Hilltop Lutheran

14 For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15 to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.  16 The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17 In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents.  18 But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.  19 After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.  20 Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.  21 His master said to him, Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.  22 And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.  23 His master said to him, Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.  24 Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.  26 But his master replied, You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter?  27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest.  28 So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents.  29 For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.  30 As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This parable teaches us that the meaning of life lies in using your gifts to join God in finishing the world.  God certainly doesn’t need us to do such an amazing thing.  He invites us, nonetheless.  The invitation is weighted with grace, purpose and plenty of hard work!
As a child you might have thought of the poor fellow who only got one talent in comparison to the others.  No wonder he wanted to hide.  According to Jesus, a talent is first of all, money; a measure of wealth.  This fellow turns over his whole fortune to his servants.  Even the smallest amount, one talent, was equal to 6,000 pieces of silver.  It was equal to about twenty years salary.  The servants didn’t get the same, but they all got a bundle
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It’s easy to miss the meaning of enormous gifts, because we’re dazzled by money, or athletic prowess, or a beautiful face or body, or even a great brain.  Think of what we communicate to our children.  Certainly not what Jesus is talking about.

So what’s he talking about?  He doesn’t name it specifically.  But it surely has to do with personality, abilities, anything about us that we can share in God’s work to finish the world.  Every creature made in God’s image possesses enormous gifts from the Creator.
To put it another way, God takes a hand whenever He can find it and does what He likes with it.  Sometimes that’s the hand of a mother guiding a child, or a father’s word of prayer for his family, or a nurse giving comfort to a patient, or a neighbor welcoming a new neighbor.  The pieces of silver are whatever you can do or say that will help another person make their world what God means it to be.
That kind of living means inevitable risk.  To give whatever we’ve got to join God in moving His kingdom along means we are willing to rise above ourselves and our own need for security.

Why did the one servant bury his gifts?  He says himself, I was afraid.  If our purpose in life is to join God in the ongoing work of finishing creation, it means faith is a venture in unfamiliar territory.
If talent is money, it can serve the purposes of the kingdom.  I wonder if you know how Stanford University was founded.  Leland Stanford was the governor of California during the Civil War.  After his term he founded Central Pacific Railroad.  It was shortly after that he lost his only son, Leland.  One night he had a dream in which his son came to him and said, Father, never say again that you have nothing to live for-live through other peoples’ children.  Soon afterward Leland Stanford University was built in Palo Alto, California.  Stanford and his wife became the devoted servants of poor, orphaned and suffering children throughout the world.  [A similar story could be told about Hershey.]
What was their talent?

Think of talents not only as money but as service to others.  Not long ago over a thousand people met in Chicago to honor the mother of the year.  She was a woman no one had heard of.  Mrs. Dominic Salvino, an Italian immigrant, was a housewife and poor.  She lived on Erie Street where many neighbors lived who were poorer than she.  They had eight children to her four.  They were old, she was 49.  they were sick, she was healthy.  They were tired, she was full of energy.  So Mrs. Salvino made herself an unofficial untrained social worker and assigned herself to Erie Street.  She visited the sick, collected money from the moderately poor and gave it to the desperately poor.  She did the housework of the bedridden, cooked for the motherless, and spread smiles the length of Erie Street in Chicago.  She averaged about 1000 hours a year at her avocation.  Was she a one talent person?  In the long run it’s the one talent type who seem to count the most.  Was she joined with God in finishing His creation?

Years ago, playwright Marc Connolly wrote about the countless obscure people who quietly affect the lives of those around them for good:

Everyone at one time or another has known such people, strangers, relatives or friends, who have changed the quality of life for others.  They come into a room in a dark hour-a sickroom, say, or a death room, or a room without hope, or merely in an hour when we are lonely or discourages.  They  may say little, if anything.  But the shining quality of goodness radiates from the, from their presence, and where there was dark there is light, where there was cowardice there is courage, and where there was listlessness there is love of life.  These friends and relatives, or wonderful strangers-all these, humble and unaware, carry with them the kindness and generosity of their lives.  These are the great artists.  They practice the greatest art of all, the art of living, the art of life itself.

This parable of Jesus has a sobering ending.  It reminds us that faithless, deliberate neglect and misuse of God’s enormous gifts brings permanent separation from God who wants nothing but good for His people.

There’s a good maxim to keep in mind:  We make a living by what we get; but we make a life by what we give.  I once read an epitaph on a tombstone:  What I gave, I have.  What I spent, I had.  What I kept, I lost.  Think on these things; and may the God of peace be with you.