Use it or lose it

“…for to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance” (Matt 25:29)

Matthew 25:14-30 (Year A: Second Sunday before Advent 15th November, 2020)

When I consider how my light is spent

Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,

And that one talent which is death to hide

Lodg'd with me useless

(John Milton, 1608-1674)

Living faithfully entails attention to what life has to offer. We look for gold without and beyond not realising that it is within and here. If only we realised the potential within us –  waiting to be released. Were it released we would recognise, name and release talents within others.

It is believed that much of the human brain is not used in the course of a life. This is a major scandal. One of the great tragedies associated with poverty and injustice is that so much talent goes to waste. There are lives half lived, dreams never realised, people stunted by lack of encouragement, lack of opportunity and lack of recognition.

In any parish, community, family, organisation, trade union, chamber of commerce or political party there are a variety of gifts and talents. Intelligence, wisdom and practical ability do not correspond to some quantum from zero to ten. Rather, talents are distributed in different ways and measures.

A person starting out in life may have qualities of leadership, wisdom and courage lacking in one who is 80. Or, a person may have wisdom, tact, insight from a life time of marriage, rearing children, work and civic engagement but be told that they must retire at a set age because that is the rule even though people live longer than ever and maintain good health in many cases. Someone may have the gift of being close to those undergoing great trauma or loss. These, or others, may be gifted in speaking of God by living in God to others.

But we need to watch our language and in doing so to remain faithful to what we have received while being channels of ever deeper understanding and manifestation of what has been received. We need to start from where others are.

There is no point in preparing a meal for others unless we have been equipped and nourished enough to know what we are doing and to bring the gifts we have received to bear on the meal.

Sometimes the biggest barrier to the utilisation of talent is fear:

• Fear within ourselves of failure (the servant in this week’s passage who was afraid of failure and his master’s reaction and who hid his talent in the ground)
• Fear that allowing talent in others to flourish might disturb our security, position or peace.

With the little we have, we have much to give. What is important is the first step. We might struggle over a choice to pursue a course of action because we fear that we will not be able for the challenge and risk failure and loss of reputation.

But, nothing ventured means nothing gained.

God’s reckless love beckons us to be reckless in giving ourselves to his work after due reflection, consultation and discernment.  Talents grow with us. We use them or we lose them like a language learned.

The call to use it lose it is not just directed to individuals. It is directed to the community in which we live or work or worship if we are part of a worshiping community. The truth is that God never repeats himself whether in creating and nurturing individuals or whole communities. 

As Christian disciples, what talents have we been given?  As Christian parents, spouses and partners what are the ways in which we can best serve God’s purposes?  As young Christian adults or children, what special gifts have we been given with which we can reach the greatest and most sustainable happiness in life?  As retired Christian persons, what talents of wisdom, experience or specific competence can we bring to the table of our local or national communities?

Those parishes and ecclesial communities that have the greatest chance of survival, growth and transformation are those rooted in 

(1) a confident proclamation in word and deed of the Risen Christ,
(2) a deep spirituality rooted in personal, communal and sacramental prayer, and
(3) a warm and inclusive welcome towards everyone.

 In addition to these three, the flourishing Christian community is one that reaches out to the world about it not to preach at it or control it but to serve it, to witness to it and work with it towards positive change.

This is what the Kingdom of God means in our villages, places of work and social gathering.  If we do all of this, then we need not fear for the future of our large empty and difficult to heat buildings. Rather, the buildings will be heated and enlivened once again by the sound and activity of many, many persons discovering Christ for the first time or all over again.

Warning – the reward for the generous servant or community is not rest but more responsibility! (Matthew 25:29 – ‘ For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance’)

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Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

This passage is situated in the culture of 1st century Palestine.  In the world inhabited by religious hierarchy, imperial governments, masters and slaves as well as others, Jesus was picking stories from the real world around him. Rich in everyday imageries of wedding feasts (the reading from last Sunday and which immediately precedes this passage in chapter 25 of Matthew), harvest, sowing, baking, eating, grieving, rejoicing, shepherding and all the other facets of ordinary life in a precarious political and natural environment, we get a glimpse of how Jesus spoke about the extraordinary and the supernatural in and through the ordinary and the natural.  So too, we have a job to undertake in translating the message of God in today’s world and experience.

14-15:  The master distributes his goods among his servants

‘For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them;  to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.’

A talent is thought to be the equivalent of a very large sum of money – perhaps as much as many years of a labourer’s wage. A silver talent was the weight of 6,000 denarii.  In modern day terms, this might be equivalent to the value of a large house or a farm. Someone with five talents would have been a very rich person and might, it may be suggested in jest, have savings tied up in some Mediterranean offshore island where corrupt Roman officials also parked their money!

We are not told why this sum of money was given. Nor are we told that the slaves were to use it to make more money. The point is that a huge amount was gifted to each one. However, the gifts were unevenly distributed.

16-18 Different ways of receiving this story 

‘The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.’

It’s called the circulation of capital and the accumulation of value. Some commentators take an interpretation along the lines of saying that God allocates gifts unequally to people. Each makes use of their gifts and makes a return. This view sits comfortably with the notion that people can largely sink or swim: economic equality whether of condition or opportunity is not necessary or even attainable. Instead, Christians should exercise charity and compassion by helping others as appropriate. However, those gifted economically have a duty and a right to maximise their gains (and implicitly use them to reinvest or share with others). Such is the view of some.

At the other end of the spectrum there are Christians who take a very, very different view. For example, William Herzog (Parables as Subversive Speech: Jesus as Pedagogue of the Oppressed) sees, here, a story of exploitation whereby the absentee landlord reaps where he did not sow while the third servant calls his game but pays a price for it (see note on verses 24-25, below).  The third servant is the hero of the story, according to this view, and is an example of how we might act in solidarity with others who are exploited.

Still other interpretations are possible. Whatever emphasis or understanding we take from this story it is rich in possibilities. Neither the individual or the church(es) are free from the influence of culture, economic interest and theological mental frameworks. Everyone, including Matthew and his community, have ‘issues’.

19-23: The rendering of account of the first and second servant

‘After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 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.” 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.” 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.” 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.”’

Each investment of time and effort yields its own return – perhaps invisible and later as in years later. Sometimes, those who give their lives in a cause (even a dubious one) give rise to hidden fruits and results years and decades later. Today, we live and work and move around thanks to the sacrifice of millions in World War 2.  In saying that, huge wrongs were committed by those on the winning side of that conflict though they cannot be compared with the evil that was Nazism.

24-25: The rendering of an account of the third servant

‘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; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.”'

This servant played it safe. Here, perhaps, we see an image of the frightened Christian who fears risking anything too much.  The bottom line, for him or her, is to stay on the right side of God who is seen as a lonesome, fearsome and angry Judge who weighs our actions and thoughts and is ready to punish as only God can.  May it be suggested that the real God is much too involved in this world and in our lives as a loving and gentle person who invites, cajoles and follows us in all of the valleys, hills and crevices of our lives. That God is less concerned about the aberrations and falls from grace as about the risks taken, the nets thrown out, the unusual paths taken and the attitude of trusting love and compassion.

26-27: Response of the master to the third servant

‘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? 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.’ 

The poor third servant! He/she gets it in the ear from the master. Had the servant any acumen, he would have, at least, offered the small gift he had to the money lenders and made some gain.  He really angered the master because he should have known the consequences of doing nothing.

28-30: The final word of the master which clarifies the parable

‘So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 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. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

We can use what we have or we can lose it.  Talents not put to use wither and die.  Languages learned but not spoken rust and shrink in our minds.  Muscles unused turn to fat. Tools left in the shed stay there and gather rust. Gardens not cared for care for themselves with weeds.  We have only one chance in this short life or ours. We can rediscover joy in the giving of life and the use of the little we have. God will add to it day by day even though we may not be fully aware of it.