The Parable of the Talents

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.”

fundamentalism…

I remember a street preacher in the 1950’s warning his listeners that they would all go to a place where there was weaping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. An old woman smiled at him displaying her toothless gums and shouted, “But I’ve nae teeth!” The preacher looked at her with disdain and replied, “Madam, teeth will be provided!” The thought of a infernal health service supplying spare parts has been with me since.

This is called the parable of the talents after the Roman coin which is mentioned in it but we must not take it as meaning “talent” in a modern English sense and misinterpret the parable as referring to our natural endowment. It is about religious tradition, a matter of real importance to Matthew who shows sympathy to the scribes whose job it was to pass on holy tradition to the next generation. The parable tells us that a religious tradition, such as the Jewish Torah or the  Christian gospel for example, must be put to work in the world, taking the risk of loss or contamination in order that it may grow creatively. Those who out of respect for tradition wrap it up and keep it the same have confused the tradition with the unchangeable God, which is blasphemous. There is a right fear of God but a fear which makes God into a cruel tryrant whose only interest is keeping religion untouched by the world, is best left to fundamentalists of all faiths. Those who follow Jesus have to risk the gospel in the rough and tumble of contemporary living, so that it may grow.

Today the Scottish executive is discussing proposals for allowing same-sex  marriage in Scotland. My own church has indicated its measured opposition to this, while the Roman Catholic Church has denounced it in the name of civil freedom (!) claiming that organisations and individuals who do not implement the change wil be disadvantaged in our society. Of course the church’s opposition is based on Christian tradition, and especially on Catholic tradition which cannot change unless a Pope tells it to do so.

equality

I’m temperamentally  opposed to same-sex marriage, because it disrupts my whole view of marriage which is derived from my own religion and experience. But then  again, the biblical accounts of marraige are also utterly foreign to me as a) they are almost all arranged marriages, b) a high proportion of them involve polygamy, and c) they all reflect societies in which women were not treated as equal with men. In other words I have to realise that what I call my “Christian tradition” is itself of fairly recent origin and incorporates changes which have already taken place in response to changes in society. The “talent” has been put to work, creatively.

So I cannot imagine refusing marriage to same-sex  couples on the grounds of an unchangeable tradition. I do however deeply value the reported words of Jesus, “In the beginning God made them male and female, therefore  a man shall leave his parents and be united with his wife and the two shall become one flesh.” This seems to me to be itself a beautiful example of putting tradition to work, in his case the traditions about creation, while also being gender -specific. I think that something equally beautiful and creative is required to make “same-sex marriage” an attractive institution. I would therefore be pleased if our society moved slowly on this matter. But if it moves quickly to make same-sex marriage legal, I shall not refuse couples who want it, if I am authorised to provide it.

I would do so a) because I am biased towards equality in society; b) because many of those who are against it are habitual bullies; and c) because, in the end of the day, as Lenny Bruce once said, “It’s only ’bout huggin’ an’ kissin’.” There are real evils to oppose.