The word, “talent” came into the English language from today’s Gospel (Mt 25:14-30). The original Greek word for this silver coin is talenta, which was worth about a thousand dollars. It has come to mean an aptitude or ability to do something. The story begins with a man who is going on a journey and gives his servants talenta, according to their abilities, one received five, one received two and another one. The first two doubled what they received but the third one buried the coin for fear of losing it and displeasing the master. When the master returned, he gave the first two servants larger responsibilities and welcomed them into his “joy,” but he dismissed the third servant. For Thomas Aquinas, today’s parable is a lesson to “multiply the goods we have received”
According to Thomas, the master who was preparing for a journey is Christ. The journey might be understood as Christ’s Ascension (Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew) Paul speaks of our earthly life as times away from the Lord: “While we are in the body, we are away from the Lord” (2 Cor 5:6). Thomas proposes a “spiritual” interpretation of Christ’s journey, “not that He has traveled from us but that we have traveled from Him.” The man calls his servants, as Jesus calls His followers, “You have not chosen me but I have chosen you” (Jn 15:16). Similar to the man, Jesus gives what is “His” in different amounts of talents. Thomas understands that the “talents” represent a diversity of graces. Paul states, “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts…” (1 Cor 12:4). The Letter to the Ephesians affirms, ‘To every one of us is given grace, according to the measure of Christ’ (Eph 4:7). The gifts are given, as the Gospel states, “according to the ability of each.” While the one who receives two receives twice as much as he who receives one, the one who receives five receives “incomparably more.”
The talents may represent the gifts of God’s wisdom. Just as the talents belong to the man, each one of us has been given gifts by God in a generous way. We often forget that our abilities are gifts. Thomas grants that a person might have more capacity at a given time. He refers to passages that suggest a capacity to grow. Jesus declares, “I have yet many things to tell you but you cannot bear them now” (Jn 16:12), suggesting that more will come in due time. Paul tells the Corinthians, “As to you little ones, I gave you milk to drink not meat” (1 Cor 3:2), opening up the possibility of “meat” eventually. We are able to develop our capacities. It may seem that once God has given a gift, its use depends entirely on us. Thomas rejects this idea by means of Augustine’s explanation of a verse from Second
Corinthians, “Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves, as of ourselves” (2 Cor 3:5). Augustine understood that if we cannot think only by ourselves, neither can we act by ourselves.
The one who makes more effort is also given the grace to make more effort from the higher cause. Thomas finds this reliance on grace confirmed by the Book of Lamentations, “Lead us back to you, O Lord, and we will come back” (Lam 5:21). Thomas’ point is reassuring because it means that we can rely on God for help in using our talents. Thomas teaches that even our disposition to respond to God, as well as our efforts, is brought about by grace: “The virtue in accordance with which God gives His gifts to each one, is a disposition or previous preparation or effort of the one who receives grace. But the Holy Spirit forestalls even this disposition or effort, by moving man’s mind either more or less, according as He will” (2a2ae. 24, 3 ad 1).
Thomas maintains that Jesus doesn’t actually leave us yet He allows us to act freely: “He does not compel us to use the gifts that are given.” Although God works with us, He doesn’t overpower our free choice. The Gospel says that the man who received the five talents went and invested it. Thomas sees the man’s action as a demonstration of the increase of virtue: “For virtue grows through the exercise of the action; if it is not exercised, it weakens.” We recognize that any ability, for instance with regard to music or athletics, improves as it is exercised. Thomas affirms that virtue also increases as it is exercised. If a person has knowledge of Scripture, he or she profits. If he or she has charity, he or she profits others as well. St. Peter says, “As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Pt 4:10). Paul declares: “I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you” (1 Cor 11:23).
Thomas concludes, “If you give to others what you receive, just as much do you increase.” We benefit as we help others. The one servant buried his talent. Thomas recalls the words of Origen that if a man has a gift of understanding yet wishes to live religiously but only for himself when he is able to profit many, he hides his talent in the earth. The Book of Tobit declares: “The works of the Lord are to be declared and made known” (Tb 12:7). Thomas will repeat this principle that our gifts are given to us in order to use them for others. The master of the servants took a long time before returning, which Thomas interprets to mean that “The Lord gives us a long time for doing good.” Thomas notes that the servant who had accumulated another five had the confidence to come forward to present his talents to the master. Thomas comments that this is the confidence that we have in the blood of Christ, as the Letter to the Hebrews states, “through the blood of Jesus we have confidence to enter into the sanctuary…” (Heb 10:19).
The servant brought the amount forward and presented it to the master, without keeping anything for himself. Thomas reflects: “If you do some good, such as converting someone, and you attribute it to yourself, not to God, you are unfaithful.” The First Book of Chronicles states: “Everything is from You. And we only give You what we have received from You” (1 Chron 29:14). Paul asks, “What do you possess that you have not received” (1 Cor 4:7). The servant acknowledges that he received the talents from the master, “Lord, you let me have five talents” The master calls the servant who invested the money “good.” Thomas recalls an important principle, developed by Dionysius (c.500): “It is characteristic of goodness to diffuse itself. So a good person multiplies goodness.” The master commends the servant because he is faithful since he did not keep any of the money for himself. Paul has said, “It is not the one who commends himself, who is commended but the one whom God commends” (2 Cor 10:18).
The master tells the servant that he has been reliable in a small matter. Now the master will set him over greater things. Thomas comments that all the things of this life are as nothing compared with those of eternal life. The servant will be set over spiritual things which are greater than all these others. Thomas notices that the master invites the servant to enter into his joy. Joy, as an emotion, is the rest we have in a good that has been achieved. Joy in ourselves is joy in exterior things. But the master’s joy is more than our own. Joy in the Lord is joy in interior things, being happy in God’s happiness. The servant who had been given two talents and used them well receives the same praise as the first servant, even being given charge over greater things and entering into his master’s joy. Thomas recalls that Origen (d. 254) had said that he who receives a small gift from the Lord and uses it as well as he is able, receives as much as one who had a greater gift. Thomas states, “The Lord only requires this from every man that he serves Him with his whole heart.” Jesus commended the widow who put her small coins in the temple treasury (Luke 21:2-3) and said that she put in more than the others because she gave what she had. This is encouraging for us all because we are only asked to do what we can with the gifts God has given us. While the first servant had confidence, the third servant thinks that the Lord is a “hard man.” Thomas calls this servant “blasphemous” because the Lord is neither a man nor is he “hard.” He is “a merciful and gracious Lord” (Ps. 110:4). This servant expects God to take away from him what is not His.
Thomas relates this attitude to priests who think that if they were to preach or hear confessions, things would not go well for them. Thomas explains that they think of God as though He were a hard man. Thomas continues that some people think that if they entered religious life, they might sin so they hold back. Thomas comments that they think that God is a hard man and if they adhered to Him, He would fail them. They despair of His mercy. God is hard with sinners but kind with those who turn to Him. Thomas asserts: “In as much as He is merciful, we ought to hope that if anyone gives himself to His service, he will not fall, and if he falls, he will rise.” Everyone who seeks to serve the Lord can count on His support, even when things don’t seem to be going well at a particular time. Thomas finds some truth in the servant’s claim that the master reaps where he has not sown. Thomas says that when a person gives alms, the Lord considers it done for Him.
Thomas adds that, at times, from certain evils, such as of the flesh which ought to bring about evil, yet “God brings about a certain good.” We might apply this to those children, born outside of marriage, whom God blesses. The servant gives the master his one talent, acknowledging that it belongs to the master. Thomas says, “He kept his knowledge and did not let it grow. This is not enough, because he ought to have increased it.” Paul asserts: “If I preach the Gospel, there is no reason for me to boast, for an obligation has been imposed on me, and woe to me if I do not preach it” (1 Cor 9:16). The master blames the servant because he knew the master was coming back to receive what was his own.
The Letter of James declares: “Be doers of the Word and not hearers only” (Js 1:22). Thomas explains: “When the Lord gives you understanding and you try to exercise it, you multiply it… When the Lord gives you virtue and you are try to use it well, it increases… When you try to give to others what is in you, it grows.” These words hold the key to the whole parable for Thomas. Our talents grow as we use them for others. Jesus said: “The gift you have received, give as a gift” (Mt 10:8) Thomas recalls the words of Gregory that, if a man has charity, many gifts will be given him, he will receive the good of another because he will rejoice about the good of another as if it were his own. But, if a man does not have charity, he will lose the gifts that he has. Paul states: “If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong and a clashing cymbal” (1 Cor 13:1). Thomas also recalls the words of St. John Chrysostom “The one who has the grace of teaching and does not use it, loses it. The one who does not have the grace of teaching but applies himself to it, acquires it.”
St. Jerome offers a similar explanation that if a person has intelligence and remains idle, he becomes ignorant while another person can acquire intelligence by applying himself. To one who has the desire, knowledge and intelligence are given. Thomas states: “This servant is called useless because he did not use the good that he had in helping others, if he had understanding and did not put it to good use, in teaching others or, if he had money and did not use it in works of mercy.”
Denis Vincent Wiseman, O.P.
The Latin version of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew may be found on the website, http//dhspriory.org/Thomas/. An English translation is available: Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew, trans. Rev. Paul M. Kimball. Dolorosa Press, 2012.