No risk no feast!

Jesus told this story: “The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going into another country, who called together his servants and loaned them money to invest for him while he was gone. He gave $5,000 to one, $2,000 to another, and $1,000 to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities—and then left on his trip. The man who received the $5,000 began immediately to buy and sell with it and soon earned another $5,000. The man with $2,000 went right to work, too, and earned another $2,000. But the man who received the $1,000 dug a hole in the ground and hid the money for safekeeping. After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to him to account for his money. The man to whom he had entrusted the $5,000 brought him $10,000. His master praised him for good work. ‘You have been faithful in handling this small amount,’ he told him, ‘so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Begin the joyous tasks I have assigned to you.’ Next came the man who had received the $2,000, with the report, ‘Sir, you gave me $2,000 to use, and I have doubled it.’ ‘Good work,’ his master said. ‘You are a good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over this small amount, so now I will give you much more.’ Then the man with the $1,000 came and said, ‘Sir, I knew you were a hard man, and I was afraid you would rob me of what I earned, so I hid your money in the earth and here it is!’ But his master replied, ‘Wicked man! Lazy slave! Since you knew I would demand your profit,you should at least have put my money into the bank so I could have some interest. Take the money from this man and give it to the man with the $10,000. For the man who uses well what he is given shall be given more, and he shall have abundance. But from the man who is unfaithful, even what little responsibility he has shall be taken from him. And throw the useless servant out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Food for thought!

As you can see, in this parable the whole attention is put on the useless servant. This servant buried his talent in the ground, in order that he might hand it back to his master exactly as it was. He thought he was doing something good and comendable. But he was not, just as many times, in our churches and families and lives, we hold on to laws and rules and customs and traditions, hoping to get praise from the Lord. One day, we shall be surprised to learn the opposite.

Some of us think that any change, any development, any alteration, anything new to our laws and rules and traditions and customs is out of the question. Like the man with the talent, we tend to keep things exactly as they are – and it is for that that the man was condemned. In this parable, Jesus tells us that there can be no religion without adventure, no life without daring, and that God can find no use for the shut mind.

But there is much more in this parable than that. Jesus tells us that God gives us differing gifts. He gave $5,000 to one, $2,000 to another, and $1,000 to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. As you can see, it is not our talent which matters; what matters is how we use it. God never demands from us abilities which we have not got; but he does demand that we should use to the full the abilities which we do possess. Human beings are not equal in talent; but they can be equal in effort.

Jesus tells us still that the reward of work well done is still more work to do. The two servants who had done well are not told to lean back and rest because they have done well. They are given greater tasks and greater responsibilities in the work of the master.

Jesus is telling us that those whom life punishes are the people who will not try. The man with the one talent did not lose his talent; he simply did nothing with it. Even if he had adventured with it and lost it, it would have been better than to do nothing at all. It is always a temptation for the one talent person to say: ‘I have so small a talent, so little money that I can do so little with it. The condemnation is for anyone who, having even one talent, will not try to use it, and will not risk it for the common good.

Jesus is laying down a rule of life that is universally true, that to those who have, more will be given, and those who have not will lose even what they have. The meaning is this. If we have a talent and exercise it, we are progressively able to do more with it. But, if we have a talent and fail to exercise it, we will inevitably lose it. If we have some proficiency at a game or an art, if we have some gift for doing something, the more we exercise that proficiency and that gift, the harder the work and the bigger the task we will be able to tackle. Whereas, if we fail to use it, we lose it. It is the lesson of life that the only way to keep a gift is to use it in the service of God and in the service of our neighbours.

It is the lesson of life that the only way to keep a gift is to use the gift; the only way forward is to move forward; more breeds more; less breeds less; the rich get richer; the poor get poorer; the good get better; the bad get worse. C'est la vie!

Remember: NO RISK NO FEAST!