What then about this parable? Is it what we have thought? Allow me to share some things that I hope will provoke your prayerful thought processes. This parable continues straight on from the parable of the ten virgins. In fact it is part of the same message, telling us to be prepared and I find that interesting because my ministry motto is “Preparing the way”.
I did not choose that and I did not choose my ministry name of Bashan Ministries. That happened  after some very interesting encounters with the Lord when He told me to study the life and ministry of John the baptist. John’s ministry was not to the heathen, but to God’s own covenant people telling them to prepare themselves for the coming Messiah. Jesus will return and the message today  is much the same. In fact, many other Old Testament prophets were saying similar things.

Jesus finished speaking about those ten women and then said, “Watch therefore” (Matthew 25:13) and the very next word told us why.

The parable of the ten virgins was brought to a conclusion this way:

Sir! Sir!’ they cried, ‘Let us in!’ But he answered, ‘Indeed! I tell you, I don’t know you!’ So stay alert, because you know neither the day nor the hour. “For it will be like a man about to leave home for a while, who entrusted his possessions to his servants. Matthew 25:11-14

The original scriptures were not divided into chapter and verse as are our bibles. Jesus was speaking in the same breath as it were about His return. It is the one selfsame theme. Jesus was telling everyone that He will be leaving but shall return so make sure you don’t miss Me.

When speaking of these parables, Jesus wants us to shape our imagination about God’s realm, not our own. If we listen closely to the parable, we can hear something of what God is like and how He does things.

The parable of the talents is the fourth of five parables, each increasing in length and complexity and point ahead to His return.

They focus on waiting for his return, of being ready, being faithful and dispensing Godly truth, justice and mercy.

The common theme is making sure that, despite any delay, we are ready, awake and alert, watching for His approach.

We see phrases like, “the kingdom of heaven will be like …”  and “for it is like …”

That is seen in this parable when Jesus stated that God’s kingdom is like a man entrusting his property to someone (Matthew 25:14). In this instance it is to three different people.

A talent was a huge sum of money—many years of wages for a day laborer, so they had a lot to invest. While the first two servants double their master’s money, the third hides the talent entrusted to him in the ground. When their master returns, they are evaluated not by the return of investment, but by the way they treated his property.

The first two are rewarded, and the third is punished. We should look at these men a little deeper.

Look closely at the account and note my emphasis.

...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. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Matthew 25:14-15

Everyone, those three men, you and me are offered the same things and God is no respecter of persons. The gifts and callings of God are the same for all and they are without repentance.

Jesus told us that this man gave the same deal to each person according to his several ability. This means he gave to them what pertained to their own individual particular ability. He knew that one man could handle 5, the other 2 and the last man might not even be able to handle one. Nevertheless, He gave him an opportunity. That word ability is dynamis and we can see that in Acts 1:8.

It means ability, to perform an activity, power, mighty deed, miracle, ruler and more.

That might link this parable to what is involved in the Great Commission and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives today—as we proclaim the Kingdom of God. There is more to it than merely handling money or talents and running meetings.
The Lord never told us to build churches. He told us to build people.

Jesus said to the two:

because you were faithful with a little, you will be put in charge of much. Matthew 25:21-23

Let us assume that he did rewards them with more but they were still slaves and it was still his money. He put them in charge of handling it, but what about that little? A talent is a huge amount of money—and the first slave was entrusted with five. Jesus seems to have made an unrealistic exaggeration as to the amounts involved. He did that in Matthew 13:33 when talking about the woman who hid a small bit of yeast in enough flour to bake more than 50 loaves of bread that could feed many people.

He  talked about the slave who owed a king ten thousand talents yet thinks he has a chance of repaying it in Matthew 18:23–26.

He said that a boy’s picnic lunch of a fish hamburger was enough to feed a hungry bunch of thousands of people.

This parable is just an illustration of what God can really do if we permit Him by thinking outside the box. I observed one church in India many years ago that had a large container on the platform area only one step high. People came up to the front to take rice out of that container to fill their own vessels. They had read in the bible about the man of God telling a women to get as many containers as she could fill them all with oil from one vessel, so they believed it and did it They had read how a widow women fed the prophet with her last small food supply but it never ran out so they believed it and did it. That level of rice never diminished. I’d like to see that again... Unfortunately many churches advocate that the day of miracles is over and nothing happens. Leaders like that are cheating God’s people and in reality hindering the work of God.

The third man made an unusual statement. He considered the master to be a hard and harsh taskmaster. The other two did not.

That signals a lack of respect, little understanding, or a lack of a good relationship. It could indicate how many professing  “Christians” relate to God. He can be our loving “Abba Father” or a  God who punishes and exacts vengeance.

Both are correct of course, but to those blood washed saints which we are, the punishment for sin is no longer upon us. It was meted out onto Jesus instead.  That man said:

Master, I know you to be a harsh man, harvesting where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter seed And because I was afraid, I went out and hid your talent in the ground. Matthew 25:24–25

Based on the master’s reply, this man knew what the master was like. He knew how the master handled his affairs and what he wanted and that the master would take the matter very seriously—but did nothing.

That was deliberate and willful negligence at best, perhaps bordering on deliberate disobedience.

Many people have been called by God into His service, but refuse to do so. That is disobedience. It is pure rebellion.

Many, some of whom we know personally, have been called by God to help and support others in ministry such as a “man Friday” but refuse to do so and so despite the call of God to them they hamper and may even oppose another ministry. That is a serious matter. Some people may not hear the gospel message as a result and their blood will be on the rebel’s head.

See Ezekiel 3:17-3 and Ezekiel 33:1-9. God sent Ezekiel as a watchman to His covenant people. We should look at this now as it is a principle that still applies in the church today:

Then he said, “Son of man, go to the people of Israel and give them my messages. I am not sending you to a foreign people whose language you cannot understand. No, I am not sending you to people with strange and difficult speech. If I did, they would listen!
But the people of Israel won’t listen to you any more than they listen to me! For the whole lot of them are hard-hearted and stubborn.
But look, I have made you as obstinate and hard-hearted as they are.
I have made your forehead as hard as the hardest rock! So don’t be afraid of them or fear their angry looks, even though they are rebels.”
Then he added, “Son of man, let all my words sink deep into your own heart first. Listen to them carefully for yourself. Then go to your people in exile and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says!’ Do this whether they listen to you or not.” Ezekiel 3:4-11

That’s the kind of ministry John the baptist had and it is the kind of ministry that God is raising up today, giving the same messages to the church. It is not well received!

I think that these parables are much more complex and kingdom oriented than we realize.