The Parable of Talents -- Retold

JESUS SAID TO HIS SELECT DISCIPLES:  A certain rich man had a vision of the ultimate wealth. Before embarking on his quest, he divided all his money among his three servants -- ten, five and one talents according their capacity and asked each to use his share wisely.

After years of travels the rich man found ultimate wealth and joyfully returned home with it. Upon nearing his village he saw people living in unprecedented poverty and squalor. For there had been a terrible famine there.
      As the Master approached his house, he found it well maintained and prosperous and he was surprised. The first two servants came out to greet him. The first one said to him, "Master, I have doubled my money  to twenty talents,"  The other said, "And I have doubled mine to ten." The Master was surprised again: "How did you manage it during this famine?"
     The servants explained to him how with their talents they had purchased all village land so cheaply that now the villagers were working for them as serfs.
     The Master did not reply. So the servants said to each other, "Our Master has found the ultimate wealth. Our success must be nothing to him." They looked to the horizons .for caravans of camels and mules bearing innumerable talents of gold and silver. But none appeared.
     The Master then asked about the third servant, who was summoned from the fields.He ran to meet his Master, his eyes brimming with joy. Sweat poured down his brow, his skin was dark and wrinkled, and his feet was covered with mud. Suddenly he remembered the talent entrusted to him and he felt ashamed: "Master, forgive me! I could not double your money. I could only work with my hands and not with my head."
     The Master took the unused talent from the work-worn hands of the foolish servant and gave it to the one with twenty talents.
     Then the master did something unexpected. He embraced the third servant, and said, "I had no sons of my own, now I have one."
     The first two servants were exceedingly disturbed by this and demanded to be adopted too. But the Master looked at them with great kindness and said,  "If I do so, you will never be happy. My immense wealth is in my heart. There are no caravans following me. You can keep all your talents."

   Whereupon the two servants took their talents and left, for they feared the Master might change his mind. They became very successful in business, and their  fame spread far and wide.
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Click Here for Audio version of
the story narrated by Jake 

THE MASTER and his newly adopted son spent the rest of their days working on the land which now belonged to the rich servants. They sang songs, cracked jokes, and shared their belongings. They performed no miracles, healed no one, raised no one from the dead, preached to no one. They were very ordinary, happy people.
     One day the Master died. Hearing this the two rich servants went to his hut, wept over his body, placed it in a golden coffin, and embalmed it. They sent horsemen across the world to inform people that a Great Master has ascended into heaven. They  buried his body after a great procession attended by thousands of princes, elders and priests, and with their contributions, built a magnificent temple over his grave.
     The Rich Servants invited the Adopted Son to become the priest, but he refused. Therefore they appointed themselves as high priests and built inns, money exchanges and markets around the temple providing employment to thousands and succor to millions of pilgrims. They grew in stature, nobility and became known for their extreme piety. Upon their passing away, they too were proclaimed saints. Miracles were attributed to them.
     None of these interested the Son. He continued to live in poverty, with songs on his lips, savoring every moment of health and illness, like the lilies in the field. His poor neighbors came to sit by him when they were miserable to find that they felt peaceful and happy again. If those poor villagers were ever cured of their diseases or had their sins forgiven, they did not know how it happened, nor did he.
     One day he realized that Death was about to visit him. He bade farewell to his friends and left his village, lest he too might be made a saint. In a wayside shelter of a distant town, with an unfinished song of gratitude on his lips, he died all alone. Next morning the townsfolk who saw his body marveled.   "We are standing in presence of Life itself." they said to one another. They respectfully buried the stranger's body, and soon forgot all about him.  
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"Let those who have ears listen," said Jesus, to the four walls of that room, knowing that the room had become empty.
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Ikiru [To Live]  Kurosawa(1952)

Why a modified version?

Yesterday we were discussing the original Biblical version of our story in our G+ community, Philosophy of Religion and it became apparent to me that Jesus simply couldn't have told the story the way it is narrated in the New Testament. It seemed so unlike Jesus! For instance, why is the nobleman portrayed as someone who reaps where he does not sow and practises usury? Why does he take away the poor incompetent servant's single talent and give it to the smart guy? And why is the poor, fearful servant is called "wicked?" Surely fear is not a sin but a weakness. So I wrote my own version of the parable of talents (which, incidentally, few would want to hear).

[By the way, I substantially increased the quantum of talents the Master gives each servant to enable them to have enough money to purchase their entire village. I am assuming each talent was about 26-30 kg of silver, not gold. I am also assuming that in those times fertile farmland may have been pricier and bullion cheaper as it could be valued only against a limited number items, such as farmland, heads of cattle, grain etc. These days we value gold and silver against many other things in addition to traditional ones, say, energy, base metals etc. so value of farmland may have proportionately come down now in terms of bullion.]

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This work by Sajjeev Antony (text only) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.