Jesus tells a story in Matthew 25:14-19, 24-30 about a man going away and entrusting his fortune to servants, some of whom invested the money wisely and made more and one who was afraid and simply hid the money. This parable (often referred to as the Parable of the Talents, referring to the money rather than to what we generally call ‘talents’ nowadays) can often seem to be an incentive to work even harder and to have good business skills, which can leave many of us confused about its relevance to gospel living (and anxious if we feel we don’t have those business skills!) In actual fact, though, we see here how attitudes are so important; fear and an unwillingness to step out in faith and trust can be the real obstacles to living as God wants us to. Sally Welch says, ‘All we are asked to do is use what we have been given in the best way possible, to the glory of God and in the service of our fellow human beings. The third employee buried the money with which he had been entrusted, thus abdicating all responsibility for it. It is for this he was judged, not for his failure to multiply what he was given.’ (‘Sharing The Easter Story’, P 121)
Paul tells us that all of us who have been given a trust must prove faithful. (1 Cor 4:2) Faithfulness is an aspect of trusting which we need to grasp. This is what God is looking for in His people.
