Talents

Passage: Matthew 25:14-30

I have a friend who’s always been deeply troubled by the “Parable of the Talents”.  Most disturbing to her is the conclusion: For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

It doesn’t seem fair.  The apparent moral of the story is that God gives people different gifts, and varying degrees thereof.  And that the people who have more will always get more.  Kind of a cosmic “one percent vs. ninety-nine percent”. 

The problem is that we read the parable through the lens of the world rather than the Kingdom of God.  Within God’s Kingdom, the reward is God himself.  That is, the experience of God’s presence and God’s glory.  What God promises his children here on earth is glimpses of his glory – ever-increasing experiences of God’s presence and miraculous power.  The lesson of the “Talents” is this: God gives us abilities and resources, and opportunities to invest them.  But we’re investing them not in the economy of this world, but the economy of the Kingdom.  So God isn’t promising financial dividends.  He’s offering ever-increasing glimpses of himself.  In our lives as believers, God gives us repeated opportunities to take risks.  To initiate new relationships.  To serve new communities of people in need.  To embark on new projects.  Typically these new endeavors are outside our comfort zone.  And typically we hesitate because we’re afraid.  We’re afraid of what the new thing will cost us.  And we’re afraid that we’ll try and fail.  So what do we do?  We play it safe.  

Playing it safe is based on a couple of assumptions.  The first is that the resources we’ve been given are in short supply.  The second is that God presides over the earth like a cosmic referee, just waiting to penalize us for stepping out of line.  Jesus addresses this in the response of the third servant: “Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.”  In fact, the servant reveals that he doesn’t know his Master at all.  And his penalty for playing it safe is missing out on  the Master’s abundance.

The invitation of the parable is this:

1. Assess the resources God has given you.  Don’t diminish your potential because it seems less than someone else’s.
2. Be vigilant about the opportunities God is giving you.  Don’t settle for where you are.  God always has something new in mind for you.
3. Understand that God is offering an invitation, not a threat.  The only way to lose what God offers is to forget who God is.  God won’t run out of gifts – he will always give you what you need, especially to invest in his Kingdom.  And God isn’t waiting to punish you.  God wants you to experience his love and his power in ever-increasing ways. 

Don’t bury your talent.  Step out and take risks.  Look for new ways to invest what you’ve been given.  And live the abundant and adventurous life for which you’ve been created.