Everyone is given gifts of great value

How does who we are relate to the parable of the talents?

In the Old Testament a talent is a measurement of weight, estimated to be about 75.6 pounds or 34.27 kilograms. Some Bible scholars believe it should be 100 pounds, referring to the equivalent "hundredweight". 

By the New Testament a talent was a sum of money. Scholars are divided about how much it is. Some cite it as being the equivalent of 20 years worth of wages for a common worker. Others are more conservative claiming it was worth $1,000 to $3,000. 

Here's another idea of what a talent may be worth. In a different parable where a servant owes his master 10,000 talents it could represent something like 204 metric tons of silver. The word "talent" comes from the Greek and refers to an amount of money that's about 6,000 Greek drachmas or Roman denarii. So based on this the 10,000 talents owed would be equivalent to 60 million denarii.

A denarii is considered to be a day's salary. Based on that 6,000 denarii (or 1 talent) would be the equivalent of 6,000 days of work. Let's put that in today's perspective. Working 5 days a week for 48 weeks (this is taking weekends and 4 weeks of vacation/time off) for of the year would earn a common worker 240 denarii. This is 25 years of work. If a worker works 7 days a week for 52 weeks each year its almost 16.5 years. For someone working 6 days each week, taking the Sabbath off, and 52 weeks of the year (which isn't likely since there were several multi-day holidays in the Jewish calendar) 6,000 talents would be more than 19 years worth of work.

The debt the one servant owed...I'm not even sure how he could've incurred such an astronomical amount of debt. But that's the point of the parable.

However, I'm looking at the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25 verses 14 to 30.

To one servant the master gave 5 talents. The second received 2 talents. And the third "only" received one talent.

I believe most people realize there are some people who are more responsible, more trustworthy, more willing to actually do things to improve themselves and others. Too often we consider others as having more talents than we do.

But don't miss the point. Remember the value of the talent. Even the third servant received the equivalent of at least 19 years worth of work. This is better than most inheritances. How much good could you do with this? How much interest could you earn if you just simply put it in a savings account? What about a modest investment instrument earning 6-7% interest?

As a tangent, and just to get you an idea of how much might be involved let's use some numbers. 

At a low end of $24,000 per year this would be $456,000...and that's working 6 days a week for 52 weeks. That's a 48 hour work week at $9.6 per hour.

We have no idea exactly how long the master was gone, the parable only states "After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them"

So, just for something let's say the master was gone for 5 years. If $456,000 was placed in a 0.5% interest account for 5 years it would receive about $11,514 in interest. Obviously that would be higher the longer its left. 

If it got 5% interest, the future value of $456,000 after five years would be $581.984, or it would have earned $125,984 dollars in interest. A slightly more aggressive investment earning 8% interest over that same time would earn $214,013 in interest.

Remember, the person isn't doing anything except putting the money into the interest bearing instrument/account.

So, let's go with what is considered the "median average salary" for workers in the United States which was estimated, during the first three months of 2020, to be $49,764. And, let's assume these workers have a 5 day work week and, to make it simpler, they're salaried and get paid vacation time. This is being paid for 260 days per year (5 days x 52 weeks). If a talent is the equivalent to 6,000 work days, then it would be the total salaries of 23 years of work, assuming no pay increases.

At the $49,764 per year salary and 23 years, a talent would be worth $1,144,572.

Let's use the same interest numbers as before and assume 5 years of time.

In a 0.5% savings account, interest earned would amount to $28,901.

With a 5% annual interest rate the total interest would be about $316,224, with a total of $1,460,796.

At an 8% interest rate, there would be $537,179 earned in interest and the future value (total) would be $1,681,751.

Now, let's go back to the parable.

Yes, the first and second servants were given large amounts of money to take care of for their lord. And their lord was pleased with the efforts. He even told both of them the same thing (with the exception that "thou" was not used when the lord addressed the second servant:

"Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."

But, here's the point: Even the third servant received an enormous amount of money. 

And the servant simply did nothing with money, except to hide it by burying it. I'm sure the lord didn't expect much, because he didn't give the servant much, but I'm certain the lord hoped the servant would do something useful with it that would at least marginally increase its value.

Is is any wonder that the lord was extremely disappointed and called that third servant "wicked and slothful". The lord told the servant that the very least that should have been done was to "put [the] money to the exchangers, and then at [the lord's] coming [the lord] should have received [his] own [money] with usury" (usury is interest).

How would you act if you gave someone a large sum of money for them to increase and after the allotted time they just returned what you gave them?

And with inflation the future value of money is worth less than that same value is today. So, factoring inflation into the mix, the talent worth of money given to the servant is worth less when the lord returns than when the lord gave it to the servant.

Here's the lesson.

Everyone is given gifts of immense value for this life. These gifts may be physical or spiritual. Some of these we may even identify as a talent, skill, or ability. It may be an obvious talent or ability. Maybe it's the oft-overlooked gift to make others feel valued or appreciated. Or to smile or to see the good in situations and/or others.

Relating the parable of the talents to us, to those who are given much, much is expected of them. For those with fewer gifts, not as much is expected. 

However, no matter what we have, all of us are expected to improve who we are. This means becoming even just a little better today than we were yesterday. A year from now we should be better than we are today.

If we look back, especially from a year's perspective, and realize we are worse off, that we haven't improved, or that we're just in the same place then we need to start making some changes. We need to understand we cannot expect different results by doing the same thing.

Changes do not need to be huge. In fact, for most people, trying to make big changes--particularly changes in beliefs, mindset, habits, etc. and/or in other life areas and facets that make up who you presently are--often don't last very long. Smaller changes are usually easier to sustain and support over time.

It is often the small changes, compounded over time, that make the biggest difference. That is what we're going for. Even if you feel like you have no gift, you do. If you don't believe it, ask someone who knows and cares about you. Then do something little everyday to improve on that gift. Maybe start taking baby steps towards gaining another skill or ability, or to just learn something new. 

Take joy in the journey, the process of becoming. If you do this it will be easier to make daily small changes that will become a part of you. Those small efforts will compound into something great in the future.

And remember it's really difficult to go forward in life, towards a better and brighter future, while focusing on your past. Learn from the past, but it doesn't define your future.

(https://www.learnreligions.com/what-is-a-talent-700699)

(https://www.dubiousdisciple.com/2011/10/matthew-2525-how-much-is-a-talent.html)