(Audio)
so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground.
We must not bury our talents out of fear. The LORD gives to each according to her ability. The LORD first gave us our ability and has an accurate measure of it. He knows of what we are capable more than we ourselves. Therein lies the struggle. He knows we are capable of greater things, using what we receive from him, than we ourselves believe.
He said, 'Master, you gave me five talents.
See, I have made five more.'
We are called to put the talents to work. We are called to do this even in the apparent absence of the master. The main thing is not to hide them. They do have value. Even the world can sense it. The world desires it. As long as we don't bury them we will return some value for the master. Even if we're afraid of those interactions with others we can at least invest in the bank of prayer to produce interest for the master.
Paul has suggestions for the use of these talents. We should invest in fraternal charity. He calls us to a quiet life where we mostly mind our own business. Yet though this quiet life rules out many extraneous things and much gossip it does not exclude the love he first mentions. He calls us to focus on working with our own hands rather than letting distractions overtake us. When we do so, when we focus on love and on living these quiet productive lives, we become prudent and competent investors of our talents. No longer lost in abstraction, we return profit for our master.
Before the LORD, for he comes,
for he comes to rule the earth;
He will rule the world with justice
and the peoples with equity.
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