HELLO!

A reminder our Gospel focus this Sunday is Matthew 25:14-30. Verse 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” is misunderstood through a kind of prosperity gospel. It refers to responsibility, not to gifts or property. The text does not depict the master giving talents as presents or rewards; rather, he assigns responsibility for his talents in the slaves’ hands. The line is best read as meaning “For to all those who have [acted responsibly], more [responsibility] will be given, and they will have an abundance [of responsibility]; but from those who have [not acted responsibly], even what [little responsibility] they have will be taken away.” For Matthew, the ethical Christian life is not a test for which we are rewarded. The ethical life is the reward. The more we live it, the more of it we get.

A talent is a lot of money. In her commentary on this text, Carla Works notes one talent is worth 6,000 days wages for an average worker. That is 20 years of income. I can’t imagine anyone walking up to me and handing me twenty years of my salary, especially with few instructions on what to do with it. Just “I’m leaving. I’m entrusting you with this.” The third slave dreaded making any choice, beyond hide away and hope for the best. His fear narrowed down his vision. We can empathize with this fearful slave. But we can see that his fear made him a poor steward and kept him from living out the faithful actions to which he had been called.

Jesus is instructing his followers to be like the servants who emulated their master’s actions…who took risks and gained from it, just as he had. In the face of persecution then, to be trustworthy, to be faithful, is to risk modeling our behaviour on the ministry of Jesus. We can’t let our fear make us hide away and try to protect what little we have. While fear can be useful, in this case, it turns us away from our calling. We have been given much. May we be faithful enough to make use of it.

This pattern infiltrates our daily lives as well. Fear overtakes our desire and ability to do the things we know are good and right. We don’t speak up when things don’t seem right because we don’t want to create waves. As people of faith, we are called to take risks, not dig holes. This is our calling, rather than throw each other shovels to make the holes of fear and insecurity greater, let’s throw some ropes down, join hands, and help each other navigate those caverns and holes together, until we all are brought back up again. In the midst of the darkness we are in, may the light of Christ shine our way, so that we may be bearers of light to the world with good news, the kind the doubles what we have been given.

Peace, Kevin

PS Photo of the statue at Halifax North Branch Library taken by Brian.