“To one he gave five talents of money,
to another two talents,
and to another one talent,
EACH ACCORDING TO HIS ABILITY.”

The master knew his servants and each servant received from the master no more or no less than they could handle.  This isn’t like the parable of the landlord who at different times of the day hired people to work his fields and at the end of the day paid all the workers the same pay.  None of the three servants could complain that the master was being unfair in his distribution of resources.

The master knew his servants, their work ethic, their willingness or lack of willingness to serve him and he gave each servant talents ‘each according to his ability.’

I am reminded how Diane and I did the same thing the master did.  If Diane and I wanted something done in the house and we wanted it done now, we would ask one son in particular.  We knew he would do it.  That’s not to say the other son wouldn’t do it, he would, but the problem would be that it would be done when he wanted to do it.

I am certain that this type of situation did not take place only in my family. That in every family across America and even the world, there is always one member who seems to carry the brunt of the work.

I saw this in almost every family I worked with when I was doing pastoral care with the Staten Island Hospice.  There would always be one person in every family who took charge of their parent’s health crisis.  That person was the one who spoke with the doctors, who monitored medication, who arranged appointments.

There was one particular family that Jesus could have used to tell a modern day version of this parable.  The mother had terminal cancer.  Because of the disease and declining health she had moved in with her middle daughter.  She had a small townhouse, several kids, was working part time, and had converted her living room into Mom’s bedroom.  The middle daughter was the primary care giver.  She took responsibility for the major care of her Mom.

There was a younger daughter who lived out of state, worked full time and had a family of her own.  One weekend a month she would come and stay with Mom to give her older sister a break.  She would call regularly to speak to Mom and encourager her sister.  She constantly praised her sister and reminded her that if Mom ever got to be too much, she could move in with her.

Then there was the older daughter who made her guest appearances.  Who promised to come and visit her mother but usually called an hour or so after the time she was to have arrived with some kind of excuse to say she wasn’t coming.  On several occasions she said she would do something with regards to her mother’s care and she dropped the ball.  Without getting into the dynamics of the family or family history or any psycho-analysis of the family you can see how this story fits the this mornings' parable,

By using the hospice story I would hope that you realize the word talent doesn’t have to be viewed in terms of money.  In this particular parable talent is money, but talent has a much broader meaning to include any resource God has given you.  It could be a compassionate heart, a love for children, a craft, a hobby, a heart for the poor, and a passion for the environment, whatever.  The truth is each and everyone us has a talent or talents.  Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why has God blessed you with this talent or talents?

There are two reasons God has blessed you with your talent.  The first is so that God could be glorified.  Oswald Chambers, one of the greatest Christian minds stated that, “The aim of a Christian is to manifest the glory of God in human life. The real test of the life of a Christian is not success, but faithfulness in human life. It is one thing to go through a crisis grandly, but another thing to go through everyday glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, no one paying attention.”

The master welcomed the servant who was given the five talents and the servant who was given two talents into his kingdom, not because of the profit he made for him, but because of their faithfulness. “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful…”

The second reason God has blessed you with a talent or talents is echoed in 1 Thess. 5:11 “Encourage one another and build each other up…”

How many of you watched the Baseball World Series?  What do you think was the difference between the winning team and the losing team?  Trust me it wasn’t the rally monkey.  In my opinion it was the fans.  The Angels fans cheered from the very first pitch to the last.  It didn’t manner if the were winning by five or losing by five.  They constantly were banging those plastic wompers or whatever they were called.  They were constantly encouraging and building up the players.  I saw spurts of that in San Francisco, but it was not as constant as it was in Anaheim.  This coupled with the fact that every player the five talented, the two talented and the one talented were faithful in using their talents for the well being of the team.

There is any number of illustrations that Jesus could use to tell this story today. The hospice story I shared.  The Anaheim Angels winning the World Series. The American church would do.  Surveys of the church over the past thirty or forty years clearly show that 10-15% of the members do 70-80% of the ministry.  That is not because only 10-15% of the members are talented.  That is not because they are the most talented.  It is because they are faithful in using those talents for God’s glory and well being of this family of God.

How are you using your talents?  How would Jesus say you are using your talents?

Will He say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant? You have been faithful…” Or “You lazy servant.”