The Parable of the Untrustworthy Slave

Matthew 25:14-30 The Parable of the Untrustworthy Slave

14"For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.
16The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, 'Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.' 21His master said to him, 'Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.' 22And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, 'Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.' 23His master said to him, 'Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'
24Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; 25so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.'
26But his master replied, 'you wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? 27Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 28So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents.
29For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.
30As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

Who is the hero of this story? – I have never agreed with what I hear most people say the point of this parable is. Most tell me this is about using what God has given you and making the most of it. But the slave owner in this story is a man, and a distant owner, who rules by remote control and fear. Not my image of God. Not my idea of the nature of the Kingdom of God, which is what these parables describe.
I think the hero of this story is the slave who did not participate in the system, the way things were set up, by the wealthy man who would both own and control people, even if he did entrust them with some of his money. That is why I changed the name of the parable from the Parable of the Talents, to the Parable of the Untrustworthy Slave.
The untrustworthy slave admits to the master upon his return: "Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed". The master responds with “You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter?” Jesus, the author of the parable, puts these words into the slave owner’s mouth in the story: 29 "For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away."
The uncooperative slave pays a big price for his failure to go along and is thrown into the outer darkness, a place of weeping and gnashing teeth.

What makes the untrustworthy slave the hero? In the Torah, the kind of financial transaction the slave owner expected his slaves to participate in was called “usury” and it was forbidden by the Jewish tradition to lend money at interest and at the expense of those needing the money, especially the poor.
I was surprised to discover that a relatively famous theologian and author, William Herzog, agrees with me. Herzog is a scholar who has done much study on the parables as subversive speech given by Jesus against the economic domination system of Herod and Caesar’s “systems”, which were taking land away from families and marginalizing many peasants into dire poverty and day labor status.
I don’t think Jesus was trying to teach us to be wise investors, at least in this story, and I don’t think he was telling us to “Be all we can be” in this story. I think he was a faithful Jew, faithful to the Torah, and telling people not to allow their greed to overshadow God’s expectation that the poor and those in needed to be treated with compassion, and that once we get in bed with profit oriented thinking, it is easy to lose the hearts we need to live with others, especially those on the margins of life.

Edmund Burke once wrote, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” I think Jesus is saying here, “All that is necessary for evil systems to triumph is for good men and women to quietly go along with the status quo, especially if it’s going to make you rich, even if it’s on the backs of the unfortunate".
Look at what has happened in our country lately with the mortgage industry. Amazing how these ancient parabolic views of the Kingdom of God are so relevant to us today.

Is there room for the Kingdom of God in business? What would need to change?
What price would we pay for not cooperating? Where might we be thrown? - RSP