Matthew
25:14-30
- Reading the Text:
- NRSV (with link to Anglicized NRSV) at Oremus Bible Browser.
- Greek Interlinear Bible, ScrTR, ScrTR t, Strong, Parsing, CGTS, CGES id, AV.
- The Bible Gateway: NRSV, RSV, NIV, NASB, CEV, The Message, KJV, etc.
- The Blue Letter Bible. KJV, alternate versions, Greek text with concordance, commentaries.
- The World Wide Study Bible includes commentary & sermons.
- Historical References, Commentary and
Comparative Texts:
- The Five Gospels Parallels, John W. Marshall, University of Toronto.
- "Labor and Industry," Comparative World Scriptures from United Communities of Spirit.
- XLIII.22-38; Tatian's Diatessaron (c. 150-160).
- III.XVII.3, IV.XI.2, Adversus Haereses, Irenaeus of Lyons. (c. 180)
- 1.10, Paedagogus, Clement of Alexandria (c 200)
- I.1, Stromata, Clement of Alexandria (c 200)
- Chapter XXXV, On the Resurrection of the Flesh, Tertullian (c. 211)
- II.XI.4, First Principles (De Principiis), Origen. (c.225)
- XIV.8, XIV.12, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Origen. (c.247)
- Homily LXXVIII - Matthew 25:1-30, Homilies on the Gospel of St. Matthew, St. Chrysostom (c. 380)
- Historia Calamitatum: The Story of My Misfortunes, Pierre Abélard / Peter Abelard, c. 1140.
- From the Catena Aurea, Patristic Commentary by St Thomas Aquinas.
- From the
Geneva Notes.
- "Usury or loaning money at interest is strictly forbidden by the Bible, Ex 22:25-27 De 23:19,20. ... Finally the master said to him sarcastically why did you not add insult to injury and loan the money out at interest so you could call your master a "usurer" too! If the servant had done this, his master would have been responsible for his servant's actions and guilty of usury."
- From
Matthew
Henry's Commentary.
- "Christ keeps no servants to be idle: they have received their all from him, and have nothing they can call their own but sin. Our receiving from Christ is in order to our working for him."
- From
Wesley's
Notes.
- "So mere harmlessness, on which many build their hope of salvation, was the cause of his damnation!"
- From the
Commentary on the Whole Bible
(Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, 1871).
- "He takes the servant's own account of his demands, as expressing graphically enough, not the hardness which he had basely imputed to him, but simply his demand of a profitable return for the gift entrusted."
- From
The People's
New Testament, B.W. Johnson, 1891.
- "Every attainment of honor, wealth, knowledge, or spiritual grace helps to render further attainment more easy and more assured; while it is spiritually as well as materially true that "the destruction of the poor is their poverty" (Prov. 10:15)."
- Contemporary Commentary, Studies, and Exegesis:
- Radical Gratitude, lectionary-based stewardship, Northwest United Methodist Foundation. (.pdf)
- Commentary,
Matthew 25:14-30, Carla Works, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org,
2011.
- "The parable of the talents is among the most abused texts in the New Testament."
- Holy
Textures, Understanding the Bible in its own time and in ours, Matthew 25:14-30, David Ewart, 2011.
- "This a Wisdom parable teaching us about the perils and difficulties of the ways of the world until the Kingdom comes."
- Parable of the Talents, audio telling, story in episodes, graphic, audio and written commentaries. Go Tell Communications, Biblical Storytelling for the Global Village, 2011.
- Lectionary Blogging, John Petty, Progressive Involvement, 2011.
- Two Sides to Every Story, Linda Fabian Pepe, Theological Stew, 2011.
- "So when the wealthy man comes back, the first two servants get rewarded for doing what they were charged to do… make money. The third servant, because he hid his talent, gets punished- he is cast out. But it is this third servant, in this version of the story, who might be called the hero. Because it is the third servant who saw."
- "Reading the Text Abundantly or Protectively," Russell Rathbun, The Hardest Question, 2011.
- "What is the difference?"
- Preaching Matthew 25:14-30, Anna Carter Florence, Lectionary Homiletics sample.
- "Are You Ready to Risk?" Peter Woods, I Am Listening, 2011.
- "To find the access point for this teaching in today’s gospel, one has to backup to Matthew 24:3."
- "Good and Faithful," Fr. Rick Morley, a garden path, 2011.
- "No Time for Timidity," Alyce M. McKenzie, Patheos, 2011.
- Behind the Scenes at Bernie Madoff's: A parable, Scarlet Letter Bible, 2011.
- Comentario del Evangelio por Amaury Tañón-Santos, San Mateo 25:14-30, Working Preacher, 2011.
- Commentary, Matthew 25:14-30, Dirk G. Lange, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2008.
- Comments (commentary) and Clippings (technical notes for in-depth study), Chris Haslam, Anglican Diocese of Montreal.
-
"Talents:
Five, Two and One," Gospel Analysis, Sermons from
Seattle, Pastor Edward F. Markquart, Grace Lutheran Church, Seattle,
Washington. Detailed background and exegesis.
- "To whom much is given much will be required. We know that this principle is true even if a person is not religious. That is, a common adage for the whole world is the intuitive awareness that the more gifts/resources/abilities that God has given to you, the more that life/God requires of you."
-
"First Thoughts on Year A Gospel Passages in the Lectionary,"
William Loader, Pentecost 22, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.
- "The tragedy is that many people are afraid of losing or endangering God and so seek to protect God from adventures, to resist attempts at radical inclusion that might, they fear, compromise God's purity and holiness. Protecting God is a variant of not trusting God."
-
Exegetical
Notes by Brian Stoffregen, at CrossMarks.
- "When the master "gives" ("paradidomi") his property to the slaves, does the money then belong to the slaves -- thus presenting God as being very generous? Or are the slaves just managers of their master's money -- thus presenting the slaves as stewards of what belongs to God?"
-
"Recession-Proof Investments," Blogging toward Sunday, Christian
Coon, Theolog: The Blog of The Christian Century, 2008.
- "There's a difference between what this passage is saying and a simple aphorism. Still, the parable has provoked me to explore this issue more carefully."
-
Dylan's Lectionary Blog,
Proper 28. Biblical Scholar
Sarah Dylan Breuer looks at readings for the coming Sunday in the lectionary
of the Episcopal Church.
- "The live question for us, I think, about this Sunday's gospel is whether we can really believe that, if we really can trust in that enough to risk living as Jesus taught us rather than according to the demands of those who try to set themselves up in Jesus' place as our lord, who try to enslave us to wordly standards by telling us that our security is in acquiring resources for ourselves and striking out at our enemies."
-
"Trojan Horse," James Howell, The Christian Century, 2005.
- "As it is, we print up catchy mailings, we wheedle and cajole; pledges bump up by 7 percent, and we celebrate. Isn?t that the equivalent of the burial of the one talanton, and isn?t it the harbinger of the burial of the church?"
-
"The Parable
of the Extortionist,"
Larry Broding's Word-Sunday.Com: A
Catholic Resource for This Sunday's Gospel. Adult Study, Children's
Story, Family Activity, Support Materials.
- "Have you ever felt like an outcast? What attitude or chain of events caused your feelings?"
- Matthew in the Margins, by Brian McGowan, Anglican priest in Western Australia.
-
"The
Good and Faithful Servant,"
Jerry Goebel, One
Family Outreach. "Focus on scripture from a justice perspective." Exegesis, study, and teen study
and activities.
- "If I can be faithful in the 'puny things' or for this 'short duration,' he doesn?t promise me retirement or rest, but instead deeper involvement! To be more enraptured by serving him. To be in charge of many things [polus] translates best as 'abundance in a great age.'"
- "The Parable of the Talents," Rev. Bryan Findlayson, Lectionary Bible Studies and Sermons, Pumpkin Cottage Ministry Resources. Includes detailed textual notes.
- Wellspring of the Gospel, Ordinary 33A, Catherine McElhinney and Kathryn Turner, Weekly Wellsprings.
- "The
Parables in the Olivet Discourse," by Hampton Keathley IV at the
Biblical Studies Foundation.
- "The works are indicative of the relationship with the master. The third slave had no works which in the gospels is the same as having no faith."
- Articles & Background:
- "Parable of the Talents," wikipedia.
-
"Matthew's Nonviolent Jesus and Violent Parables," Barbara E. Reid, O.P.,
(other resources at)
"Parables,"
Christian Reflection, The Center for Christian Ethics
at Baylor University, 2006.
- "Jesus' Sermon on the Mount instructs us to not return violence for violence; instead we should be like God, who offers boundless, gratuitous love to all. But in the same Gospel Jesus tells eight parables in which God deals violently with evildoers. Which of the divine ways are we to imitate?"
-
The Parable of
the Talents applied to secular economics in Parables for
Entrepreneurs, by John Sanders (investor and student of the dynamics of
small business).
- "The New Testament seems to state that failure is not necessarily the loss of capital, but a lack of effort to increase it. Indeed, from my perspective as a venture capitalist, the worst situations are ones in which the management meets with a measure of success and then says, "Well, we've gone far enough. Let's not risk what we've gained." This is really the worst case. In fact, the entrepreneur who doesn't use his resources or his talents is thrown out of the Kingdom. He also undergoes "weeping and gnashing of teeth," which is caused, I suspect, from seeing his most ambitious managers quit and the price of his stock plummet."
- Recommended articles
from ATLAS, an online collection of religion and theology journals, are
linked below.
ATLAS Access options are available for academic institutions, alumni of
selected theological schools, and clergy/church offices. Annotated list of "starting place" articles at ATLAS for this week's texts (includes direct links).
- Bartlett, David L.,
"Rejoice in the Lord Always," The Living Pulpit, 1996. (see
Joy issue focus of
The Living Pulpit, 5.4, 1996.)
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Brisson, E. Carson,
"Between Text & Sermon, Matthew 25:14-30," Interpretation,
2002.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Carpenter, John B., "The Parable of
the Talents in Missionary Perspective: A Call for Economic
Spirituality," Missiology, 1997.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Chenoweth, Ben, "Identifying the
Talents: Contextual Clues for the Interpretation of the Parable of the
Talents," Tyndale Bulletin, 2005.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Chilton, Bruce D., "Talents and the
Art of the Parable," The Living Pulpit, 1997.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Dipboye, Carolyn, "Matthew
25:14-30--To Survive or to Serve," Review & Expositor, 1995.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Hiebert, Paul G and Sam Larsen,
"Partnership in the Gospel: Misers, Accountants and Stewards,"
Direction, 1999.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Howell, James C., "Trojan Horse,"
the Christian Century, 2005.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Jones, Verity A.,
"Choosing Faith for Those Who Can't," Journal for Preachers,
2004.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Lovette, Roger,
"On Not Missing the Circus," The Living Pulpit, 1997.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - McGaughy, Lane C., "Fear of Yahweh
and the Mission of Judaism: A Postexilic Maxim and Its Early Christian
Expansion in the Parable of the Talents," Journal of Biblical
Literature, 1974.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Neville, David J., "Toward a Theology
of Peace: Contesting Matthew's Violent Eschatology," Journal for the
Study of the New Testament, 2007.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Reid, Barbara E., O.P.,
"Violent Endings in Matthew's Parables and Christian Nonviolence,"
The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2004.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Steinmetz, David C., "Matthew
25:14-30," Interpretation, 1980.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Thysell, Carol, "Unearthing the Treasure, Unknitting
the Napkin: The Parable of the Talents as a Justification for Early
Modern Women's Preaching and Prophesying," Journal of Feminist
Studies in Religion, 1999.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Toussaint, Stanley D.,
"A Critique of the Preterist View of the Olivet Discourse," Bibliotheca Sacra, 2004.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
- Bartlett, David L.,
"Rejoice in the Lord Always," The Living Pulpit, 1996. (see
Joy issue focus of
The Living Pulpit, 5.4, 1996.)
- Reviews:
- Wilson, Alistair I., When Will These Things Happen?: A Study of Jesus as Judge in Matthew 21-25. PaterNoster Press, 2005. Review by Samuel Subramanian, Review of Biblical Literature, 2006.
- Sermons:
- "How Are You Managing?" 26 Pentecost - 13 November 2005, Samuel Zumwalt, Göttinger Predigten im Internet: Every Sunday Sermons based on the RCL by a team of Lutheran theologians/ pastors.
- "Talents: Five, Two and One," Sermons from Seattle, Pastor Edward F. Markquart, Grace Lutheran Church, Seattle, Washington.
- "The Story of Two Parables," Phyllis Tickle, Day 1, 2002.
- "Reluctant Servants," the Rev. Bob Bohl, Day 1, 1997.
- "Be Fruitful," John Jewell, 1999.
- Father Andrew M. Greeley, "Priest, Author, Sociologist," Commentary and Homily
- With Children:
- Worshiping with Children, Proper 28, Including children in the congregation's worship, using the Revised Common Lectionary, Carolyn C. Brown, 2011.
- "Children's Literature: A Resource for Ministry," November 13, 2011, Union Presbyterian Seminary. Connections: Matthew 25:14-30 and The LIttle Yellow Leaf by Carin Berger.
- "The Three Toolboxes," Charles Kirkpatrick, Sermons4kids.com.
- "A Fearful Man Hides His Treasure," Sunday School Lessons: Family Bible Study, art projects, music, stories, etc.
- Drama:
- "The Wizard of Odd," Christin Kuck, dramatix.
- "Parable of the Talents," Mike Treachler, dramatix.
- "Talents Anonymous!" Michele Pitman, dramatix.
- "The Master Went on a Journey," from A Certain Jesus by Jose Ignacio and Maria Lopez Vigil. Ideal for catechetical and liturgical dramatization of today's gospel. Claretian Publications.
- Graphics & Bulletin Materials:
- Clip Art Images: Matthew 25:14-30, Misioneros Del Sagrado Corazón en el Perú.
- Matthew 25:14-30, Liturgical Drawing, Maria d.c. Zamora, Claretian Resources, Philippines. ("Download and use these for free.")
- Matthew 25:14-30, at Cerezo Barredo's weekly gospel illustration. Liberation emphasis.
- Bulletin Cover for Matthew 25:14-30, PowerPoint Slides for Matthew 25:14-30, Will Humes, Word & Table.
- Hymns and Music:
- “O God, We Yearn for Safety”an original hymn by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette based on Jesus’ Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30). Tune: ANGEL’S STORY 7.6.7.6 D ("O Jesus, I Have Promised") and AURELIA (“The Church’s One Foundation”).
- Hymnary.org, hymns, scores, media, information.
- Contemporary/Praise Song suggestions, Together to Celebrate, David MacGregor.
- Hymns with Scripture Allusions: Matthew 25:21, 23, 29. The Cyber Hymnal.
- At Digital Hymnal (midi files, guitar chords, karaoke files, projection text):
- Fine Arts Images Linked at The Text This Week's Art Index:
- Movies scenes with the following themes, listed at The Text This Week's Movie Concordance:
- Study Links and Resources for the Book of Matthew
