As we have considered the seven parables grouped together in Matthew 13, we will now consider a further series of seven parables scattered throughout chapters 18 to 25:
The two debtors (Mt. 18:23-35)
The hired servants (Mt. 20:1-16)
The two sons (Mt. 21:28-32)
The wicked husbandmen (Mt. 21:33-43)
The wedding feast (Mt. 22:1-14)
The foolish virgins (Mt. 25:1-13)
The talents (Mt. 25:14-30)
They serve a threefold purpose:
A. To explain the moral causes which led to the setting aside of Israel.
B. To emphasize principles of right conduct on the part of the “sons of the kingdom.”
C. To show the privilege and responsibility of serving the King during His absence.
Thus, they have a doctrinal and practical bearing, giving instruction in relating to dispensational, moral, and ministerial matters.
DISPENSATIONAL
The parables of the wicked husbandmen and the wedding feast chiefly bear on this aspect. They respectively show that the causes of Israel’s rejection were the rejection of the King and of the King’s offer.
God had, from time to time, sent His prophets to the people, but “they mocked the messenger of God, and despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets.” At length, however, He in His longsuffering grace, sent His only Son, and Him “they took and cast forth out of the vineyard.” That Stone the builders (the religious leaders of the people) rejected. Herein lay the first cause of their rejection. They had rejected their Messiah, and therefore God rejected them. Conversely, if later God is to receive them it will be contingent on their first receiving His Son.
Further, God in the riches of His grace, after the resurrection of His Son, instead of visiting them with summary punishment, as might reasonably have been anticipated, made an additional offer. He sent His servants to “the called,” that is the Jew, informing them that the “feast was ready,” that is, that on His terms they could have the national blessings foreshadowed in the Old Testament. They, however, rejected this second offer, and in the person of Stephen sent a message back, confirming their decision of the Cross, saying, “We will not have this man to reign over us.” They shamefully entreated those who thus preached to them, and God, under Titus “destroyed those murderers and burned their city Jerusalem.”
The parable of the wicked husbandmen, which contemplates the rejection of God’s Son, should be read in the light of Israel’s past history and their crucifixion of the Lord of Glory. The parable of the wedding feast should be read in the light of the first seven chapters of the book of Acts, because what is given parabolically in Matthew 22 is there given historically.
MORAL
As with the dispensational, so with the moral, there are two parables which specially bear on the matter. The first parable is that concerning the two debtors, and emphasizes one’s responsibility to his neighbor-he should forgive him.
The second parable is that of the ten virgins and emphasizes one’s responsibility to his Lord-he should watch for Him.
To take the first: man’s debt toward God is set in contrast with the offender’s debt toward himself, and it is seen to be as nothing in comparison. Yet God has gratuitously granted “redemption, even the forgiveness of sins” as the King both “loosed” the debtor and “forgave” the debt. And, like father like son, God’s children should be His imitators in this respect. Paul states the matter thus: “Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” “Be ye imitators of Go as dear children” (Eph. 4:32; 5:1). The harboring of an unforgiving spirit toward others deprives the individual of the joy of personal for giveness (see Mt. 18:35; 6:12); indeed, so to act is “to continue in sin” which, in the nature of the case, precludes forgiveness.
It will be observed that this parable is placed first in the series, and the reason may not be far to seek, for the danger of failing to forgive is with us all, and at all times.
This is one’s duty to his neighbor; but his duty to his Lord is to watch for Him. All the ten virgins slept during the night of His absence, and when the cry went forth, “Behold the bridegroom,” the discovery was made by some that they were unprepared, having a lamp but no oil in their vessels-they were minus the vital power for the maintenance of testimony, like the religious professor. Even those who had oil slept, and being awakened had to trim their lamps, like many of the Lord’s people who, being awakened to the imminence of His coming, though unaware of the day or the hour thereof, find that matters of life need adjustment. She caught the spirit of this who wrote:
My work for the day is nearly through, Was it all as in His sight? Would Jesus be able to say, “Well done!” Supposing He came tonight?
Lord Jesus, I want more grace each day, To help me to live aright, So that my heart may welcome Thee, Supposing Thou cam’st tonight.
SERVICE
The remaining three parables deal with the issue of our service. In that of the hired servants (whatever other meaning it may have, and it can only rightly be understood in the light of the circumstances which immediately preceded it and gave rise to it, as stated in ch. 19), we are reminded that, “whatsoever is right” He will give to those who have worked for Him. Nothing will pass unnoticed, and no work one will go unrecompensed. The servant may be harshly criticized and go unrewarded now; but all will be put right then, and he will receive “according as his work shall be.” Paul, speak of himself, says, “Hence there is laid up for me a of righteousness, which the righteous judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only but to all those also that love His appearing. ” (2 Tim. 4:7-8). It will be a “crown of righteousness” for it will be rewarded by the “Righteous Critic” who knows how rightly to apprise the value of services rendered.
In the parable of the two sons is given a forceful emphasis on the uselessness of words without deeds. “Son, go work today in my vineyard,” is the urgent call to all God’s children, but some are apt to be ‘talkers’ and not ‘workers/ while others are found to be ‘workers’ and not ‘talkers.’ Here and there God’s children have been found steadily and arduously doing a real work in some out-of-the-way corner of the vineyard, whose voice is rarely if ever heard in public. It is work that counts, not words, for “the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury” but “in all labor there is profit.”
In the parable of the talents, the Lord shows the importance of diligence in the utilization of the trust that He has given so that it may be turned to His gain, seeing that the reward to be given is exactly proportionate to the faithful service rendered.
Someone has written: “In the case of the ten virgins, the disciples are seen waiting for their Lord; here they are seen working for Him. There the spiritual life of the faithful was described; here the external activity. It is only as I am constantly waiting for the Lord that I can profitably serve Him.”
It is true that talents differ in individual cases, but the responsibility to use what was entrusted is the same in all. To allow the world to swamp the gift to “bury it in the earth” is not only to the dishonor of the Lord but to the servant’s own future loss.
And what are the talents? Let each answer for himself, for none knows better than the individual that which the Lord has committed to him wherewith to “trade” until He come.