The Bethany Bullet-Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Parable of the Talents recorded in Matthew 25 is fairly familiar with regular worshippers. But can you imagine anyone burying their talent?

The servant who buried his in this parable was accused of doing so because of his laziness, “You wicked and slothful servant.” Certainly his master knew him well. Perhaps the servant thought if the master needed “more” he could make it himself. Maybe his laziness was due in part to jealousy, “that guy got five and the other fella got two; and all the master gave me was a single talent.” Could be he figured why bother, why work, what’s the point, after all I’m a one-talent servant. The servant himself identified part of his paralysis was out of fear. Maybe he didn’t want to do the wrong thing. More likely he estimated the master’s nature as being too demanding, so he buried his talent.

Of course, this parable has ultimately something to say about our relationship with our Master in heaven. He has bestowed on us gifts to be put to use for His benefit. Can you imagine any servant burying such a talent? What about when a servant is over extended in life, “let someone else do the heavy lifting, take care of that, or jump in. . .” Talent buried. Which servant hasn’t on occasion focused on the gifts given to fellow servants over and above their own? Why doesn’t a five-talent servant take that on? Talent buried. Fear can be a motivational factor in burying talents. “I don’t want to say the wrong thing, I don’t want to offend, confuse, or fight, so I’ll just keep quiet.” Talent buried.

It is a bit ironic that the master’s solution for the talent burying servant in the parable and the talent burying servants reading this post is to bury his talent. God buried His talent. It was Good Friday, and in order to save us from all the times that we’ve buried our talents - God put His Talent (Jesus) in the ground for three days and two nights. In so doing, He proved the servant in the parable wrong in his estimation of his master. This is not a master who punishes his servants unjustly, yet that is exactly what He has done to His own Son. HE received the punishment we deserve. HE was buried in our place, and now through Him the master grants us mercy undeserved. Forgiven, restored, and redeemed in His sight. We are now free to put our talents to work.

We can do so boldly, because we know that:

• Our talents are actually His to begin with.
• He expects growth, and he will provide it.
• No need to spend excessive amounts of market analysis to figure where we ought to put our talents to work. The first servant didn’t.

Like him, invest where you are planted: your home, your work, your neighborhood, your church and allow God to work and reap a harvest.