Summary: Jesus often taught using parables, and a parable is a fictional story meant to teach a truth. One of his more well-known parables is that of the talents. but before he began giving it, he explained that the purpose of this particular parable was to teach us what the kingdom of heaven is like. This article takes an in-depth look at what that is.
In the 25th chapter of Matthew we read the parable of the talents, where a man called his servants together and delivered unto them his goods before traveling to a far country. To one he gave five talents, to another two talents and to another he gave one talent. Then, after some time had passed, he returned and had each servant account for what they had done with the goods or talents given to them. Those who had increased their talents were rewarded and the one who did not increase his talent was severely punished.
This is a well-known parable and a parable is something that is meant to teach a truth through the use of a fictional story, similar to what Aesop did with his fables. Jesus explained that his purpose in giving this particular parable was to teach us what the kingdom of heaven is like (verse 14). Therefore, this parable was meant to teach us a truth about heaven.
Back in the days of Jesus, a “talent” was a large measurement of money that equaled what the average person would make in 20 years of working. Today the word “talent” means a particular skill, aptitude, or ability that someone has. Interestingly, in this parable, either definition will work just as well in understanding the truth about heaven Jesus was trying to convey.
The apostle John tells us that in the beginning, “All things were made by him (the Word, or Jesus); and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). Therefore, this earth and everything associated with it belongs to Jesus because it is the work of his hands. John also tells us that “In him (Jesus) was life; and the life was the light of men” (verse 4), therefore, even our very life on this earth is a result of what Jesus has given us.
We learn this truth in the first chapter of Genesis where we read, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Genesis 1:26). Notice that God said, “Let us make man in our image.” It was God the Father, along with his Son, who gave us life, thus even our very life belongs to God.
Then, after God had created Adam and Eve, he gave them dominion over all things on the earth, however, that doesn’t mean Jesus gave up his right of ownership over the earth or over our own life. Rather, God put Adam and Eve in charge of taking care of what belonges to him. In other words, Adam and Eve became stewards over God’s possessions.
A steward is someone who cares for something that belongs to someone else. For example, when we hire a babysitter, it’s to have them care for our children in our absence. As such, they become stewards of what belongs to us, caring for them in our absence. In short, a steward is someone who is trusted to work in the interest of their employer.
In the parable of the talents, it speaks of a servant as needing to be wise and profitable. Such a servant is faithful to their employer by carrying out their duties as if they were doing it for themselves. In other words, a wise and profitable servant is someone who cares about the interests of their employer as much or more than they care about their own interests. For this reason, a wise and profitable servant is someone who their employer trusts and has complete faith in.
When Adam and Eve were given dominion over the earth, they were also given instructions from God of what he wanted them to do. For example, after placing Adam in a garden, he told him to “to dress it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15). It was God who had planted this garden (verse 8) and as such it belonged to him. Even so, he allowed Adam to live there, but he also commanded Adam to care for it and keep it in good condition. In effect, Adam became the live-in caretaker of a garden that belonged to God. What this tells us is that God is the Master over his property, while we are his servants, carrying out his instructions of how he wants us to care for and manage what belongs to him.
Although the earth and all that is on it belongs to God, he has nonetheless given man dominion over all that the earth contains, meaning he has given it to us for our use. As the scriptures say, “Out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food” (Genesis 2:8). God has also provided us animals for food, raiment, and for use in our labor (D&C 49:19). He has also planted forests that provide us with an overabundance of wood with which we can build homes and furniture. He has also stocked the earth with an abundance of water for us to drink. Although all these things belong to God, he had nonetheless placed them on his earth for our benefit.
Yet, that doesn’t mean these things belong to us to use any way we want, but rather God expects us to use the resources of the earth wisely and in a responsible manner. That means we’re neither to waste what God has given us nor let it go unused (which is a form of waste).
But these are not the only things God has given us. When Jesus came to earth, he proclaimed that the kingdom of God was at hand and that people were to prepare themselves to receive it. Besides preaching his gospel of salvation, Jesus also created an organization or church whose purpose was to oversee the work of the ministry (preaching the gospel) and to help perfect the saints so they can measure up to the full stature of Christ (Ephesians 4:12,13).
In our day, the Lord has explained that everyone who becomes a member of his church is given at least one gift of the Spirit (D&C 46:11) and has explained that all such gifts are given for the benefit of those who love the Lord (verse 8). Therefore, when we receive a gift from the Spirit, we are also receiving a responsibility to use it for its intended purpose.
In the temples of the Lord, we promise to consecrate our talents or all that the Lord has given us to building up the kingdom of God on the earth. When we make that commitment, we are voluntarily taking upon ourselves the responsibility of using the talents we have as wise and faithful servants of Christ. The reason why God wants us to make good use of the talents he has given us is for the purpose of increasing his kingdom.
To illustrate this, suppose we want to have all the rooms in our house painted. We could hire someone who has the skill and talent for painting. If that painter put as much care into painting our home as if it was his own, we would be well-pleased with his work and gladly pay his asking price. But imagine if we had provided the painter with the paint, brushes, and all other materials he needed and yet he didn’t do as good a job as he could have. We would no doubt be very displeased with his work.
God has provided us with talents along with everything else we need to live here on earth, and all he asks is that we use what he has given us and do our best to help him save his children when he extends us a calling to serve him in his church. Just like gifts of the Spirit, all callings are meant to help the Lord build his kingdom here on the earth which includes preaching the gospel, perfecting the saints, redeeming the dead, and helping the poor and the needy. Therefore, every calling we receive is a responsibility or stewardship to care for the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. In the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we talk about “magnifying our calling” which means that a person is expected to improve upon what they’ve been given.
This is the obvious message Jesus was trying to teach in the parable of the talents. Two of the servants increased what they were given and were praised for their efforts, while the last servant did nothing to improve what had been given him and was condemned for his lack of effort.
Jesus also taught that when he comes again in his glory, he will gather people from all nations and divide “them from one another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:31-33) and what will determine who are the sheep and who are the goats is how they cared about the needs of others.
Jesus taught that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, mind and strength, but then he felt the need to explain that the second greatest commandment is similar, which is to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:39). In other words, we’re also to love our neighbor with all of our heart, mind and strength.
The examples Jesus gave were feeding the hungry, helping strangers, caring for the sick, the poor and those in need. The scriptures also tell us to be “willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort” (Mosiah 18:8,9), In our day the Lord has said, “Wherefore, be faithful; stand in the office which I have appointed unto you; succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees” (D&C 81:5). We are our brother’s keeper, which makes us a steward over one another, and when we care about their needs as much or more than we care about our own, then we are being a wise and faithful steward.
And there is yet another way God has made us stewards. He has said, “And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them” (Abraham 3:25). The only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ, and what makes that possible is his atoning sacrifice. However, that alone is not sufficient. For the atonement to have any effect, we must not only believe in Christ, but we must also keep his commandments.
Jesus has said, “I have sent mine everlasting covenant into the world, to be a light to the world, and to be a standard for my people” (D&C 45:9). Jesus has given us his gospel, or good news of how to be saved and he has entrusted it to us. It is a light to guide us through the darkness and God is watching to see if we will be good stewards of his gospel by seeing how wisely and faithfully we use it.
In the parable of the talents, Jesus is the man who goes off to a foreign country and all of us are his servants to whom he has given responsibility or stewardship over managing the resources of this earth, our callings, our talents, our neighbors, the gospel and even our own life, all of which belongs to God, and with stewardship comes accountability, meaning, there will come a time when we will have to answer for what we’ve done with what God has entrusted to us.
One of the things that the scriptures repeatedly talk about is the day of judgment, which is when each of us will stand before the bar of Christ to answer for the things we’ve done in the flesh. That day is also known as the day of reckoning, and it will be the time when we will have to give an account of how well we carried out our duties as stewards.
Besides how well we kept the commandments of God, we will have to answer for how well we used whatever talents, skills, or abilities we had and how well we improved upon them. We will have to answer for how well we fulfilled our callings in the church. We will have to answer for how well we cared about others. We will also have to answer for how well we used the gift of life that God gave us
This is what Jesus was trying to teach us in his parable of the talents, but how is this like heaven? Or asked differently, what does this parable teach us about what it’s like to live in heaven? The answer is found in the response the man gave to his servants.
To each of his servants who improved what they had been given stewardship over, “His lord said unto him, 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” (verse 21).
There is a word in this verse that most people tend to gloss over which is the word “ruler.” Because these servants had been faithful in seeking to improve what belonged to their Master, he was going to elevate them to becoming a ruler. Now they would rule over others just like their master ruled over them. In effect, they would become like him – almost. However, that doesn’t mean they were no longer subject to him. In fact, just the opposite is true. They would still be his servants, but because of their faithfulness, he would elevate them to a more exalted position of stewardship where they too would have authority over others. But what does that have to do in describing what heaven is like?
As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe we were born as spirit children to our Father in heaven, and that as part of our education to learn how to become like him, we were sent to earth to live in mortality for a short period of time. While here, we would be given certain responsibilities that were designed to help us grow to become more like God.
If we showed we were willing to improve the responsibilities God gave us, then we were also demonstrating that we were willing to learn how to handle the responsibilities that go with being like God. On the other hand, if we showed no interest in learning how to care for what little we’ve been given, there is no sense giving us more responsibility because we wouldn’t be prepared to handle them.
To become like God means doing what he does, and he rules over his children, of which there is an untold number of them. Imagine what would become of those spirits if God didn’t strive to do the best at everything he did. And so, God gives us stewardship over a few things to see how well we do in caring for them. If we show we are willing to improve upon whatever God has given us, then we are showing him that we’re serious about preparing ourselves to someday be capable of ruling over an innumerable number of our own spirit children who will look to us as the example to follow. This is the message Jesus was trying to convey in the parable of the talents as he tried to teach us what heaven is like.
Related articles can be found at The Nature of Heaven
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