Well done, my good and faithful servant…
What are your talents?
How often do you ponder the gifts God has given you? In the Book of Proverbs, the husband of the worthy wife recognizes that her value is far beyond pearls; she is an unfailing prize. She recognizes that her life and her gifts have been given to her by the Lord for the service of others: her children, her husband, her community. She reaches out her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy, we are told. Like the woman described as a fruitful vine in Psalm 128, she has used her gifts in the service of the Lord, and she and her family are blessed because of her efforts.
In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus uses the parable of the talents to remind his disciples that each of us has been blessed with gifts with the expectation that we will use them. Two of the servants to whom the man entrusts his possessions invest the talents they are give; the third buries his talent in the ground. The kingdom of heaven depends on our ongoing investment in it; we must invest ourselves in people, in each other, in community. Our gifts – especially the greatest gift, which is the love of God – must be shaped and put to use, and this can only be done in the context of the community they are meant to serve. The servant who buries his talent in the ground loses his opportunity to gain the kingdom; the two other servants share their master’s joy, for they have recognized the value of the gifts they have been given, and have multiplied their blessings.
The Lord gives each of us a set of gifts; it is up to us to discover what they are and to use them in his service, not for the prosperity of self, but of all. Our blessings multiply when we use them for the good of others. Paul reminds the Thessalonians that they are not in darkness but rather they are children of the light, and must therefore stay alert and sober, aware of all that God has done and will continue to do for them, aware of their blessings and ever conscious of the final blessing that is to come. May we, too, be aware of our gifts and put them to good use in the service of the kingdom of God!
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
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