It Takes Talents

One of the passages from the Bible I reference a lot is Matthew 25:14-30, commonly known as the parable of the talents. In a nutshell, it is a story about rich man giving some of his servants money to do something with while he is away on a trip. When he returns, he asks for a report on what the servants accomplished. Two servants got to work and multiplied what they were given. The rich guy praises them for their industriousness. A third servant, however, buries what he is given, which is the equivalent to literally doing nothing with it. He doesn't even put the money in his savings account to at least gain a tiny bit of interest. The rich man, understandably, gets angry with him and takes everything away from the third servant, giving it to the two who expanded their affluence.

I believe the talents in this parable are generally understood to be actual money as the Old Testament frequently refers to talents of gold or silver. As a unit of weight, a talent can be anywhere from 66 pounds to 129 pounds, depending on what country's standard you want to use. It sometimes also means an amount of money equal to 20 years worth of someone's wages. Either way, a significant and precious resource. However, I also believe that Jesus wasn't just talking about money here. Thanks to the versatility of the English language, I think His definition of talents encompasses all of the significant and precious resources we have to offer. Things like our time, our energy, our innate abilities, our learned skills, our experiences, our presence and our love. Add our money to that list and we have a powerful arsenal of talents at our disposal.

My basic interpretation of this parable is this: God is going to give us resources and it is our job to use those resources to their fullest. This requires a two prong attack. First, we need to actually use our talents. Don't save them for a special occasions. Don't pretend they don't exist. Don't try to hoard them. Put them out into the world each and every day. Multiple times a day even. Use them until you think you can't possibly have any left. Then rest, replenish and repeat. Do yourself a favor and do not skip the second word of that last sentence. Burnout is real, it is ugly and it should be avoided if at all possible. 

Secondly, we need to use our talents for good. What do I mean when I say "for good?" Use your talents to relieve suffering, to love others, to take care of someone else's needs, to improve the world somehow for the betterment of all creation. You might think this idea is a given. Sadly, in the world we currently inhabit, it is not. Too often our society says use your talents to gain followers, gain influence and gain money, simply for the goal of satisfying your own desires. At the same time we are told to bow down to the almighty dollar, we are told to treat ourselves and be as selfishly frivolous as you want. It's only money after all.

This parable says otherwise. It says that what we do with our talents matters and that doing nothing is unacceptable. Taken in context with the whole of Christ's message, God gives us resources to fulfil our needs and he gives us more than we need so that we can take care of others. It's a radical, counter cultural, chaotically good position to take nowadays but that is what this party is all about.