The parable of the talents is one most of us think we’ve figured out—a story about using your abilities. But look closer and it’s really about fear. One Sunday we ran a quick roll call of phobias: heights, spiders, tight spaces, public speaking, clowns. Hands went up all over the room. And here’s the thing about fear: God gave it to us for a reason. If a wild animal charges you, fear is what makes you run. That’s healthy. But a phobia is fear out of proportion to the actual danger—fear that stops matching reality and starts running your life. More people die in vending machine accidents every year than shark attacks, but plenty of us still won’t wade past our knees in the ocean.
Two days before the cross, Jesus tells this story about a man who let that kind of fear cost him everything. It’s the third of his campfire stories in Matthew 25, and it’s really about a servant whose fear painted a false picture of his master—and how that picture froze him solid.
Fear buried the gift. And the thing he was most afraid of is exactly what happened to him.
A Fortune, Entrusted
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.” (Matthew 25:14–15, ESV)
Don’t picture pocket change. A single talent was worth about twenty years of a laborer’s wages—so five talents is a hundred years of work, a fortune running into the millions. The master hands these staggering sums to his servants and leaves. Two of them go straight to work: “he who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them.” They don’t know how long he’ll be gone, but they get moving and double what they were given.
Notice the master hands out amounts “according to their ability.” This isn’t a comparison game. The two-talent servant ends up with less than the five-talent servant started with—but that’s not the point. God isn’t grading you against anyone else’s pile. He gave you exactly what He knew you could steward.
Fear Digs a Hole
“But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. … ‘so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.'” (Matthew 25:18, 25, ESV)
Burying money wasn’t as strange as it sounds—under Jewish law, if you buried what you’d been entrusted with, you were no longer liable if it got lost or stolen. So this servant took the safest possible option: zero risk, zero responsibility. And notice his reasoning. He calls the master a hard man, someone reaping where he didn’t sow. That’s not who the master actually is—it’s the picture fear painted for him.
That’s what fear does. It magnifies what could go wrong, whispers that safe is the only smart play, and slowly rewrites the character of the One you’re dealing with. We talk ourselves into a story—God is angry, God is waiting for me to fail, God is out to smack me down—and that false story keeps us from the fullness of life He’s actually offering.
What the Parable of the Talents Cost Him
“You wicked and slothful servant! … So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. … And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness.” (Matthew 25:26, 28, 30, ESV)
Here’s the tragedy: the servant’s deepest fear was being cut off from the master—and his fear is exactly what isolated him from the master. The other two servants heard “well done, good and faithful servant.” Not “great investment strategy,” not “impressive returns”—faithful. The reward wasn’t for their skill; it was for their willingness to try. God isn’t analyzing your technique. He’s looking for a heart that steps out.
And that affirmation is worth everything. We work so hard for a pat on the back from other people—likes, reposts, a compliment from someone we admire. It feels good for a moment and then it’s gone. But to stand before the Creator of the universe and hear Him say, “Well done”—there’s nothing on this earth that compares.
The Bigger Story
There’s a picture worth holding onto here. A big brother teaches his little sister to surf, and one day a wave catches her and tosses her through the washing machine—that violent churn under the surface. She washes up on the beach crying, terrified. He doesn’t leave his board and paddle back out. He sits with her, consoles her, and then—this is the part that matters—he walks her right back into the water. Why? Because he knows if fear turns into phobia, she’ll never step foot in the ocean again, and the gift inside her will stay buried. That little girl is now competing at the World Junior surf championships.
Some of you know exactly what God has been nudging you toward. Start the ministry. Open your home. Sing the song. Teach the class. Step into the gap. And fear keeps whispering, “It’s scary out there—I’ll just hold onto this and give it back untouched.” Dr. Myles Munroe once called the graveyard the richest place on earth, full of books never written, songs never sung, dreams never acted on—because fear kept them buried. The whole point of the parable of the talents is that God is asking you today to stop burying what He gave you.
Share This With Someone This Week
Read Matthew 25:14–30 on Bible Gateway slowly, and be honest about the false picture fear has painted for you. Is God really the hard, angry master you’ve imagined—or is that fear talking? Then name the one gift you’ve been burying, and take a single concrete step toward using it this week. Don’t wait for the fear to disappear first. The faithful servants felt it too; they just didn’t let it dig the hole. (If you missed the earlier campfire story, catch up on the parable of the ten bridesmaids.)
What Are You Going to Do About It?
Read Matthew 25:14–30 slowly, and be honest about the false picture fear has painted for you. Is God really the hard, angry master you’ve imagined—or is that fear talking? Then name the one gift you’ve been burying, and take a single concrete step toward using it this week. Don’t wait for the fear to disappear first. The faithful servants felt it too; they just didn’t let it dig the hole.
Step Into It
At CCC we believe you were made to be a contributor, not a consumer—to serve with your time, talent, treasure, and testimony. If God’s been nudging you to step in somewhere, don’t bury it. Explore where you can serve and find your people at gotochrist.com/next-steps, or get planted in a Life Group at gotochrist.com/life-groups.