“Talents” by Brian Flanagan, Fiat Ventures
Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
In this week’s Gospel we hear the parable of the talents. You probably know the story; the master leaves 3 of his servants in charge of various amounts of money and goes on a trip. Two of them invest it well and are rewarded upon his return, but the 3rd out of fear does nothing, and the master is disappointed to say the least.
Now this was no 8th grade mock stock market project, this was some serious cash. How much are we talking? A talent was worth about $1.25 million dollars. So the first guy gets five talents, or roughly $6.25 million. The second guy gets $2.5 million, and the last $1.25 million. All three of the guys knew their job was to invest the money, that’s why the master gave it to them in the first place.
All three were probably a little nervous when the master started up his Ferrari and drove off. I would think the guy with the 5 talents ($6.25m) would be the most nervous. After all, he’s got the most money lose! If he makes a poor investment, it could cost him his job. Yet this guy takes a big risk, invests it all, and he’s doubled the master’s money to $12.5 million dollars by the time he returns. The second guy did the same – he took the risk, did what his master asked of him, and probably got a nice Christmas bonus.
Then we have the third guy. Clearly the master is loaded, so maybe he wouldn’t even miss the $1.25 million if the Jerusalem Stock Exchange had a bad run for a while and the investment went south. But this guy figures it’s not worth the risk. He figures that even if he does double the investment, it won’t even be worth what the first servant started out with, so instead gives in to fear. He hopes his master will understand that “at least” he’s getting back what he left. But the master was displeased, almost as if to say, “It wasn’t about the money! I wanted to see if you would do as I asked, if you were loyal and willing to take risks for me. But since all you care about is yourself and your job, even that I’m going to take away from you. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”
Now it’s no coincidence that this unit of money is called a talent. So how does the parable apply to us? God gives us different talents, and asks us to actually use them to glorify him and build up the kingdom. Just by looking around, we can see that some people are especially talented. Someone might be a jack-of-all-trades, or another might be able to sing, dance, act, play the piano, all while juggle flaming torches. We can look at how talented others are and think that whatever talents we have to contribute aren’t even worth it, so we just ‘bury them in the ground’ like the third servant. But God would say to us, “Don’t worry about the talents I’ve given other people, however great or fancy you perceive them to be – I have great plans for the gifts and abilities I’ve given to you. If you don’t use the talents I give you, you won’t be able to participate in my plan!”
Sometimes it takes a risk to use our talents, but it’s well worth it.
So this week, take some time to think about the gifts and talents God has given you, and how he might be calling you to use them. This way you won’t need to find a “talented” dentist to help you out with your wailing and gnashing of teeth!
