In the parable of the talents, Jesus is telling us he as the master is an incredibly generous friend who goes away and gives us far more than we need to imitate him in his absence. It is a parable about seeing the One in whom we can experience the abundance of life in the Spirit. Jesus has shown us everything he wants us to know, and he has taught us everything about what it means to be a disciple. And what he is saying is that, as he prepares to leave us, he wants us to claim all that he has given us. He wants us to understand that we have all the gifts we need to imitate him.
Therefore, what he wants us to do is to use the gifts he has given us, like the Holy Spirit, and thus succeed in the only way that matters: looking and living like him.
It is maybe why the real question we need to answer is not necessarily “What is in our wallet,” though important, but how are we are using what God has given us? What gifts do you, do we – need to employ to shape the church and the kingdom? What do you and I really need to give?
After all, we can trust Jesus with what he is saying; he has shown us what he has done for us, even going to death on a cross. Jesus will never let us down.
But let’s not forgot the twist of the parable: to get to the root of this parable, we need to see Jesus not just as the master who gives us gifts and us as servants who do or don’t use those gifts, but we need to see the talents themselves. For in sending Jesus, the Father did not bury his love for us in a hole in the ground; instead, God took that love to market, to trade with it, to face the risks and dangers of relationships. The talents in the end are the Incarnation, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the resurrection – of God risking everything to be with us, and that these talents are the proof that God will be with us, forever, revealing to us the very heart of God.
Amen!
Pastor Andy Kinsey
Therefore, what he wants us to do is to use the gifts he has given us, like the Holy Spirit, and thus succeed in the only way that matters: looking and living like him.
It is maybe why the real question we need to answer is not necessarily “What is in our wallet,” though important, but how are we are using what God has given us? What gifts do you, do we – need to employ to shape the church and the kingdom? What do you and I really need to give?
After all, we can trust Jesus with what he is saying; he has shown us what he has done for us, even going to death on a cross. Jesus will never let us down.
But let’s not forgot the twist of the parable: to get to the root of this parable, we need to see Jesus not just as the master who gives us gifts and us as servants who do or don’t use those gifts, but we need to see the talents themselves. For in sending Jesus, the Father did not bury his love for us in a hole in the ground; instead, God took that love to market, to trade with it, to face the risks and dangers of relationships. The talents in the end are the Incarnation, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the resurrection – of God risking everything to be with us, and that these talents are the proof that God will be with us, forever, revealing to us the very heart of God.
Amen!
Pastor Andy Kinsey
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