Not A Kingdom Parable
Verse 14 makes it clear, this is not a "The Kingdom of Heaven is like..." parable. This is about "absence", "delay", etc. and it would be wise to remember two things about Matthew's audience, or the Matthean Community specifically:
1. Matthew was written c.80AD > about 50-60 years after Yeshua departed.
B. The community, largely Jewish believers, would have been passionately looking for the bodily return of Yeshua year after year: and, probably, had begun to grow disheartened, as one can easily imagine.
This is the general feel into which Matthew shares this parable.
Verse 14 and 15 also reveal a powerful word picture not always present in the English translations.
The man "delivered over his possessions". In a word, paradidomai: to give everything. Furthermore, when the TNIV renders "he went on his journey," it leaves out the fact that he does this "immediately." He gives everything and is immediately gone.
Moreover, this man knew ahead of time what the abilities, or lack thereof, were for each slave/servant; therefore, it would not have been surprising to find out that the one who was given a single bag/talent ended up being "lazy" and hiding it: this was, after all, a common thing for common people to do - as there was much looting and financial abuse in the day.
The grit of this story is that the "wicked" slave/servant KNEW that the man "harvested where he had not sown" and did not act accordingly: that is, he chose to act according to "the way" of the world as he knew it, not by "the way" of the world of his "Master."
It's a clear warning that while the Master is gone: we are to live according to the way of the world of our Master: we are to live according to the reality of THAT world, not the ways of the THIS world.
Created about 1 year ago
