How do you read the Bible?
Parable of the talents from Matt 25:14-30
For many hundreds of years now, we in western culture/society have adopted a
mindset that generally prioritizes knowledge, rules, and information. With this
mindset, we can often process what we see and hear through the lens of “What
am I supposed to learn from this?” Or, “What’s the rule I need to follow?” As I
first learned about this phenomenon from my friend, Terry Ewing, he would
describe this (when applied to reading the Bible) as “reading from the outside
in.” The fallacy in doing so means that we can often miss the relational and
emotional aspects of scripture. So, we have adopted a practice of “reading
from the inside out!”
When we read this passage from the outside in, we can hear messages like “You
are only valuable if you are using your talents productively.” “If you do not
perform well, what you have will be taken away.” And “You should be doing
more with what you have been given!” I would argue that these messages all
contain shame as their motivation. However, they get used quite frequently
when we want to launch new programs that we want the people to help with. I
have wrestled with this passage for some time now. As we can acknowledge
and embrace a grace based message of salvation, we can all too quickly revert
back to performance based discipleship and this passage gets used abundantly
to reinforce this message. So, what would it look like to read this passage from
the inside out? Disclaimer! I have never heard anyone teach what I am about to
share so it may be wrong; but, since the research I have done has convinced
me, I am going to teach it as truth. I encourage you to not just take my word for
it but to do the research for yourself!
We pick up this parable in Matthew 25 as one of many parables that Jesus was
telling to describe the “kingdom of heaven.” So, again we can see that just from
that context, that it was about something bigger, something deeper than just
using our talents. In verse 14, he lays the foundation for the parable, which
ends up being the most critical aspect of the story. It reads like this, “For it (the
kingdom of heaven) is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his
own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them.” This seemingly innocuous
sentence holds some really special meanings. A simple look at the Strong’s
concordance unlocks the difference. Let’s look at two words in particular:
“entrusting” and “possessions.”
The word translated as entrusting paints this amazing picture of a transfer of
power. The actual definition is “to give into the hands of another” and “to giveover into one’s power or use.” As I pondered this transfer of power, I began to
ask myself what other relational position would have the power of the head of
the family transferred to them? The answer was pretty obvious. The transfer of
power would normally go to the son! The man was offering the invitation to “his
slaves” to now enter into a new status as sons! Then we move to the word
“possessions.” When we read this word, we think of things because it sounds
like a noun. But in the original language, this word is actually a verb! It literally
means behaving or living. So then now the story is not about how we treat the
things, but how we embrace his way of behaving and his way of living-accepting
a new identity if you will. When we put these definitions back into the story, we
get an invitation to move out of slavery, into sonship, and to embrace a new way
of living! This totally transforms the rest of the story. When the slaves could
move into their new identities, they had the freedom to do like the master did.
To buy and sell, to make profits, to expand his influence. The two that were able
to move into their identity were praised and rewarded in the end. The one that
was fearful and did not “act wisely” was not rejected because of his failure to
perform, but instead had rejected his gift of a new position and the identity of
sonship. That refusal meant that he could no longer be a part, and what he had
was given to one that did embrace the new identity.
So then, the kingdom is like that. There is an invitation being offered that moves
us out of slavery and orphanhood. That invitation is one into sonship/
daughterhood. One that helps us to operate not out of our own power and
authority, but out of the power and authority that has been transferred to us.
Not for use to use out of our old identity, but in the way of being and living just
like the one who gave it to us. This is reading from the inside out!