Photo: Anna Vogt
Amy Eanes just finished two years of living and working in Istmina, Choco as part of the MCC Seed program. She currently works with MCC in Bogota, Colombia in PMER, delegations and advocacy.
Matthew 25:14-30 NIV
“Again, [the kingdom of heaven] will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability…The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant!…The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant!’… Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 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. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
The Parable of the Talents is a story about how we need to invest wisely what God’s blessing of resources and abilities. If we are lazy, like the third servant, and hide our talents, and if we aren’t enterprising like other two servants and don’t multiply what God has given us, we will be cast out from God’s favor and the kingdom of heaven.
Right? This is what I have been taught in Sunday school since I was a little girl, snacking on animal crackers, watching with fascination as the teacher placed cut-out characters on the felt board, and absorbing with wide eyes the Biblical value that hard work and wise investments are what matter in the kingdom of heaven.
Photo: Marleny Calle
My understanding of this parable was turned upside down by Colombian theologian Aníbal Cañaveral Orozco in a workshop held at Ibagué Christian Mennonite Church. Mr. Cañaveral, who comes from a rural background, has developed a theological lens for understanding the Bible from a campesino, or peasant farmer, perspective. The workshop drew heavily from his latest book, Servants, Talents, Usury, and Resistence (Siervos, talentos, usuras y resistencias).
After reading the parable together, he asked what emotions the story elicited for us. What does it mean that this is what the kingdom of heaven is like, where wealth is unequally distributed, and those who aren’t economically successful are cast out? What view of God does that present to us, when the third servant says that the master is a “hard man” (v.24)? What does it mean in the kingdom of heaven that “whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them” (v.29)?
Photo: Marleny Calle
As we re-read and analyzed, we questioned our traditional understanding of the parable at a foundational level. Who or what does the master in the story represent? Who or what does the third servant represent?
We examined the power dynamics present in the story – a master-servant relationship where the master has power to command his servants and take away their lives as he deems fit. We questioned what type of economic activity the master and servants were engaged in. Were they profiting from legitimate endeavors, or could it be something akin to the Colombian contextual equivalent of narcotrafficking? And why exactly does the servant bury the money in the ground and wait for his master’s return, knowing that his act of rebellion will lead to his demise?
Mr. Cañaveral situated the parable within the context of its era. In that time, wealth was primarily gained through exploiting and enslaving others, seizing lands, and manipulating economic systems. The wealthy were considered by the common people to be either thieves or children of thieves – they “harvested where [they had] not sown and [gathered] where [they had] not scattered seed” (v.24). Could it be, then, that instead of representing God, the master figure symbolizes a system of economic, military, and social power that dominates and enslaves? Could it be that the third servant represents how resisting the system is a way of following Jesus, knowing that death may be the result? And might it be that Jesus was demonstrating an acute awareness of his coming fate at the hands of military, economic, and religious powers?
Photo: Anna Vogt
Jesus’ words about the parable being like the kingdom of heaven began to take on new meaning. We reflected on the relevance of v.29 (“Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them”) to Colombian campesinos living within an economic system of Free Trade Agreements and policies that never seem to favor the small producer, to the over 5.7 million Colombians who have been displaced from their lands by an armed conflict that extorts and exploits them, where resistance too often leads to violence and death. Even the little that people have is taken from them.
I am grateful to the church ladies who volunteered their time to teach me about the Bible throughout my childhood; however, Mr. Cañaveral’s invitation to examine my interpretations of the Bible and read critically through the eyes of campesinos opened my eyes to how Biblical texts have been used to align kingdom values with capitalism and neoliberalism.
Hearing the story through a campesino lens, the way someone from Jesus’ background may have heard it, calls me as a Christian to resist oppressive systems, and in doing so, participate in building the kingdom of heaven.
Photo: Anna Vogt
Ooh, that is a new way of looking at that…and it makes total sense!