"Lord, here is your talent. I wrapped it up in a piece of cloth, for I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow."
Gospel of Luke
When I was in Diaconate Formation, my children were quite young; nine, ten and eleven. This process included interviews with all family members to see how things were going. During one of the family interviews, I remember explaining about all the things I was involved in; at work, courses I was taking, ministry at the church etc. After I had finished, I recall my oldest son quickly coming in and saying: "My dad is quite busy, but we don't see him as much any more." This was certainly a wake-up call.
Both the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke contain the parable of the "talents". In Matthew, only three servants were given talents of different amounts. In Luke's Gospel, ten servants were given one talent each with which to do business. But the message of the two Gospels are the same. The negligent servant in both Gospels is quoted as saving: "Lord, here is your talent. I wrapped it up in a piece of cloth, for I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow."
The reaction of many people when they hear this parable is guilt. Why guilt? Because it generates the question - Am I doing enough? We picture in our minds that to pass the test we have to be the one who is most busy, who is at the centre of every activity. But this Gospel parable is not about busyness. Neither is it about the multiplication of our money. It's about trust and faith.
Do you have trust and faith that God loves you unconditionally? Is that trust and faith integrated into your life to the point that it affects and influences your relationships with others?
If you look at Jesus' own life, you discover that He was not about busyness or being at the centre of every activity. Jesus came from an obscure Nazareth village. He did a bit of carpentry work in His early years but left that for other pursuits. He had no university degrees. He did not seek or attain fame or fortune. He wrote no books. He belonged to no committees or organizations that I know about. He depended largely on others for His personal needs which were minimal. And yet, more than any other person, He touched the lives of others. He was present to them in a way that changed their lives. He had complete faith and trust in a relationship with One He called "Father", and this relationship moved Him into every action that He performed.
The difficulty with the servant who took his talent and hid it in a piece of cloth was that he did not have faith and trust in God's unconditional love for him. His life did not reflect the awesome presence of God's abundance and goodness because his heart was closed and fearful. The little he had of the very thing he needed the most was lost to him because he chose to remain closed from God's creative presence.
The question that arises from all this is not: "Am I doing enough?". The question that should arise is: "Are there ways in which I am shutting out God's love that prevents me from seeing His goodness and abundance?" What do I need to change so that this goodness is reflected in my life and shared with the people I encounter; my spouse, my children, my friends and neighbors, those with whom I share faith, the stranger I meet in my daily journey? These are the moments that give witness to God's Kingdom. These are the moments that Jesus was able to live so well.
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