At the intermediate level of faith is the servant who, in the first parable, receives 5 talents and in the second ends up with 4 talents. In terms of numerology, the number 4 is a symbol of the world and the number 5 means triumph over the occult through the mystery of Christ’s passion and resurrection. In the first parable, the second servant has triumphed over the outer court to enter the Holy Place. The second parable, gets across a similar message using the number 4, a symbol representing triumph over the four winds that govern the world.
The third and lowest level of faith in each parable is implied in the master’s speech to the servant who buried his talent. In both parables, the servant is told that the master would have been happy if he had at least given it to bankers to invest. Thus we see the three levels of faith response presented in both parables: the slave, the friend and the son. Unlike the first and second servants of both parables who multiply their investment, the servant of the outer court only accrues bank interest, symbolic of a worldly outlook.
The fourth level presented in these kindred parables concerns the servant who buried the talent. This servant represents the person who is given the gift of faith but does not invest it. The one who buries his talent (faith) loses even what he thought he had. The reason the master takes the talent off him is because the servant only kept the talent out of fear of the master’s power.
In both parables, the earth is a symbol of earthly preoccupation with the things of this world The burying of the talent symbolizes the burying of faith in worldly pursuits. Both parables teach us that faith does not involve an intellectual assent but a response of being. Faith is belief in action. Faith without action is dead and buried. Interestingly, the master uses the words of the unfaithful servant to condemn him. The “wicked and lazy servant[s]” view of the master is one not of love but fear and resentment born of infidelity. He is condemned by the moral delusion born of his own lack of faith.
The Parable of the Sower
Through these parables, Jesus is essentially amplifying the spiritual message outlined earlier in the parable of the sower:
In both parables, the earth is a symbol of earthly preoccupation with the things of this world The burying of the talent symbolizes the burying of faith in worldly pursuits. Both parables teach us that faith does not involve an intellectual assent but a response of being. Faith is belief in action. Faith without action is dead and buried. Interestingly, the master uses the words of the unfaithful servant to condemn him. The “wicked and lazy servant[s]” view of the master is one not of love but fear and resentment born of infidelity. He is condemned by the moral delusion born of his own lack of faith.
The Parable of the Sower
Through these parables, Jesus is essentially amplifying the spiritual message outlined earlier in the parable of the sower:
Imagine a sower going out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprung up straight away, because there was no depth of earth; but as soon as the sun came up they were scorched and, not having any roots, they withered away. Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Others fell on rich
