - one, each according to his strength (Matthew 25:14). Many years passed before the master returned and demanded an account from his servants. Those who received five and two talents doubled the wealth once given to them and received praise: good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in a few things, I will put you over many; enter into the joy of your master (Matthew 25:21). The third servant turned out to be different: having received only one talent, he went and buried it in the ground, and now he brought it to the master and boldly said: ... I knew you that you were a cruel man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter, and, being afraid, you went and hid your talent in the ground; here is yours (Matthew 25:24-25).
Hearing such an answer, the angry ruler orders the evil servant to be thrown into outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:30). Those who understand the meaning of this parable are clear: the Lord of lords and the King of kings will do the same with those of us who bury in the ground the talents given to us by God.
What does it mean to bury talent in the ground? The earth is our body, created from the earth and destined for the earth, but greedy for food and drink, insatiable in pleasures. Earth is earthly wealth, honor and glory, human praise and human envy. By devoting our lives to serving our body or to vain vanity, we bury the talents given to us by God in the dust. The Lord pronounced a severe sentence on such people!
Christians are called to watch over their souls, strive in works of piety, tirelessly bear the burden of family and public service, and be diligent in the work that falls to their lot. Pampered laziness, crafty idleness, allowed even for a while, can become an insurmountable obstacle on the path to salvation. Consistency in serving God and others, a constant striving for perfection - this is the only way human talents are multiplied, this is the only way the path to the Kingdom of Heaven is paved.
“Cruel” was what the crafty slave called the master who demanded that he work to increase the wealth entrusted to him. Is the Heavenly Father cruel, who commanded fallen humanity: by the sweat of your face you will eat bread (Gen. 3:19)? No, only one who does not understand the ways of God’s Providence can consider this cruelty and a curse. Behind the external severity of the words addressed to our ancestors expelled from paradise, there was hidden Heavenly Mercy, giving hope. In order to be cleansed from the filth of original sin, the human soul must be salted with double salt, washed with double moisture: the salty tears of repentance and the salty sweat of labor.
Heavenly Father is a strict Teacher and Educator. His Goodness has nothing to do with the madness of those “kind” parents who please their children in every possible way, and then wonder: why do they grow up lazy and angry, unadapted to life and good for nothing? The Lord leads His chosen ones through many trials, and this is how their souls grow stronger and blossom.
An athlete's muscles, left without exercise, gradually weaken - and a beautiful, powerful body turns into a body swollen with fat. In the same way, a flabby and softened soul, not hardened in labor, becomes incapable of spiritual warfare and is easily enslaved by the devil. “Fear, brothers, embraces the soul when you think that among Christians there are many lazy slaves who live carelessly, in pleasure and do not at all think about this terrible, eternal outer darkness, where incessant weeping and gnashing of teeth await them,” exclaims the saint Righteous John of Kronstadt.
In this world, created by the Wisdom of God, everything bears fruit: the earth grows plants, grains and trees bear fruit, animals, birds and fish bear offspring. And man, as a spiritual being, must cultivate spiritual fruits in himself. Woe to the barren! His talents, buried in the ground, will become dead and rot, and the devastated soul will become unsuitable for the Heavenly Kingdom, fit only for the needs of the flames of hell. Blessed be the fruitful one! Great is the reward awaiting him, earned by him during his earthly service. It is obvious that the supposedly cruel master from the Gospel parable of the talents simply wanted to test his servants, so that in their work they would become skillful, tempered, persistent, and it would become possible to put them over many things (see: Matt. 25:21). In the same way, the Lord, looking at those who multiply the talents given to them for the glory of God, prepares for them heavenly crowns.
It seems to some that their talents are too small, and sometimes they even fall into grumbling and envy of those who are more talented. But in every place you can please the Lord! A hardworking peasant or worker can ascend to the heights of the Kingdom of God, but the ruler of countries and peoples can fall to the very bottom of hell. After his death, the soulless rich man looked with unbearable envy at the crippled beggar Lazarus, who was awarded heavenly bliss. The lazy servant from the Gospel parable did not need to earn another five or ten with the talent given to him; it was enough to multiply what was entrusted to him at least twice in order to hear: enter into the joy of your master (Matthew 25:21). The Lord endows everyone with talents according to the strength of his soul and does not demand from a person what is beyond his strength. About the different fields of serving God in earthly life, the Holy Apostle Paul says:
We have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, Jew or Greek, slave or free, and we have all been given one Spirit to drink. The body is not made of one member, but of many... The eye cannot say to the hand: I don’t need you; or also head to feet: I don’t need you. On the contrary, the members of the body that seem weakest are much more necessary... God proportioned the body, instilling greater care for the less perfect, so that there would be no division in the body, and all members would equally care for each other. Therefore, if one member suffers, all members suffer with it; if one member is glorified, all members rejoice with it. And you are the body of Christ, and individually members (1 Cor. 12:13-27).
How does a person know whether the talents given to him by the Lord are small or great? The fisherman Peter became the supreme Apostle. The prayer of the beggar Alexy, the man of God, ascended directly to the Throne of the Most High. Kosma Minin was not a prince or a boyar, but a simple merchant, but he earned the glorious title of savior of the fatherland.
The Monk Arseny the Great received a brilliant secular education in his youth and was the emperor's tutor. But having retired to the desert in search of salvation, he became a humble disciple of the Egyptian hermit elders. When he was asked what he was learning from these elders, many of whom did not even know how to read and write, the Monk Arseny answered: “I know the sciences of Greece and Rome, but I have not yet learned the alphabet that is taught by these who know nothing in the learning of the world.”
Great talents are fraught with great temptation and a formidable danger for the person endowed with them. It is easy for such a person to fall into the delusion of the devil, to consider his talents not as a gift from God, but as his own merits, to become proud, and then terrible things happen. History knows many examples of how highly gifted people not only buried their talents in the ground, but also increased this wealth that had become the underworld - not for the glory of the Lord who endowed them with talents, but for the needs of the murderous devil. Such are the soulless rich, moneylenders who grew fat on the tears of old people and orphans, such are tyrant rulers, but the worst of them are the authors of seductive books, the creators of heretical, godless and misanthropic theories. These people, who called themselves writers, scientists and philosophers, in the eyes of the Lord are worse than the most ferocious murderers and the most vile molesters, for the evil they sowed in the world does not disappear with their own death, but sometimes lasts for centuries, plunging thousands and thousands of souls into destruction .
“Temptation is like a pestilence that begins in one person and infects many,” says Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk. And there are no more criminals than those who nurtured a spiritual plague within themselves in order to later release it into the world. They did not stain their hands with blood and dirt, they hid in the quiet of their offices, bending over white paper, but their “quiet labors” turned into a maddening mess for entire nations. This “deep thinker and exemplary family man” Karl Marx committed atrocities at the hands of the Bolsheviks in unfortunate seduced Russia during the years of the Red Terror. These “ardent democrats” Belinsky and Herzen, Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov were the cruelest of the overseers in Stalin’s camps. It was the “brilliant philosopher and poet” Friedrich Nietzsche who sent the Nazis to kill people in gas chambers. The “scientific innovator” Sigmund Freud called to “liberate the instincts,” that is, to give free rein to the low passions of man, and now Freud’s shadow hovers in the dens of depravity, encourages lust and fornication, the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, and from childhood corrupts people’s imagination with pornography, so that later turn them into unclean animals.
The list of seducers and corrupters of humanity includes large and small ones - from the rulers of thoughts to the authors of tabloid books. But the more talented the book or picture, film or music that carries the seeds of temptation, the more bitter the verdict their authors will hear at the Last Judgment of the Lord.
But how much good can one accomplish who adds love of God and brotherly love to his talents, working diligently in the field of the Lord. How beautiful and instructive are the creations of the holy fathers, our spirit-bearing mentors - as if honey and milk still flow from their lips, nourishing the faithful. And in secular art there are many who have devoted themselves not to flirting with base passions, but to serving the highest. The best paintings by Nesterov, Vasnetsov, and Alexander Ivanov became not just paintings, but holy icons. The sacred music of Bortnyansky, Glinka, Mussorgsky not only delights the ear, but also elevates the soul of the listener. The Russian Church considers the writers Nikolai Gogol and Fyodor Dostoevsky, Sergei Aksakov and Alexei Khomyakov, Sergei Nilus and Konstantin Leontyev to be its faithful sons; the best pages of their books are truly illuminated by the light of Christ.
And today's people of art could do a lot to enlighten the spiritually drained people, but alas! We see few among them zealots of piety.
Hard work for the glory of God is the only path on which human talents are revealed in all their beauty and fullness. Seeing the good zeal and constancy of the worker, the Lord will not fail to raise him from strength to strength and from glory to glory, will open a wide field for him and strengthen him with His grace.
Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord!
Each of us is endowed by the Lord with the highest talent - the Divine ability to love. We must especially carefully cultivate this gift, love for God and our neighbors, and especially diligently increase it. If we lose this talent of talents, all our other virtues will become useless and even harmful to our souls. And if we manage to succeed in love, good deeds will become a necessity for us, work will become a joy, and serving the Lord and our neighbors will become the sweetest of bliss. The holy Apostle Paul speaks about this royal path, calling on the faithful: Be zealous for great gifts, and I will show you an even more excellent way (1 Cor. 12:31). Amen.
Vladimir, Metropolitan of Tashkent and Central Asia
(now – Metropolitan of Omsk and Tauride)
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