Using Our Talents

[Our lessons were Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18, Psalm 90, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, and Matthew 25:14-30.]

Even as we are coming to the end of the Church’s Year—the Feast of Christ the King next week is the last Sunday of the year—we are considering the End of All Things, just as we did last week.

In his letter to the church in Thessalonica, Paul answers the question the Christians have asked for nearly two thousand years: When will Jesus come again? As Jesus himself said, that day will come like a thief in the night. When everything seems peaceful and secure, then the judgment will come suddenly and woe to anyone who hasn’t prepared. Zephaniah warns us of a bitter day where the warrior cries aloud, a day of wrath, distress and anguish, ruin and devastation, darkness and gloom, clouds and thick darkness. The wicked shall be in such distress that they will walk like the blind.

While this is doom for the wicked and the apathetic—those who say the Lord will not do good, nor will he do harm—those who are prepared won’t be surprised and will not be in darkness. For them, the Day of Judgment will be a day of acquittal, not condemnation, a day of redemption and release, not a day of wrath.

Jesus has given us all that we need to be ready for him. Lamps (from last week) trimmed and filled with the oil of hope. As Paul says this week, we also have a breastplate of faith and love and a helmet of the hope of salvation.

The theme of this week’s parable is that the master has given each servant something and the good and trustworthy servant puts it to use and makes something out of it.

But the third servant has done nothing for his master. Out of fear, he has buried his talent in the ground and failed to put it to work. That fear is the opposite of hope, and those who live their lives in fear will find that their fears will be realized. But those who live their lives in hope will find their hope is rewarded.

We all have talents. We all have the ability to advance the coming of the Kingdom of God. Some have more, some have less, but all have enough. As Paul says, we are children of light who need not fear the darkness. We are called to use the talents God has given us, not just be content to hold them or to bury them. God wants us to act to do his work; that is why we have those talents.

As one of my favorite writers, Tobias Haller writes

our faith is not meant to lull us into the sleep of complacency; our hope is not meant to be treated like an insurance policy tucked away in a drawer; and our love—if we do not express it to our neighbors as to ourselves—if it bears no fruit, it will convict and condemn us on the last day. God gives us these things to put them to use: our faith, our hope, and above all, our love. He gives us these things on loan to be used for his purposes, not ours. God gives us talents and skills, all of us differently, but each of us valued in the sight of God for what we can do for him and for his kingdom, and for our brothers and sisters. The Lord has given us all of this, and he wants a return on his investment. … Let us not, like the lazy servant, be found only able to give back what he gave with nothing more to show. Let us rather use what God has given us—our faith, our hope, and our love—to increase his kingdom here on earth, that when he comes again in power and great glory, we may be with him forever in heaven.