Matthew 25:14-18: a reflection

14“For it is like a man going into another country, who called his own servants and entrusted his goods to them. 15To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his own ability. Then he went on his journey. 16Immediately he who received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17In the same way, he also who got the two gained another two. 18But he who received the one talent went away and dug in the earth and hid his lord’s money.

Jesus tells of a man going on a journey who entrusts his property to his servants, giving to each according to his ability: to one five talents, to another two, to another one. A talent was a large sum, and the point is that each servant was given something valuable to steward while the master was away. The first two immediately put their talents to work and doubled them. But the third dug a hole in the ground and buried his master's money, doing nothing with it.

The parable is about what we do with what God entrusts to us. Everyone in the story received something, though in differing amounts according to their ability. The faithful servants did not hoard or bury what they were given; they used it, invested it, put it to work, and it grew. The failure of the third servant was not that he lost the money but that he did nothing with it; he buried it out of fear, and, as the fuller parable shows, this earned his master's rebuke. What God entrusts, he expects us to use.

God has entrusted something to you, gifts, resources, opportunities, time, according to your ability. The question this parable presses is what you are doing with it. Are you putting it to work for God's purposes, or burying it out of fear, caution, or neglect? You are not asked to have as much as others, only to be faithful with what you have been given. Do not bury your talent. Take what God has entrusted to you, however much or little, and put it to work in his service, so that it bears fruit for him.

Lord, you entrust to each of us something valuable, according to our ability, and you call us to put it to work rather than bury it. Show me what you have entrusted to me, my gifts, resources, opportunities, and time, and help me not to bury it out of fear or neglect. Make me a faithful steward, putting what you have given to work in your service, so that it bears fruit for you. Amen.