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Matthew 25 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
Leonard Kevin Bias was born on November 17, 1963, in Landover, Maryland. He was a tall, quiet young boy who was nicknamed “Frosty” by his pastor at church because of his cold, relaxed attitude. Bias was a once-in-a-lifetime sports talent. After a successful high school basketball career, he chose to attend the University of Maryland. He had it all. He could score at will. His combination of both speed and strength was something the college game had never seen before.
According to Wikipedia, “Bias impressed basketball fans with his amazing leaping ability, his physical stature and his ability to create plays, and was considered one of the most dynamic players in the nation.”
In fact, most agree he was more talented than the legendary Michael Jordan. 4-time NBA champion John Salley is quoted as saying that Bias “would have been considered probably the best player to ever play.” Simply put, he dominated the game of basketball like no other.
On June 17, 1986, he was selected as the second pick overall by the Boston Celtics in the NBA draft. Two days later, tragedy struck. Bias was found dead from cardiac arrhythmia induced by a cocaine overdose. By many accounts, he is considered the greatest athlete to never play a single game at the professional level. Ultimately, his talent was wasted.
In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a parable about wasted talent.
In the ancient world, a talent was a lot of money. It would have equaled about 20 years of wages. Depending on if it was gold or silver, a talent could weigh between 75 and 120 pounds! In Jesus’ story, a talent is a metaphor for opportunities to use our abilities. Notice, not everyone receives equal gifts. The distribution is consistent with our own experiences. Some are gifted with supreme ability. Others are average. Still others struggle with minimal opportunities. This echoes Jesus’ words in Luke.
From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.
Luke 12:48b NASB
The master’s expectation of fruitful work lined up with the gifts of the individual. He is equally pleased with the slave who returned 10 talents as He is with the slave who returned only 4. They both doubled what was given to them. But the master only groups them into two categories: faithful or unfaithful.
The Last Slave
The shock of this parable comes for the last slave who buried his talent in the ground. It seemed he was not intentionally disobedient. He didn’t squander it or trade it. In other words, he seemed to have good intentions. He played it safe and buried it hoping the master would be pleased that it wasn’t lost. Why was the master so upset? Because laziness and procrastination are veiled forms of disobedience.
And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” 60 But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” 61 Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:59-62 NASB
This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have funerals or say good-bye to family members. It’s an illustration of priorities.
Imagine you are a doctor who has just discovered the cure for cancer. With great excitement, you begin traveling around the world distributing this cure to every hospital and cancer clinic you can find. You are the only one who has the cure, and time is running out for people who are literally on their deathbed. As you are organizing a team to provide a greater reach of this cure, someone calls out to you, “Hey doctor, help us bury these dead bodies!” How would you reply? Which is the greater priority?
The point is, if God has given you a specific gift for a specific time with a specific person, He expects you to use it, not bury it!
Failure To Try
There is something else to this parable we cannot miss. The third slave was so fearful that he would fail, he never even tried. Maybe he thought his one talent was unimportant? Maybe he just didn’t care? Either way, it’s a horrendous tragedy! How many people today are missing the opportunities that God is placing in front of them because they are afraid of failure? I personally believe that figure is astronomical. Hear this – what we do not use for the Lord will be lost forever.
The very least this slave could have done was place the talent in a bank so it would gain interest. This illustrates that even the slightest bit of faith in stepping out and using our talents will be commended by God. Do not allow yourself to be satisfied with a free ticket to heaven. This is not Salvation, and it is not the expectation of Jesus when He saves you. We have a mission to be active and profitable participants in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.