PARABLES OF THE TALENTS AND THE POUNDS 
 

THE PARABLE OF THE POUNDS
 
 

Introduction:

    OneTalent (talanton) is about 75 lbs. 
It is the heaviest Hebrew measurement. 
The Cross of Christ is depicted as heavy,
as Jesus suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane,
anticipating the cross. 
He endured the shame, and the sins of the world, 
and became our sacrifice,
that we may be freed from the penalty of sin,
and the judgment that is to come. 
 

    The Pound (mina) on the other hand is very light (1.25 lbs)
for Jesus has defeated death,
the world, and Satan, 
and in His resurrection has given us the victory. 
Jesus carried the heaviest weight for us in salvation,
and now we have the light pound (cross) to carry for it is all done. 

But we have no cross of our own.
It is His Cross, that is really mine for I was crucified with Him. 

    In Matthew, Mark and Luke,
when Jesus was on the way to be crucified,
a man name Simon of Cyrene,
is carrying the cross for Christ to Calvary. 
If we know Jesus only in the flesh,
than we are carrying the cross of Christ,
that we were crucified with Him.

If we are having a burdensome life as a Christian,
than we know Jesus only in the flesh.
To be free from the burden,
and from the adversities of this life,
we must know Jesus as God.

In the Gospel of John, 
Jesus is carrying His own Cross.
When I know Christ as my God, He carries the Cross for me. 
If I lack faith in God, Jesus is still in the flesh to me, as a man;
then I carry my own cross, and it is heavy and burdensome. 
(2Cor. 5:16).

    Jesus is risen and is sitted at God's right hand,
and send us the Holy Spirit that we have the victory. 
The Cross defeats all death, and the Resurrection begins all life,
and give us the victory. 
When I took His Cross as my own, I have salvation. 
I continue to take His Cross as mine, 
and the start of sanctification begins. 

Salvation and Santification is once and for all,
as we are saved eternally and sanctified forever,
but living in this life, sanctification is progressive, 
and being set apart. 
I must know my death with Him, 
before I can know His resurrection in me. 

    Allowing Jesus Christ to reign in our life as Lord,
is represented by the number 10,
which is the sum of the number 4 (the world system)
and 6 (the number of man, his soul). 
When we are not dominated by the dictates of this world system (4),
nor by the desires (flesh) of our soul (6), 
we are being separated unto God, 
and we produce the 10 pounds,
but it is really Jesus who does in us,
through His Spirit, and knowledge of His Grace. 

    This separation becomes a reality,
because of the deeper knowledge of the Cross of Christ. 

To know and acknowledge the Cross of Christ as my own, is salvation.
To know the deeper meaning of the Cross,
and to know and acknowledge that I am crucified,
and I belong to Christ is the beginning of sanctification. 

Jesus Christ is allowed to reign in our daily living,
not by our giving ourselves to Him, but in reality,
it is our yielding (peristemi, to stand beside) to Him, 
because I know that I am crucified with Him. 
We should step aside and let the Holy Spirit have His way with me. 

    The many problems with Christians,
is that they set their own goals,
and try to accomplish it with God's help, so they say.

The problem with setting a goal,
is usually, it is a physical goals, such as,

1.  To increase the membership of the church.
2.  to visit a number of people in a year or so, etc.

We pray and ask God to bless our goals and 
do this and do that.
we are acting as God and God becomes our servant.

We are then, 
in His way and quench the Holy Spirit,
by our fleshly goals.

There is one goal we should have,
that is to know Jesus in the power of His resurrection,
the fellowship of His suffering,
and to press toward the high calling (the rapture) of God. 
This was the Apostle Paul's desire.
(Phil. 3:10-14).

When Christ comes for us, we shall all be changed,
and we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 

To be Christ like in His resurrection, 
was the Apostle Paul's goal. 

Not that we shall be in that perfection here and now, 
the glorified body, is the goal. 
The answer is to press toward this goal, 
by having the mind of Christ. 
To grow in grace and knowledge of Him,
is the beginning of this goal. 

    How does one know he or she is growing in this goal. 
Thanksgiving and praises to God is ever present. 
One is always thankful in good times as well as in times of adversity. 
There is less complaints and quarrelings,
less judging and more comforting and encouragements. 

    I no longer have power over my own being,
and I live my life by faith in His Word. 
I now rest and rely on the leading of the Holy Spirit,
according to the Word of God rightly divided,
because the Word of God is growing in me. 

I do not live by my soul, that is, by my emotions, 
by how I feel, but by faith in His Word.
 I rest upon the power of the Word of God,
and the power of the Holy Spirit,
and His guidance according to His Word rightly divided. 
This is the true worship--
complete submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. 
 

The Parable of the Pounds
Luke 19:1-27 

    Eternal life is not specifically mentioned in this parable,
because this parable is not about salvation,
but about Jesus being the Lord of our lives. 
Salvation is spoken in connection with Zacchaeus. 
He has come to know the Lord, and Zacchaeus already has eternal life. 
Jesus said to Zacchaeus
"This day is salvation come to this house" (v. 9).
This Parable of the Pounds is in particular,
about the Lordship of Jesus Christ in one's life. 

There are some differences when comparing the two parables: 

These 3 words refer to the Gospel,
to describe what He left with the servants,
in the Parable of the Talents. 

    In this Parable of the Pounds, only two words,
pounds and money, are used. 
The word that is not used in this parable,
is the word goods, (huparchonta) 
which means possession (something we can own),
which refers to eternal life or salvation. 

The word goods, is not used here in this parable,
because this parable is not about salvation,
but about sanctification, deliverance from the power of sin,
the lure of the world and the accusations of Satan, 
and thus having the abundant life. 
 
 

The differences of the two parables. 

4.  Produced: 5 and 2.                                                                    produced: 10 and 5. 

5.  Hid it: in the earth.                                                                         laid it: on a napkin. 

6.  Cast: into outer darkness.                                                          Slain: the old man. 
     (awaiting judgment).                                                    (final judgment). 
         7.  Took away: the talent (cross)                                             Took away: the pound (cross) 
     and gave to him who already                                                              and gave to him that 
     has 10, but no mention of him                                                                    had 10, and they 
     already having 10.  He needed                                                        mentioned. "he already 
     more of the Cross for he did                                          has 10."  He has the abundant life. 
     not produce 10, but had 10                                                for he produced 10 with one that 
     by producing 5 with the 5 he had.                                                               was given to him. 

8. "For everyone that hath shall                                      This phrase is not mentioned here
      be given, and he shall have                                          for he already has the abundant 
      abundance."                                                               life for he produced 10. 

    Keep in mind that the theme of the Parable of the Talents in Matthew,
is Salvation and producing division, 
separation (5) and testimony, witness (2) in one's life.

This Parable of the Pounds, goes together with the Parable of the Talents,
and the theme is Sanctification,
the result of realizing that we were crucified.
It's about letting go of our own headship in our life,
that Jesus Christ reigns as Lord. 

The pound, in contrast to the talents, is very light, 
for it is God, through the Spirit of Christ,
that is setting us apart for Himself progressively. 
If we realize it is by Grace and not by works,
the cross that we bear is really Christ Cross,
that he carries for us. 

    When we walk by how we feel, we are the lord of our life. 
When we walk by feeling we are not sure. 
Our feeling comes from our soul. 
Under law the emotions are fleshly. 
The old man was crucified with Him (Rom. 6:6; Gal 2:20). 

    When we walk by faith, we have relinquished our headship, 
and Christ through His Spirit, and through his Word,
is now Lord of our life.
Faith is resting and knowing,
and allowing Jesus to reign as Lord in our life,
and thus producing the fruit of the Spirit in our daily living. 

He rewards the Christians, 
not for the work that the Christian does,
but for allowing Jesus Christ to reign as Lord,
that Jesus be glorified. 

God is interested in the work in us,
for we are created us in the image of Christ. 
Christ must grow in us, by His Word, 
and through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

    Producing the 10,
is allowing the Lord to reign in our world (4)
and our soul (6),
in subjection to the Word of God, 
because we know the reality of the working of the Cross in our lives. 
 

Jesus is Lord, and we yield (stand on the side),
our body to Him, with our souls in subjection,
that He is Lord of our lives. 
We do not live by our souls, by our emotions, by feelings,
but by faith in His Word. 
This is the reality in one's life,
only by knowing the deeper meaning of the Cross of Christ. 
 

    The Cross of Christ displays God's deep love for us. 
It depicts the deep, overwhelming Grace of God. 
It is all done. 
We dare not add one iota of effort to it. 
We receive it by faith and rest upon it. 

We do nothing, nothing, nothing, but rejoice,
and grow in grace and knowledge of Him, of Christ, of His glory. 
Now God can and will work in us to accomplish His Will in us,
and through us while we are resting. 
Thus we can say not i,
but Christ.
 

Many do not know this rest, because like Martha,
service is a burden, 
and judgment and complaints comes. 
Martha is always working,
and working is fine,
as long as there is no judgments and complaint and pride. 
Mary is always resting, waiting and worshipping,
and Jesus is pleased with her. 

    In the Old Testament times, 
the Jews were to give a 10th of their possessions, their tithes.
In the New Testament,
the picture is, that we give our whole being,  to the Lord, 
which includes our feelings, the dictates of our soul, (6)
and the way we live, (4)
thus we give to the Lord our whole being (10).
This represents, in  the spiritual sense the tithes,
of the old Testament
 

     The numbers 10 and 5 mentioned here in this parable,
are not mentioned together in other parts of the Bible,
as the numbers 5 and 2.
 

Here in this parable, 
the one who produced the 10,
and the one who produced the 5,
are two different individuals,
as it has to do with degree in the walk of faith. 

    God uses numbers to present certain spiritual truth. 
The larger the number does not necessarily mean it is greater, more or better. 
For instance, the number 11 is not a good number. 
It is greater than 8 (new beginning) but it is associated with doubting. 

The number 11 is 1 short of twelve.
Twelve is the number that depicts completion and maturity. 
The number 11 is mentioned 6 times in the New Testamentl,
and in each reference, it has to do with the people doubting,
(see notes on the feeding of the 5,000, believers and 4,000, doubters). 
 
 
 
 

NEXT

back to page 1

Copyright c 1988--2000 All Rights Reserved 
but permission is granted by the author 
to share freely with others.