Resources
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. (Matthew 25.14-15)
Matthew 25 is one of my favorites in all the Bible. It contains three stories that urge us to be ready for Christ's return. God provides the oil (Holy Spirit); we must make the effort to ensure our hearts are filled with that oil. God provides the opportunity to minister to him as we help the needy; we must do the deeds of kindness and compassion for our neighbors. And God entrusts us with “property” and “talents”; we must put those resources to work on his behalf.
In the parable of the talents, Jesus is, of course, the “man going on a journey” and we are “his servants.” Those are obvious. But what do "his property" and the "talents" signify in this parable? What are these heavenly resources? Perhaps we should take our clues from the preceding parables of chapter 25.
One resource - symbolized by oil - is the Holy Spirit. What are we doing with that resource? Are we using it simply for ourselves: to increase our power, to deepen our joy, or to broaden our knowledge? Or are we using it - as Jesus taught us - to bear witness to his love and forgiveness?
Another resource - symbolized by the poor, naked, hungry, sick, and imprisoned - is the need we see in the people around us. This is the resource of opportunity . Do you look at the needy around you as a resource? Well, they are, for they bring the very presence of Christ. Wouldn't you agree that having Christ in our midst is a resource of unimaginable magnitude? But are we using these ‘helping opportunities’ to bring the kingdom of heaven to this earth?
Lord, you have entrusted me with the twin resources of the Holy Spirit and your presence through the needy. Help me to put these talents to use for your purposes. Amen.
6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. 10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways. ” 11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest. ”