Parable Documentation

1. Read the parable. Then re-read, paying attention to every detail/word. Get facts, summarize story.
In the parable of the talents, a man (presumably a wealthy man) leaves on a long journey. Before he leaves, he summons his three servants. The man gives one of them five talents, the other two, and the last servant one talent. The first servant immediately goes and makes another five talents with his original talents. The second servant does likewise and doubles his amount of talents, finishing with four. The third servant (who received one) goes and buries his talent in the ground. Upon the master's return, he is pleased with his first two servants' doings and promises them bigger responsibilities in the future. When he talks to the third servant, the third servant tells him that he knew that the master was demanding, and "reap what he has not sown", and he was fearful, so he did not do anything with the money. The master is outraged and calls the servant lazy and slothful, and gives his talent to the first servant, and casts him out.

2. Put into context based on what you know about ancient Israel.
The master left on a long journey, so evidently it was a trip of significance. He left his talents in the hands of his servants. A talent is too large a sum of money to be leaving in the hands of untrustworthy people, so the master must have trusted all the servants greatly; apparently he was not testing them. When it says that the master gave the talents according to ability, it may have been according to rank in the elite household hierarchy. The first two servants used their talents to gain more talents, evidence that they may have exploited other people on their way to attain what they got. The third servant buried his master's money in the ground. Back in ancient Israel, if a man buried money upon receiving it, he was not responsible for it if it was stolen. The thrid servants' words to his master suggest that his master is a powerful man that exploites those around him for personal gain. The servants' words had little effect because of his lower ranking among the hierarchy, and they were discarded along with him.

3. Determine who the audience is and why Jesus would tell this specific parable to this specific audience at this specific time.
Jesus was explaining the idea of the Kingdom of God, specifically judgement day, to his audience outside a temple in Jerusalem. His audience was probably economically diverse, as he was in Jerusalem, and he was close to a temple. Jesus probably told this because he witnessed injustices handed down by leaders and pharisees, who he criticized earlier. He criticized them, and then he came up with a parable to express his discontent with their exploitive actions. The parable itself has passive resistance in it, and it condemns aggressive resistance. Those who resist aggresively will be discarded, Jesus says. He may be discreetly telling the peasants to passively resist the injustices of the elite at that time, because if they told it how it was, they would be thrown out.

4. Determine which character is essential to the story. Analyze his actions, why he did them. Also analyze his background.
The third servant, the one who receives one talent from his master, is the essential character to the story. By burying his master's money, he was showing that he was not responsible for it, which was obtained through exploiting the poorer, weaker class. He does not want to take responsibility for his master's "blood money", but he is also cautious; by burying it, he is absolved from liability if it is stolen. He does not want to be held responsible for anything. Because the third servant is given only one talent, it can be assumed that he is the lowest ranking of the servants. His master trusted him the least, and his servant showed him why by telling him to shove it.

5. Find the purpose of the parable/ what it is trying to convey to the audience.
The purpose of the parable is to teach the audience about morality. If one thinks that something is wrong, then one should intervene and stop it. Do not just do what everyone else is doing; stand up for what you believe in. But you do not have to do it directly; the third servant passively rebelled by not doing anything with his master's money. But when the servant told the master what he thought was wrong with him, he was discarded. Jesus is trying to tell his audience that they can passively resist elitist rule without violence because when a lower class person tells the truth of injustice, he is just discarded.

6. Capture the essence/moral lesson/ how this relates to the Kingdom of God.
Again, the moral lesson being brought up by Jesus is to stand up for what you believe in. Do not go with the flow. If you know something is wrong, then do something about it. do not just sit idle and go along with everyone else. When people exploit other people who are weak and powerless, it is time to step in just as the third servant did.

7. Apply to a current event.