Gospel: In Jesus's Parable of the Talents, a servant who does not invest his master's money is punished (Lk 19). Usually the "moral" is about being prepared or using one's "talents" (though the Greek "talanton" didn't have that meaning). But in a provocative "minority reading"... 
Barbara Reid, a NT scholar, suggests that it is precisely the third servant, the one who fails to invest, who was the intended hero of Jesus's story: "The third servant is the honorable one—only he has refused to cooperate in the system by which his master continues to accrue...
....huge amounts of money while others go wanting."
Other NT scholars suggest that the parable must be seen alongside Jesus's other eschatological parables, which are mainly focused on preparedness (e.g., the "Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids).
Other NT scholars suggest that the parable must be seen alongside Jesus's other eschatological parables, which are mainly focused on preparedness (e.g., the "Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids).
Professor Reid's interpretation, however, reminds us not only to be sensitive to the original culture in which the the parable would have been heard, but also that parables can carry multiple meanings.
Here is Barbara Reid's original article, from 2011, called "Unmasking Greed." americamagazine.org/content/the-wo…
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