Part Three - The Parable of the Talents

Taking something out of context can change its meaning.


Nowhere is this more evident today than in watching our political arena. So tiring. And often misleading.

The same is true of these parables I am writing about. (Not the tiring part.) Maybe I am just a dense student. You decide.

I've heard the Parable of the Talents my entire life. It was certainly one that was taught in the Sunday School and Primary classes of my youth. The message I understood was that the Lord expects us to use our talents or we will lose them. And I felt motivated to develop my personal talents, that my efforts would be pleasing to God.

So when I realized that Matthew 25 was a continuing conversation about the Second Coming and read the Parable of the Talents in that context, I was confused. What did this mean? What did it have to do with the Second Coming? I was stumped. It was not obvious to me.

So I began to ponder. What does it have to do with the Second Coming of the Savior?

And then it hit me. In LDS parlance, "This has to do with the hastening!" All that means is that this parable has to do with our part in building the Kingdom of God.

God expects His followers to assist in building and strengthening His Kingdom. And by doing so we are spiritually "built" and strengthened ourselves, a good way to accumulate some of that spiritual oil that was discussed in my blog about the Parable of the Ten Virgins. 

I decided to study the word 'talent' in the scriptures. 'Gift' and 'responsibility' appear to be interchangeable with 'talent'. Sometimes using synonyms can help broaden understanding. I love reading scriptures with a dictionary at hand because it often helps increase my understanding.

To keep this post to a reasonable length I will just share a couple of thoughts that came from this talent-study. Stay with me a minute.

The Gospel of Luke was enlightening. Gospel writers tell the same stories from their own perspectives. Luke calls his story the Parable of the Pounds in Luke 19. It has the same scenario. A nobleman calls his servants and delivers to each different amounts of his wealth and then expects an accounting upon his return. The words used in this narrative caught my attention, first in bewilderment. The nobleman says to his servants, "Occupy till I come." What's that suppose to mean? A footnote explains. It means, "Do business till I come." 

Next, from LDS scripture, D&C 35:27 "Fear not, little flock, the kingdom is yours until I come. Behold, I come quickly." (The emphasis is mine.)

And, "Therefore seek ye to bring forth the kingdom of God..." This is the Joseph Smith translation of Luke 12:31. (To see the JST version on this link, look for Show Footnotes.)

Combine these thoughts and you find that the Master has given His Kingdom to His servants to manage or bear responsible for until He comes again, with the injunction to "Do business till I come" or to "...seek...to bring forth the kingdom of God". Both parables give this message.

So, in the context of preparing for the Second Coming of the Savior which is the context of Matthew 25, how do we do that? How do we each go about His business and seek to establish His Kingdom?

That will be different for each of us since we have different talents and responsibilities. But have you asked yourself, "What can I do to help build and strengthen God's Kingdom here on the earth? What can I do to help prepare for His Coming?

Can we make it our personal responsibility instead of a church responsibility or a general Christian responsibility?  What will doing the Lord's business look like in your world? 

Who can I strengthen today? Who needs my love? Who needs kindness? Can I help to strengthen faith that is waning? Where am I spending my precious time? "Thou shalt not idle away thy time, neither shalt thou bury thy talent that it may not be known." Do we need to retire a few less-worthy pursuits in order to "Do business till I come?"

These are just some of the questions I have asked myself as I have put this parable back into context. Developing talents is a good message but the context of the message is preparing for our Savior's return. 

"...may the kingdom of God go forth, that the kingdom of heaven may come..." Love that prayer! 

What is your part to play?

Part Two - The Parable of the Ten Virgins

The parables in Matthew 25.  There are three of them. 

• The Parable of the Ten Virgins
• The Parable of the Talents
• The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats

So what do they have to do with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ?

That is the question I asked myself. I will tell you my thoughts, but please share any inspiration you have. I would love to learn more.

The Ten Virgins.  It's all about being prepared. But in what way?

In the parable there is to be a wedding and the custom was for the bridegroom to come to the bride's home in the evening. The wedding guests waited along the route the bridegroom would walk and then followed him to attend the wedding. In this story the bridegroom did not come until midnight and half of the virgins who awaited his approach did not bring sufficient oil with them to burn their lamps that long. They asked those who had brought extra to share with them but those wise virgins could not share since they would then not have enough themselves. Those who were unprepared were advised to hurry and try to buy what they needed; but, of course, in so doing, they were too late for the wedding.

Spencer W. Kimball, a former president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, taught about this parable. He said that the oil represented spiritual preparations and that is why the women could not share their oil. How do you give someone your faith in a Savior or your trust in God or your ability to obey God?

President Kimball gave counsel on preparing spiritually. Things like attending church, kindness, scripture study, prayer, service to family and community - particularly done consistently - all help produce that spiritual oil needed in our lives. Below is a video that enacts the parable and then depicts ways today we can build our own spiritual preparedness, things you are likely already doing. (The music at the end is a bit dated but the message is the important part.)



Elder Dallin H. Oaks counseled,

"We need to make both temporal and spiritual preparation for the events prophesied at the time of the Second Coming. And the preparation most likely to be neglected is the one less visible and more difficult—the spiritual."

Spiritual preparations cannot be made in an instant and cannot be shared. And the time to prepare is now. Continue to prepare, or begin to prepare. But do not delay.

Elder Oaks mentioned temporal preparations. So what of those?  

Modern prophets have counseled repeatedly of a need to prepare our families against a day of want. They go so far as to tell us to build a year's supply of basic foods, where permitted to do so, and clothing and fuel where possible, to avoid debt, and to have savings. I never associated that counsel with the Second Coming of the Savior. I don't know why I didn't. I obediently stored food for the rainy day and have been grateful I did so many times when things were lean for us. Because of having basics stored I have always been able to make do. So I have been grateful for this counsel from these modern prophets.

But, as I mentioned in my previous post, I have spent a lot of time studying what has been said about the Second Coming. In those studies it became obvious to me the connection between the events preceding the Second Coming of the Savior and the counsel to store food and other commodities. Some of the prophetic counsel was even shocking to me. 

"Should the Lord decide at this time to cleanse the Church—and the need for that cleansing seems to be increasing—a famine in this land of one year's duration could wipe out a large percentage of slothful members, including some ward and stake officers. Yet we cannot say we have not been warned."  Ezra Taft Benson

President Benson is not the only prophet that said something to this effect. He got my attention and for the first time I made an association between preparedness counsel and the time Jesus talked about in Matthew 24.

Here's another quote about the counsel to store food. 

"The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah."   Ezra Taft Benson, 

The more you read about the prophecies regarding the Second Coming, the more you understand just why he said that!

I'm going to address the other two parables in other posts and I'm taking them in the order they appear in the scriptures. Regarding preparedness, I could write several posts on the subject from everything I have learned, but I will just leave it with my encouragement to seriously consider your spiritual and temporal preparedness. And then do something to increase it still more.

I believe the prophesied time that the Savior spoke about in Matthew 24 has arrived. That doesn't mean I think He is coming tomorrow. I don't believe that. We have a lot to get through as we watch these prophesies unfold. But they have begun. And He has given instructions on how to navigate this time in these parables. The first one is about our preparation. Modern prophets have expounded on that, both spiritual preparation and physical preparation. If you believe in modern prophets (and I know that not everyone does), will you follow their counsel? Will you prepare? Will you be wise as in the parable? I know I have had to make changes in my life as I have been learning about these things. And one of those changes has been to more carefully and diligently follow the counsel of prophets. God has always guided His people through prophets. I believe He still does.

Are we preparing?