The Parable of the Talents

Matthew 25:14-30
I find it interesting in this parable that after the master gives the servants the talents, he gives them no further instructions.  They are never told what to do with the talents.  He simply gives them out according to their ability, then leaves (vs. 15).  Clearly they know what to do with the talents, but how?  Based on the confession of the last servant in verse 24 it is because they know their master.  They know what he is like and what he would will them to do with his talents.  They are close enough in relationship to know his heart.  Upon receiving the talents they immediately go out in the interest of the master to do what pleases him with these talents. The master is the focus of their business.  Except for one of them.  One servant has his own interest at heart.  He knows what his master is like yet cares more for his own interest than that of the master (vs. 24, 25).  So he does what he thinks will serve himself best upon the master's return.  The last servant never denies or abandons the master.  He never asks for another master.  He simply exposes, by his actions, who the real master is, and it is himself, not the true master.  The others allow the interests of the master to determine their actions, while the last servant does not.  The master even recognizes this in verses 26 and 27.  You can sense the master's confusion.  If the servant knew the master so well and what he would want, why did he not allow that to determine the use of the talents he was given instead of the servant's own interests?  How penetrating this parable is.  One can know the master, serve in his household, be given talents from the master, yet all the while he is self-serving, not master-serving.  There is a deception involved here in thinking that simply knowing the master and what he is like, even to the point of being labeled a servant and given property, is enough (vs. 14).  Clearly it is not enough since this last servant is cast out (vs. 30).  One must know the master and serve the master, sure, but also must have the master's interest and heart, bending to his will, in all things.  If we know him and serve him out of self-interest we are no closer to the master than anyone else.  To know him and his interests and yet continue in self-interest is, in actuality, to not know him at all.  And this servant never realized it until it was too late.  Only the master could expose this; the servant never saw it of his own.  Whose interest are we serving?  We must ask.