The Parable of the Talents

"A king may move a man. A father may claim a son. But remember that, even when those who move you be kings or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God you cannot say 'but I was told by others to do thus' or that 'virtue was not convenient at the time.' This will not suffice. Remember that."
--King Baldwin IV (Kingdom of Heaven)

In the cycle of scripture readings constituting Ordinary Time in the Catholic church, today's gospel came from Matthew 25. The passage is often called 'The Parable of Talents.'

Before leaving on a trip, a master trusts portions of his wealth, measured in 'talents,' to three servants. He gives 5 talents to one servant, 2 talents to a another, and 1 talent to a third.

While the master is away, the servant with 5 talents invests them and makes 5 more. The servant with 2 talents also doubles his money.

The servant with 1 talent, however, does nothing with his small trust. Instead, he buries it in the ground.

Upon return from his trip, the master congratulates the two servants who had wisely invested their talents, and tells the pair that, because they have done well with 'small matters,' they will be entrusted with more opportunities in the future.

To the third servant, the one who did nothing with his talent, the master has no kind words to say. He berates the servant for taking no risk at all. At the very least, the master notes, the talent could have been put in the bank where it could have earned at least a small, low risk return.

The servant is then shown the door.

This story resonates with me more than any other passage in the Bible. From where I sit, the lessons are many:

1) Our Creator bestows 'talents' with each of us.

2) For reasons unexplained, the distribution of talent is uneven. Some are given more talents than others.

3) Regardless of the level of endowment, each of us is expected to employ the talents that we are given to the best of our ability.

4) If we do so in small matters (here on earth), then we will be rewarded in large matters (the afterlife).

5) Those who squander their talents on earthly matters will not be rewarded in the hereafter.

The most interesting twist in the story to me is that the servant endowed with the least number of talents is the one that gets hammered by the master. In the spirit of 'social justice,' one would think that the master would pick on the most richly endowed servant for not doing more, and cut the lesser endowed servants some slack.

The message seems to be that, even if our talent endowment is meager, the Creator expects that we do our best with it. No quarter will be given to those who squander their talents, however modest those talents may be.