Deacon Rick Lapierre
The word talent has many different meanings.
In this morning's gospel story, Jesus is using its first and oldest definition, a unit of money used in his time. It was a considerable amount of money. According to Webster, a gold talent was worth $32,000 by today's standards and a silver talent approximately $2,100.
The other definition of talent and its more common usage today is the abilities, powers, and gifts bestowed upon someone, as a divine trust. We recognize someone's prowess as a talent, one's ability to sing well, or play a musical instrument, or his or her success in business, for example.
Of course the moral of today's gospel story is that we have to account for the talents God has given to each of us and how we use them.
I think that many of us, myself included, will want to stand before God and kind of shrug our shoulders and say "I wasn't very talented, so I didn't do much". The problem with that is that makes us like the third steward in the gospel. He was kind of overshadowed by the other two who were given so much more than he was, so he just kind of moped and sat there thinking, "if only the Master had given me the ten talents, I could have done something!"
As I read and re-read this story, I found Jesus telling me that the first thing I had to do to avoid falling into this self pity trap was to take an inventory of my talents. What specific gifts has God given to me to build His kingdom? As I prayed and thought about this I saw all of the people that the Lord sends me each day: my family, the people I work with, the people I see when I check out of the market, people I meet out on rescue calls, people who come into the police station.
And you know what? Each one of these people expects to meet Jesus when they see me. Not because I'm a deacon, but because I'm a child of God and a follower of His Son who came into this life to save every person ever born on this planet from the hell of not knowing God.
One of the talents God gives to each of us is exactly that. We have to be brother and sister to everyone else.
And when God tells me this, I always picture someone I'm not exactly crazy about and then I tell God what's wrong with this person and how I really can't be a brother to him or her. And God smiles and assures me that He loves that person I have trouble with as much as He loves me, and what am I going to do if I have to spend eternity standing next to this person as together we praise God?
The talents that each one of you has are God's unique gift to you. That you recognize them and use them, as God intended, is your gift back to Him; indeed it is how you live your entire life in response to God's generosity.
There is a story that perhaps illustrates this a little better. There once was a village chief who had three sons. His oldest son had a gift for growing and tending olive trees, from which he would make olive oil and would then trade for the village's needs. The second son was a shepherd who would tend the sheep from which he harvested fine wool, which he then sold to the weavers who would make fine cloth. The third son was a dancer and would dance to cheer the villagers up at the festivals.
The chief had to go on a long journey and left the care of the village to his three sons. The winter became long and hard and soon the villagers ran out of food and fuel. They came begging to the three sons and the oldest began to cut down his beloved olive trees so that they would have fuel to heat their homes. The second son began to slaughter his sheep in order that the villagers might have food.
But the long hard winter took its toll on their spirits and one by one the villagers lost hope and left to try and seek a better life somewhere else. When the chief returned he was shocked to find the village deserted, the trees and sheep gone and only his three sons remained. The eldest son told him how he had to cut the trees for firewood and the second son told him how he had to slaughter the sheep for food. "You've acted wisely my sons," he told them, but he then asked where everybody had gone. The sons told him that they had all lost hope and left. He then asked the third son why he hadn't danced to life the people's spirits.
"Father," he said, "I thought that if I danced it would be insensitive and improper considering how much the people were suffering and I wanted to save my dancing for you to lift your spirits for when you came home."
"Fine," said the father, "then please dance for me for my spirits need to be lifted."
And when the youngest son got up and tried to dance he found that his legs had grown stiff from lack of use and he was unable to dance and lift his father's spirits. The father was so sad he could not even be angry. He simply said to the third son, "Ours was a strong village. It could have survived the want of fuel and food, but it could never survive without hope. You failed to use your talent wisely and now our people gave up what little hope they had and they left. Now the village is deserted and you are crippled. Your punishment has already fallen upon you." And with these words he embraced his sons and wept.
We are a strong and talented people. God has taken care of that. It is therefore up to each one of us to recognize what God has given to us, and to put it to its best use.
This week, recognize the talents that each of you has and put them to work in the service of God's kingdom. Put your talent at the service of God's holy people, your brothers and sisters in Christ, especially to those who have the least to hope for, that they, and you, do not be discouraged as we journey forward building the Kingdom of God.
