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Matthew 25 contains a parable with some of the boldest assertions about God’s take on passivity versus risk-taking and their direct impact upon blessings. Remember, a parable is an earthly illustration of heavenly truth.

In this story, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a man traveling to a far country. Before he leaves, he calls his servants together to distribute his goods among them. Referred to as “talents” in the scriptural text, “To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability” (Matthew 25:15, ESV). 

“Ability” is the keyword here—I read that to be capacity. Each man received what his capacity would allow. As you read on, the logic behind the amount given to each servant becomes quite evident.

“He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money” (vv. 17-18, ESV).

When the man returned from his journey, the homecoming went about as well as one would expect. 

“And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master’” (vv. 20-21, ESV).

The story repeats with the servant who received two. He gained two more. And here, we take a left turn, as the man who received a single talent returned said talent upon retrieving it from the hole in which he had buried it. 

The master replied: “You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming, I should have received what was my own with interest” (vv. 26-27, ESV).

That seems pretty harsh. Add to it, the man took away the single talent from the docile servant, gave it to the go-getter with the ten, and then cast out the now-bankrupt servant “into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (v. 30, ESV).

The man who had the least to risk risked the least and lost the most. He did nothing and lost everything. Unfair? Hardly. Not when you consider the master distributed the talents according to each person's abilities. Each of them had the potential to increase, but not all had the same capacity. While two men believed in the future of their possibilities, the other trusted his fear. By deciding that his future had no chance of changing or improving, he effectively eliminated every opportunity for growth and success. He turned down blessings before they even had the opportunity to be given.