Christians are familiar with Jesus's method of teaching by parable. There was one that really disturbed me as a child, the Parable of the Talents. There had been a wealthy man who was about to go away on a long journey. He called 3 servants to him. To the first, he gave 5 silver talents. To the second, the master gave 2 silver talents. To the third, he gave 1 silver talent.
The 3rd servant was afraid, for the master was a hard man and reaped where he did not sow. After a long time, the master returned and asked of the 3 servants what they'd done with the talents. The 1st came back and said he invested the money and now had 10 talents to give back to the master. The master was impressed and invited the servant to the joys of his house.
The 2nd servant also doubled the money to four talents, and again the master was happy and rewarded him.
The 3rd servant (sniveling, I imagine), said he'd buried the talent and returned it to the master.
The master was furious and wanted to know why the servant with only a little talent didn't at least take the money to the bankers to earn interest. Wicked servant! The master banished him from his property to be left homeless and wandering aimlessly. Whoever has much will get much more and whoever has little, even what he has will be taken away.
Matthew 25: 14-30
Now, that's what bothered me. The 3rd servant didn't steal the master's money, so why was the master so angry and punitive? Why would someone poor be made poorer? What was Jesus thinking? Where was His compassion?
Decades later, I learned that money has multiple values, including time value. Over time, inflation eats away at the purchasing power of the dollar, so burying a talent in the ground actually loses money. For example, today's dollar has roughly the purchasing power that a nickel had in 1915, maybe not even that much.
Interesting that the Hebrews and Greeks called their most valuable silver coin a talent. Today, I realize that natural talent is God's investment in us, and when we develop it, use it and share it for others' benefit, the value of our natural talent can be converted to silver talents (money) and both investments grow. If we don't grow God's investment in us, even what we have will be taken away.
My advice is this: listen to any motivational speaker you can if you need motivation to rely on your talents. If you don't have a natural talent, keep searching yourself until you discover it. You have it! Find it! Love it! Cherish it! Invest in it! Develop it! Share it! It would be tragic to wind up a wandering soul who dies completely forgotten.
Interesting. Makes sense, and I never thought of that parable like that before.
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