Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus said, “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. 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. 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.’ 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.’ 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. 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.’”
Reflection I remember being about twelve years old, standing in the reception area of my ballet class dance studio and overhearing my dance teacher’s side of a telephone conversation. “Yes, we do have one student, maybe two. Tall, slender, possible candidates. That would be lovely. No, none of the others.”
I, the tiny one; short and rather more solid than slender, felt gut punched. There is no way I am a “possible candidate” for whatever it is my teacher is talking about. By grace somehow I understood that in spite of my love of the ballet, I was not given sufficient talents to be the prima ballerina I imagined. Not long thereafter I decided I would focus on what I actually was good at, science and english, analyzing and writing.
An early stage of human development demands we take honest stock of who we are, assess and acknowledge our talents and then decide how we will make the most of them. This I believe is the message Jesus intends for his disciples in the parable of the slaves entrusted with their masters talents.
If the man of means going on a journey represents God, then the disciples and all of us are the slaves, each given different talents and set free to determine how we will use, misuse or fail to use them. And here is the thing. We are each given different talents and the opportunity to employ them. We are not intended to contend with one another over talents we do not have. We are not all intended to be and to do the same thing. Rather, we are intended to accept our God given gifts and make the most of them.
For reasons I cannot fathom, but certainly appreciate, my twelve year old self did not decide to hang in there and compete with the tall, slender ballerina types for a role for which I was not suited. Instead somehow I accepted the fact that I was more of a bookworm, a nerd, so reset my sights on being what I was naturally good at.
Long before I heard about ‘gifts of the Spirit’ somehow by grace I was inclined to cooperate with what was given to me. I believe this spared me years of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” in what could have been my outer darkness, madly striving to be the long, lithe, prima ballerina of the New York City Ballet.
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Click on NY City Ballet image above right for full screen view.
Click on NY City Ballet image above right for full screen view.
