[And He Walks With Me] Matthew 25
1-46 Matthew 25 continues Jesus’ response to the question asked by his disciples in 24:3: Tell us, when will these things happen? And what is the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? In 24:4-35, Jesus gave them a list of things to watch for, but most of those things are common throughout history. Then, in 24:36-44, he connected the dots by advising them that they will not know the day or time of his return until it happens. Therefore, they must be prepared at all times. And in 24:45-51, he explained that being prepared at all times means being the people we are supposed to be and doing the things we are supposed to be doing. But what are we supposed to be and do? In 25:1-46, Jesus aimed to answer that question with a series of three parables.
It should be noted that, in each of the three parables, Jesus observed that there is an alternative to the kingdom of heaven. In The Parable of the Ten Virgins (1-13), the five foolish virgins are excluded from the wedding banquet and wish to be included. In The Parable of the Talents (14-30), the third servant is thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And in The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, the unrighteous are sent into eternal punishment. God does not allow into his eternal presence those who do not, by their actions and attitudes in this life, express the desire and commitment to be there.
1-13 The Parable of the Ten Virgins, as this passage is called, reinforced Jesus’ final remarks in ch 24: the faithful will be ready when he comes. It also added a couple of important themes. First, there is the theme of the wedding feast. Virgins would look with great anticipation toward the day when their groom arrived for the wedding feast. Therefore, the ten virgins all went out to meet the groom with great excitement. Second, the virgins are distinguished by whether they are foolish or wise. The wise took time, even though they were excited, to [take] oil in their flasks with their lamps, while the foolish did not. No doubt, the foolish virgins initially mocked the wise ones and urged them to hurry up and just go. And they likely had a point: it was a hassle for the wise virgins to prepare and carry the extra oil with them. However, by taking the time and making the effort, even in their excitement, to prepare, the wise were able to be ready despite the groom’s delay. The application to today is important. The earnest Christ follower’s faith must not be driven solely by excitement and spectacle. He/she will do things that do not make sense and seem quite silly to some. Yet, the time and energy spent in preparation today will make it possible for them to be found ready when Jesus returns.
14-30 The Parable of the Talents again reinforced the notion that faithfulness is more important than knowing when Jesus will return. It also provided clarification of what faithfulness looks like. Each of the three servants was given a number of talents depending on each one’s ability and charged with stewarding them until the master returned. When the master returned, his response demonstrated three things. First, the quantity entrusted to a servant is inconsequential. In this life, some will naturally have more money, ability, or opportunity given to them than others. Saints will not be rewarded for what God has entrusted to them but for how faithfully they steward what was entrusted to them. Second, the results are inconsequential. The man with two talents was not expected to produce five talents. In fact, the master’s response to the first servant indicates that it was not even necessary for him to double the original investment, and the master may have been pleased even if the servant lost the investment as long as it was invested. Faithfulness is measured by putting to work that which God has entrusted to us. Third, the relationship between the master and his own servants matters. The first two servants were confident that their master was good and just, and they were under no illusion that the talents entrusted to them – and the fruit they produced – rightly belonged to the master. This mutual love afforded the servants the confidence and eagerness to invest their talents boldly. The third servant, however, had a warped perception of his master’s character. Rather than perceiving him as generous and gracious, he saw the master as harsh, greedy, and thieving (24) and therefore was afraid to invest the talents entrusted to him. This misunderstanding of the master’s character indicated the third servant never really knew the master at all and was the primary cause of the master’s anger. The master pointed out the irrationality of the master’s fear response: if the master really was the harsh and wicked man the servant thought he was, then the servant should have been motivated by fear to produce something. In the end, the third servant was rejected for not knowing and loving the master at all. This is the real test of faithfulness: do we so love the master that we will boldly and eagerly invest everything he has entrusted to us to his glory?
15 A talent was a unit of measure roughly equivalent to 75 pounds. It is assumed that these were talents of gold or silver. Assuming they were talents of gold, as of October 20, 2025, this equated to more than USD$4.5 million per talent.[285]
31-46 In the third parable of the chapter, The Parable of The Sheep and The Goats, we learn yet another principle of the kingdom of God: those who will inherit the kingdom will have compassion on people in need. However, the responses of the sheep and the goats indicate that this separation was not simply about their actions. Indeed, after Jesus cited the compassion of the righteous in vss 35-36, they were baffled. They asked, Lord, when did we see you hungry…? That is, while they were doing these things, they were not keeping record of doing them. In fact, they were probably more cognizant of the times they were unable to help people because their focus was perpetually on what more they could do to please God and help people. This is the hallmark of love. On the other hand, those who were rejected by the King asked, When did we see you… and not help you? There are two possible interpretations of this response. First, they may have been oblivious to the need (i.e., they did not see). Alternatively, they may have seen the need and even been diligent in helping, but they were constantly keeping records of their efforts. The first option is obviously problematic. The second is more challenging because, superficially, there may have been little difference between the actions of the sheep and the goats. Yet, their motivations were entirely different. While the sheep were constantly looking for more ways to help, the goats were boasting of all they had done. On their “How to get to heaven” checklist, they had checked off “Help those in need,” and they assumed they were well on their way. They had done what they were supposed to do, and God now owed them passage into heaven. See notes on Matthew 5:17-20 and Matthew 22:37-40. The legitimate people of God will refuse to be oblivious to the needs of people around them, but they will respond to those needs out of a love for God and people rather than as a means to earn their way into heaven.
[285] “Market summary: gold futures.” Google. https://www.google.com/search?q=gold+price Accessed 20 October, 2025