Pentecost 22

Pentecost 22 (Matthew 25:14-30)
For to all those who have more will be given.

The underlying principle of the parable of the talents is “use it or lose it.”
In Biblical times a talent was a unit of money. A silver talent was worth a year’s wage for a day laborer. The man in the story is both incredibly wealthy and incredibly generous. He has a great deal of trust in his servants. And, he has high expectations for their productivity.

The word “talent” passed into English through this passage. The word shifted in meaning as people pondered the meaning of the parable. We no longer use the word “talent” to refer to a unit of money. We use the word to describe natural gifts and abilities.

In the parable the rich man gives different amounts of money to his servants according to their abilities. The man expects his servants to use the money productively. And, he recognizes each servant has his own strengths and weaknesses that will affect his productivity.

Two of the servants take the gifts and use them wisely. They double the investment. The master returns after a long absence to settle accounts. He commends the wise servants for using their natural gifts and abilities prudently and productively.
The third servant doesn’t use his gift at all. Through fear he hides his gift of one talent and simply returns it untouched and un used. The master confronts the unproductive servant and tells him that he could at the very least have opened a secure savings account and received a modest interest.

The parable is not a lesson in finances. It is also not teaching that we earn God’s favor, God’s grace.

The parable is a lesson about our response to God’s grace. The master represents God. Within the context of the parable He gave each of His servants amazing gifts few people would ever receive. He gave the gifts judiciously, taking into account each person’s unique abilities.

The Bible is very clear that God pours forth his grace, his unmerited favor, to everyone. God even gives each of us unique capabilities by which we can, if we choose, use the gifts.

The point of the parable is our choice to respond or to react to God’s grace.
Money is the ideal symbol for the process of unfolding grace because money is frozen energy. People invented money to quantify the value of time, talents and work. Units of money are units of the life force frozen in place. Money can reveal to us what we truly value. And, money can enter into the life of grace to produce an abundance of blessing.

The difference between the productive and the unproductive servants is the distinction between faith and fear.

St. Paul teaches that we reunify with God and are transformed by God through grace through faith. The operating force is choice. God pours forth his grace to all people in Jesus Christ.

The parable raises the vital question: how do we each respond or react to universal grace?

Do we make a real choice to receive the grace of God by faith? Will we use our natural abilities with understanding and wisdom to unlock the frozen energy of our souls? Do we see life as an adventure to explore?

It is as we choose to respond to God’s grace by faith that we experience the release of the frozen energy of our lives. It is as we use our talents that those talents expand, grow, and mature into the abundance God has placed in them for us to experience and for us to bring forth into the world.

The alternative to a response of faith is a reaction of fear. Fear paralyzes the soul. Fear locks the soul in stagnant life force that produces sin. Fear is always self-absorbed and self-justifying. And fear always erodes faith by spite.

Jesus teaching is very clear. We all have different abilities and different talents. God does not expect us to manifest gifts we simply do not have. God passionately desires for us to take the gifts he has given us and use them by faith.

The actual quantifiable result is less important that the process involved. The process opens our minds and hearts and souls to experience a greater degree of grace. It is as we practice our faith in the daily choices we make with what we have and where we are that we release the frozen energy of our lives.

The servant with five talents used his talents and doubled them. So did the servant with two talents. The blessing is not in the numbers. The blessing is in the process of growth and maturity. The blessing is in the joy.

A good question to ask yourself is: where am I experiencing joy in my life? Does my service to God produce joy?

The joy comes as a natural consequence of a life lived by grace through faith. If your service produces fear, anxiety, frustration and spite you need to step back and ask the Holy Spirit two questions. Where am I not in truth? Where am I not in love?
Those who choose to use grace through love expand their ability to experience grace through love. For to all those who act from the place of self will, fear and pride even what they have will collapse into stagnation and fail to bring forth a blessing.

But, to those who act from faith in love even the abundance of God’s gifts to them will increase, grow and mature into a wealth of blessing and a never ending fountain of joy.

For to all those who have more will be given.