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Paul —
I cannot find this verse in either Chapter 12 or
Chapter 13 of Matthew.
I can find it in Matthew 25:29, the Parable of the
Talents, so let me address that:
In this parable, the Master (Jesus) gives to three
servants money according to their abilities:
- to one he gives five talents,
- to another two talents, and
- to the third one talent.
A talent is a huge sum of money; I'm not sure
how much but probably tens of thousands of dollars. One
source I consulted says it's about seventy-five
pounds. If gold, (I
don't know if this is unspecified or implicit in
the Gospel),
it's around $800,000. Anyway, two of them invest
the money and one just buries it.
When the time for accounting comes, the two who
invested it double their master's money, and receive
praise. The one who buried it makes a lame excuse
and offers back exactly what he got. He gets condemnation.
The point here is that God has given us something
valuable (the coincidence with the English word talent is
serendipitous) and our job is to do something profitable
with it. If we do not, we will in the end face
condemnation. In other words, we need to put our
faith into practice and not be lazy. One can interpret
this in a variety of ways; for example, we are
called to grow in holiness, thus cultivating the
virtue and sanctity that God gives us. Or, we should
put our gifts and talents to use for the Lord,
and for advancing his kingdom.
So I'm not entirely
sure how to answer your question what has refers
to; but Jesus in this parable is referring to every
Christian (a Christian is, or at least must be,
a servant of the Master, Christ). Jesus is the
one who takes it away, at the Day of Judgment.
The saying you have cited means that those
who have earned a profit on what the
Master has given them, will be given even more
(in terms of eternal reward), so that they are
fully satisfied, but to those who have not earned
a profit but have squandered their abilities and
gifts, what reward they would have had, will be
taken away (i.e., they will be condemned and deprived
of merit and reward).
Hope this helps,
Eric
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