“From Servants to Sons and
Daughters”
The
Parable of the Talents is a cautionary tale that has been appropriate for all
ages and especially to our own when the common perception is, “The rich get richer and the poor get
poorer!” Money, the economy, our social status are so very important to us that
they can at times be an obstacle to our spiritual well-being. That’s why Jesus
is constantly drawing upon them as the subject matter for His parables and His
insights into wealth and possessions and especially our attitudes toward them
captured the attention of so many people.
Today’s story is about a man as he makes
arrangements to go away on a journey. He entrusts portions of his estate to his
servants to manage in his absence. He doesn’t give them any instruction on how
to manage his affairs but he does allocate the amount that each will manage according to their abilities. Because of
this we may conclude that the Master had some
expectations about how each of his servants would manage the portion of the
property he entrusted to them. It’s obvious that the Master was looking to
increase his wealth and the thought that his money would sit idly by and not
get so much as shekel’s worth of interest from the bankers was beyond his
imagination.
If we are able to imagine this parable with some
spiritual insight we might easily see that we are the players in the very
script we hear today. We are the servants, at least from God’s perspective. And,
He has entrusted us with many talents. They are God’s gift to us. What we do with them is our gift to God.
It seems from today’s lesson that God is pleased when we are willing to go all
out for His kingdom, when we are willing to put the effort and energy into
living those values that Christ taught us and actually incorporate them into
our lives and giving good witness to those around us. As they say in the
financial world… no risk, no reward. Make no mistake about it, trying to live
the gospel values in our day is putting ourselves at risk of rejection,
humiliation, and even death in some corners of the world today.
Being timid, hoarding or squandering the gifts God
has given us stifles the spreading of His kingdom and condemns us to a life of
deprivation...we will reap what we sow!
We would do a much better job of building up the kingdom if we came to see
ourselves not as servants managing someone else’s property, but rather as we
really are, sons and daughters of the
king who one day stand to inherit the riches of His entire kingdom.
Happy Thanksgiving and may God bless you and your loved ones on this special day.
Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom
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