We began this series examining an incident of the Lord Jesus cursing a fig tree.
It seemed so unlike the Son of Man who would a few days later sacrifice His own blood as perfect Passover sacrifice for the sins of man.
In the Beginning:
It is in Eden where we first hear of the leaves of the fig tree made to cover sin.
Genesis 3:7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Recall that in the beginning, after the Lord created the heavens and the earth, He walked with man {adam} and the woman {Eve} He had created. He walked with them personally.
24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Now consider the three servants. One shrewd servant managed his master’s 5 talents well, in fact not only doubling his investment over time but receiving an extra talent of the not-s0-shrewd servant who hid it away in a miserly manner. The servant who received three talents was also twice blessed. The foolish servant ends up with nothing. Furthermore, he ends up in hell.
Think about your money. Is it your money? Or is it money God has provided for you?
The parable of the talents seems to beg the question: Are you investing God’s resources wisely?
Parable of the Barns
In the parable of the barns we have a man who has invested well; in fact so well that he has need of more barns for his crops. He is rich, yet the man is as miserly with his crops as the man who buried the single talent of his master, that is just one bag of silver coins, in the ground. The rich man is ready to retire with all the holdings he has earned over his days of hard work.
16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’
Did you know that the word ‘soul’ in Greek ψυχή the transliteration means psychē?
What lesson does Jesus bring to the conclusion of this parable?
Parable of the Barns (conclusion)
And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ – Luke 12:19b
20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
Shocking! This man had it all. And then he dies suddenly.
Could it happen? Could it happen to you?
Could you die suddenly before enjoying your earthly reward, the harvest of your many days of hard work?
Parable of the Talents and Barns (conclusion)
Perhaps you have missed a connection between these two parables of Jesus. Jesus does not connect these two parables, yet you may have missed a common thread. This thread has more than a shekel of value in both parables. It is more of an umbilical cord with the complexity of a talent.
280 days of life before light
Man has about 280 days in the womb even before birth. Add about 18oo days to reach school age and maybe 4000 more until this man or woman is ready to save enough shekels to start farming or working for a master in your workplace.
An eighteen year old will probably not note these shekels of days; but many years later the same man will think that he has earned something. He has accomplished something. She has become her own woman.
They have invested their days to gain and built their barns with little consideration of those dependant days when God ruled over their universe.
Many have forgotten when our very life and existence was inextricably tied to our mother. We have not honored our father, who gave his own talents and crops that we might thrive in our mother’s care and under his watchful eye.
10 Talents
1 talent = about 3000 shekels (75 lbs)
A loving father raised you in his home for a shekel of days. When you were ready to grow on your own he gave you everything you needed for your household during the days until his return.
Your loving father gave you twice the talents of some, perhap ten for your shrewdness and even eleven.
The day of His return you do not know.
The average life of a man is about 80 years, perhaps about 30,000 days. By the accounting of your days as shekels your lifespan may be, God willing, about 10 talents.
Jesus said: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
“But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. – Mark 13:31-32
Man is like a breath;
his days are like a passing shadow. – Psalm 144:4
Will you build a barn or will you invest each shekel of your days from the Lord wisely?
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
The word “parable” comes from the Greek word παραβοληparabolee. In the Greek para means beside, and ballo means to cast or throw. So parable, in a very basic sense,means to cast beside. The word “parable”, in its more developed sense, still retains that underlying meaning. [source]
We know parables as stories Jesus would use to illustrate a point – a plausible story that could involve us as a character or participant. Typically we know a point of the story will involve some conclusion leading to a change in our thinking, a sort of paradigm shift (to borrow a 20th c. perspective of such an illustrative story).
Talents
One story of some familiarity may be Jesus’ parable of the talents. Before we hear it once more I ask you if you could define a talent. (No, it’s nothing like the show, ‘Britain’s Got Talent.’) If you guessed money, you get half-credit. (That was all I knew.) Let’s talk shekels first.
A shekel is a Hebrew coin. It’s used as a measure of weight and money; coin-sized weighing 11.4 grams (.4 oz. US). A handful of shekels might be 30 pieces of silver (but Roman coins as pictured were likely worth more, like a US dollar in another country with unstable currency).
A talent is much more than a handful of shekels: The shekel, in turn, was a 50th part of the maneh, and the maneh was a 60th part of the talent. The talent was, of course, equal to 3,000 shekels. [source] A talent in not the precise weight of commerce, but rather the larger calculation of accounting income over time.
By weight 3000 shekels [one talent] would equal about 75 pounds [20-40kg averaging 33kg].
14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
A shekel is a Hebrew coin. It’s used as a measure of weight and money; coin-sized weighing 11.4 grams (.4 oz. US). A handful of shekels might be 30 pieces of silver (but Roman coins as pictured were likely worth more, like a US dollar in another country with unstable currency).
A talent is much more than a handful of shekels: The shekel, in turn, was a 50th part of the maneh, and the maneh was a 60th part of the talent. The talent was, of course, equal to 3,000 shekels. [