“For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.” – Matthew 25:29
Whenever we interpret Jesus’ parables, we have to remember that two things are happening at once. On one level, there’s a story that works on its own. But on a deeper level, Jesus is inviting us to “have ears to hear” what he’s really saying. So when he tells the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25, he uses a story about money and investments, but the real question is: What’s the deeper meaning? I believe Jesus is revealing something profound about the nature of faith itself.
The story describes a master who entrusts three servants with varying amounts of money (a “talent” was a large sum) before leaving on a long journey. Two servants put their gifts to work and see them grow. The third buries his in the ground, afraid to risk losing it. When the master returns, he rewards the faithful two but takes the last servant’s talent and gives it to the one with the most.
If this story were only about money, Jesus’ conclusion, “whoever has will be given more,” would feel confusing. While it’s true that the rich often get richer, that’s not the heart of the parable, nor is it in line with a robust Jesus ethic (see Luke 6:30, Matt 6:1-4; 10:8; 19:21). We need to dig deeper and ask who the “haves” and “have-nots” really represent. A strong possibility is faith. Think about it. What if Jesus was suggesting that for those who have faith and put it to work, more will be given? These would be the people who trust the Master enough to take a risk. They see that what God has placed in their hands wasn’t meant to just be protected, but grown.
And this is exactly how faith works. It multiplies the more it’s used. The more you exercise trust in God, the stronger that trust becomes. Like a muscle, faith grows through movement, not maintenance.
The “have-nots” aren’t people given nothing. The unfaithful servant had something, but fear convinced him to do nothing with it. He buried it. He guarded it. And in doing so, he lost it.
Faith that is buried never grows and is in danger of disappearing altogether.
So when Jesus says, “whoever has will be given more,” he’s describing a spiritual reality: those who live by faith find an ever-expanding capacity for faith. But those who refuse to trust eventually lose even their desire to try.
Ultimately, what a person believes about God tells us whether they are a part of the “have” or “have-not” group. Those who have faith see God as trustworthy, and that frees them up to take bold steps of greater faith. Those who have-not faith see God as harsh or distant, and therefore tend to hide their gifts and shrink their impact
Josh Rose
Family Pastor