How much is a talent? A mite? A “piece of silver”?

     When we read all these strange units of measurement in the Scriptures, we often don’t know what they are. We miss the real power and dynamics of the story. For instance, I might buy a can of cola in Canada for one dollar but in Mexico I may have to pay 10 pesos—is that a good price or a really bad one? I need to know the conversion factor.

     When we dig into the stories Jesus told, or events in His life, we still need those conversion factors. Look at the shepherd who loses one sheep. (Matthew 18:12). Out of 100, that’s only 1%. But what is the value of a sheep (aside altogether from his duty to keep the flock intact)? I looked up the current selling price of a sheep —about $300. Definitely worth a bit of trudging through the wilderness.

     Then there is the woman with ten silver coins (drachmae or denarii), who lost one of them— how much was that, supposing a salary of $30,000? One denarius was about one day’s wages so calculating 300 working days per year, that is $100. Again, worth sweeping the floor for. (Luke 15:8)

     While the Lord was at the temple, He watched a woman put two mites into the collection box—all she had to live on. (Mark 12:42) We might put $5 or $10 or $20 into the collection and think nothing of it. What did she have? Her two mites (or lepta) were worth only one sixty-fourth of a denarius! She had $1.60, and she gave it all.

     Another example might be the ruler who gave his three assistants five, three, and one talents (i.e., bags of money). The NIV footnotes indicate that a talent was “about 20 years of a day laborer’s wage”, so that means $3,000,000 to the first servant and $600,000 to the third. The first and second servants were committed to their master, worked hard, and doubled their money (to six million, in the first case).

     Finally, look at what Judas got for his treachery—30 pieces of silver. (Matthew 26:15) Sometimes we think it was a pittance—30 quarters or even 30 silver dollars. But this was the value of the life of a slave if someone’s ox gored him to death. (Exodus 21:32) These pieces were possibly staters, so 30 of them would represent four month’s wages. So, in terms of our $30,000 salary, Judas got $10,000.

     We should take it to heart that these stories, whether involving $6,000,000 or $1.60, all seem to have the common threads of personal integrity, and faithfulness to the Master (or lack thereof). “If we are faithless, he remains faithful.”