To read the texts click on the texts: 1 Thess 4:9-11; Mt 25:14-30
A talent is a large sum of money, equal
to the wages of a day labourer for fifteen years. (In Luke 19 12-28, the
figures are much smaller. There are ten servants and each receives a “mina”
which was only one sixtieth of a talent, and worth 100 denarii and translated
“pound”) In Matthew, however, there are three servants and they receive
different amounts. The first receives five, the second two, and the third, one.
The first and the second use the money to earn similar amounts in return. The
third, buries it in the ground. The point that the parable seems to make here
is that we are called not merely to “passive waiting” or strict obedience to
clear instructions, but active responsibility that take initiative and risk.
Each must decide how to use what he/she has been given.
Often times, our understanding of
Christianity has been one in which we are content if we have not done “any
wrong”, but rarely ask whether we have done “any right”. We are content
like the third servant to give only grudgingly, and not with the freedom that
we are meant to have.
No comments:
Post a Comment
You may use the "Anonymous" option to leave a comment if you do not possess a Google Account. But please leave your name and URL as www.errolsj.com