The Parable of the Three Servants

Right now you may be saying, "its alread well documented what this parable means, why bring it up.  It is an allegory for using spritual gifts, not much else to see."  That is where I say stop and then say this:

I propose another purrpose for this Parable.  What if instead of viewing the bags of silver as metaphors for spiritual gifts, we looked at them as metaphors for the word of God.  So how bout it, that could work too couldn't it.  Lets look at it more indepth.  In the parable one servant was given 5 bags, one was given 2, and another was given one.  The servant with five bags invested it and earned five more bags.  The servant with two bags earned two more by doing something (we aren't told what).  The servant who was given only one bag burried it in the ground.  Lets look at the allegorical sense of each servant now.  The servant with five bags is someone who becomes a minister, or some other career where they spread the good news for a living.  Since they are always using the Gospel they have the best grip, and because their primary focus is bringing to Jesus they will win many converts.   The person with two bags is a person who knows Jesus, and is always willing to share the Gospel with anyone who will listen, but their career does not directly involve evangelizing.  They are the scientists, and accountants, and athletes, and musicians, and everyone else who has a belief in God.  Because they are not always using the Gospel their grasp of it is not as strong as their pastor (in most cases) and because they do not devote all of their time to making disciples of Christ they have less of a pay off.  Those two positions are where most people fit in.  The final servant did something horrible.  He was afraid.  He hid the gift he was told about.  He was perhaps afraid people would prove that his newfound faith wasn't real.  He hid this faith and ended up losing it anyway.  Thats the one place we as disciples of Christ do not want to be.  We have to be willing to spread our faith no matter what we do if the opportunity arises.

14 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. 15 He gave five bags of silver^[a] to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.

 16 “The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. 17 The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. 18 But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.

 19 “After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. 20 The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’

 21 “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!^[b]’

 22 “The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’

 23 “The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’

 24 “Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. 25 I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’

 26 “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, 27 why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’

 28 “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. 29 To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. 30 Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Well, its been a while and i'm obviously out of practice.  sorry bout the lack of clarity, but i think you will all be able to get the general meaning.  

Until next time

Godspeed