Return on Talent

"We had the tools and the talent!"
--Winston Zeddemore (Ghostbusters)

Yesterday's gospel reading featured my favorite story in the Bible: The Parable of the Talents. Jesus tells us that God gifts all of us with talents, although His endowment is uneven across individuals. Regardless of the talent level we have been blessed with, we are expected to use them to the utmost.

There is no mistaking the allegorical message associated with 'talent.' In biblical times, a talent was a monetary unit employed from ancient Mesopotamia to New Testament Rome. In the parable, Christ notes that the master gave his servants various quantities of talents--"to each according to his ability."

The two servants who were given more talents invested them wisely. Both, in fact, doubled their money. The master was pleased to learn how those servants had parlayed their talents into great returns.

The lesser endowed servant who buried his talents in the ground and did nothing with them was rebuked by the master for returning the talents unused. The master tells the servant that he could have at least put the money in the bank so that he could have returned it to the master with interest.

I suspect that even if the servant had genuinely put his talents at risk and wound up losing money, then the master would have been pleased that the servant had at least invested his talents on his master's behalf in a manner thought prudent.

The message could not be more clear. God has given talent to each of us. Talent is like capital--His investment in us.

God expects a return on talent.