Q: I recently heard a new interpretation of the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) that basically says the master in the parable is greedy and cruel and is not representative of God. According to this view, the master is part of an unjust economic system that preys on the poor and that the servants who received the 5 talents and the 2 talents and multiplied them were participating in this unjust system, but the one who buried the talent given to him and did nothing with it was the hero of the story for refusing to participate in such an unjust system. In all honesty, I was shocked when I heard this. Have you ever heard that version of the parable?
A: (cont’d from last week…) As I mentioned in last week’s article, there are a number of principles of scriptural exegesis that the author of this “twist” on the Parable of the Talents apparently did not take into consideration when coming up with this particular interpretation. First and foremost, as mentioned last week, is reading a passage in context. Matthew 25 starts with a parable about the return of Christ and the reward of the righteous at the eternal wedding banquet in Heaven, and it ends with a description of the return of Christ and the rewarding of the righteous with Heaven. So, the story that is sandwiched in between those two, which speaks of the “return” of the Master and the rewarding of the “good and faithful” servants by them entering into the “joy of [their] master,” is supposed to be – according to this new interpretation – about the return of an evil and unjust master and how an individual can help undermine an unjust economic system? That interpretation simply does not fit the context – it isn’t even close. That is bad scriptural exegesis. That is inserting one’s own political and economic philosophy into the words of Scripture, and making Scripture say what we want it to say, rather than searching for the meaning God intended it to reveal (Catechism, #109).
Another principle of scriptural exegesis that was violated here, is that we are supposed to read and interpret Scripture according to the heart of the Church, or within “the living Tradition of the whole Church” (Catechism, #113). In other words, we need to pay attention to how the Church has traditionally seen this parable. So, how do we know the heart of the Church in regard to a particular Scripture passage? Well, there are a few ways. First, how does the Church use this reading liturgically? When this Gospel passage was read back in November (33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time), the first reading was from Proverbs, and it was about giving a worthy wife praise and reward for her good works. There is generally a common thread running through the readings on any given Sunday, particularly between the Old Testament reading and the Gospel. So, if in the Old Testament reading we find someone being rewarded for their good works, we would expect to find a similar theme in the Gospel reading.
Also, that particular week, the 2nd reading was about the return of Christ on the “Day of the Lord.” So, if the first reading speaks of rewarding someone for their good works, and the second reading speaks of the “Day of the Lord,” we would expect to find similar themes in the Gospel reading. Which we do, if that reading is interpreted as being about Christ as the Master who returns after a long absence to reward those servants that He finds doing His work while He’s been away. But, if we interpret the Parable of the Talents as being about the return of a wicked and greedy master and two equally greedy servants and an unjust economic system and the hero is the servant who did nothing with what his master had given him, then it is completely out of sync with the other readings. There simply was nothing in either of those other readings about unjust economic systems and the return of a wicked and greedy master.
Another way we can fairly easily determine the heart of the Church in regard to a particular passage of Scripture, is to see if that passage is referenced in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. There is a 32-page scriptural index in the back of the Catechism that gives us every paragraph of the Catechism that cites a scriptural passage. This index basically cross references Scripture with the Catechism and it helps the reader of Scripture to better understand and appreciate how Church teaching and Scripture go hand-in-hand with one another. It is a wonderful tool for anyone who wishes to read and study Scripture and I highly recommend always having your Catechism around when reading Scripture.
And how does the Catechism view the Parable of the Talents? Well, we see in paragraphs #546, 1029, 1720, 1936, and 2683 that the Church sees the Parable of the Talents as being about Christ giving His servants different gifts before He goes off on a journey, the return of Christ, the servants being rewarded in accord with what they did with the gifts they had been given, and those servants who made a return on what they were given being rewarded with eternity in Heaven – the “joy of their Master.” Nothing about the master being evil and greedy, or an unjust economic system, or any other such novelties.
There is one more way that we can discern the heart of the Church when it comes to Scripture, and that is by looking at the writings of the Church Fathers.
Next week: What do the Church Fathers say…
A: (cont’d from last week…) As I mentioned in last week’s article, there are a number of principles of scriptural exegesis that the author of this “twist” on the Parable of the Talents apparently did not take into consideration when coming up with this particular interpretation. First and foremost, as mentioned last week, is reading a passage in context. Matthew 25 starts with a parable about the return of Christ and the reward of the righteous at the eternal wedding banquet in Heaven, and it ends with a description of the return of Christ and the rewarding of the righteous with Heaven. So, the story that is sandwiched in between those two, which speaks of the “return” of the Master and the rewarding of the “good and faithful” servants by them entering into the “joy of [their] master,” is supposed to be – according to this new interpretation – about the return of an evil and unjust master and how an individual can help undermine an unjust economic system? That interpretation simply does not fit the context – it isn’t even close. That is bad scriptural exegesis. That is inserting one’s own political and economic philosophy into the words of Scripture, and making Scripture say what we want it to say, rather than searching for the meaning God intended it to reveal (Catechism, #109).
Another principle of scriptural exegesis that was violated here, is that we are supposed to read and interpret Scripture according to the heart of the Church, or within “the living Tradition of the whole Church” (Catechism, #113). In other words, we need to pay attention to how the Church has traditionally seen this parable. So, how do we know the heart of the Church in regard to a particular Scripture passage? Well, there are a few ways. First, how does the Church use this reading liturgically? When this Gospel passage was read back in November (33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time), the first reading was from Proverbs, and it was about giving a worthy wife praise and reward for her good works. There is generally a common thread running through the readings on any given Sunday, particularly between the Old Testament reading and the Gospel. So, if in the Old Testament reading we find someone being rewarded for their good works, we would expect to find a similar theme in the Gospel reading.
Also, that particular week, the 2nd reading was about the return of Christ on the “Day of the Lord.” So, if the first reading speaks of rewarding someone for their good works, and the second reading speaks of the “Day of the Lord,” we would expect to find similar themes in the Gospel reading. Which we do, if that reading is interpreted as being about Christ as the Master who returns after a long absence to reward those servants that He finds doing His work while He’s been away. But, if we interpret the Parable of the Talents as being about the return of a wicked and greedy master and two equally greedy servants and an unjust economic system and the hero is the servant who did nothing with what his master had given him, then it is completely out of sync with the other readings. There simply was nothing in either of those other readings about unjust economic systems and the return of a wicked and greedy master.
Another way we can fairly easily determine the heart of the Church in regard to a particular passage of Scripture, is to see if that passage is referenced in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. There is a 32-page scriptural index in the back of the Catechism that gives us every paragraph of the Catechism that cites a scriptural passage. This index basically cross references Scripture with the Catechism and it helps the reader of Scripture to better understand and appreciate how Church teaching and Scripture go hand-in-hand with one another. It is a wonderful tool for anyone who wishes to read and study Scripture and I highly recommend always having your Catechism around when reading Scripture.
And how does the Catechism view the Parable of the Talents? Well, we see in paragraphs #546, 1029, 1720, 1936, and 2683 that the Church sees the Parable of the Talents as being about Christ giving His servants different gifts before He goes off on a journey, the return of Christ, the servants being rewarded in accord with what they did with the gifts they had been given, and those servants who made a return on what they were given being rewarded with eternity in Heaven – the “joy of their Master.” Nothing about the master being evil and greedy, or an unjust economic system, or any other such novelties.
There is one more way that we can discern the heart of the Church when it comes to Scripture, and that is by looking at the writings of the Church Fathers.
Next week: What do the Church Fathers say…
 | About John Martignoni John Martignoni is the Director of the Office of Evangelization for the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama and also the President of the Bible Christian Society. John's column, Apologetics 101, appears regularly in the diocesan newspaper, the One Voice. If you have a question about the Catholic Faith, please send an email to: jmartignoni@bhmdiocese.org. And check out John's free audio and written apologetics materials at: www.biblechristiansociety.com. |
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