"Bury It Not!"

In one of the more mystical parables Jesus used as a metaphor for the “kingdom of heaven,” found in Matthew 25:14-30, He seems to be suggesting that the heavenly experience is directly related to the integrity of our commitment to "invest the talents" given to us by the Lord of our Being.

You probably remember the story. The Lord was going on a trip and turned the operation of his estate over to his three servants. While he was gone, he charged them each with varying levels of responsibility depending on their “several abilities.” During his absence the servant who the Lord had given five talents to invested them well, made a tidy profit, and when the Lord returned he said, (Matthew 25:21) “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou has been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” So far, so good.

Likewise, the second servant, who had received two talents from the Lord, put them to useful work adding to the estate, and when the Lord returned he said, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou has been faithful over a few things, I well make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." What generosity!

Now comes the plot shift and the lesson. The third servant, who had received one talent, from the Lord got cold feet about taking a chance on losing what the Lord had given him and decided to bury his talent in the back yard rather than invest it in gainful activity.

When the Lord returned and discovered the third servant had not invested his talent and could only return what he’d been originally given, He was not a happy camper.

He landed all over the hapless servant declaring, “Thou wicked and slothful servant . . . thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the bankers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with interest. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.” (Matthew 25:26-29) Tough boss, this Universal principle, but, begging your pardon, no one ever said waking up was a rose garden.

The short story. . . If the flow of your life experience presents you with an opportunity to invest your creative juice in a righteous response to the unfolding moment... jump right in... get your talents wet and “enter thou into the joy of the Lord.”

Of course, the invitation to “invest” our talents, occurs on many planes in an infinite variety of ways. The way of things might be calling us out to invest our talent in the more mundane worlds of vocation, recreation, politics, education, or relationships. If that’s the case, go for it! The possibilities are endless. After all, this incarnation is a human one, so enjoy your curriculum.

All that being the case, though, something was compelling me to sit with the possibility that there just might be a spiritually ordained category of human activity that would max out the grace of investing some talent in its unique opportunity to know the “joy of the Lord.” Then, it struck me.

One verse after Jesus concludes His teaching on the talents, He begins His discourse on the “goats and the sheep ” articulating exactly how our choices in the arena of service to humanity determines which of those Hebraic symbols we get to identify with and the consequences thereof. The condensed version goes . . . “You’re a sheep, mazel tov!” “You’re a goat, oy vey!“

You remember the teaching. It’s the one that ends with “Inasmuch as you’ve been of service to one of these, the least of these my brethren, you’ve done it unto me.” And that earns you the designation of a beloved sheep that “sitteth on the right hand of God.” That’s high cotton, folks. It just doesn’t get any better than that!

I’ve got a hunch that the bottom line of the Jesus ethic’s potential for grace occurs in that mystical moment when heart meets heart in an act of lovingkindness that elevates both participants to the omega point of the Lord’s joy. And that’s the pay-off for any act of human kindness, be it great and grand, or quiet and ever so intimate. In the heart centered calculus of a Jesus, intention to love is prime, numbers are irrelevant.

In the cosmic scheme of things, few of us are called upon to engage our hearts in loving service the world will come to know of and pronounce “great.” Now and then in the chaotic dance of form and circumstance, a Mother Theresa emerges, or a Martin Luther King, Jr., or a Gandhi, or a Jesus. And that niche is righteously theirs through the right of consciousness.

But be not dismayed. Let’s remember what the good Mother from Calcutta encourages us to remember when she counsels, “Very few of us will be called upon to do acts of service thought of as ‘great,’ but all of us can do small acts of service with great love.” Amen!

To the spiritually awakened every act of service dedicated to the alleviation of suffering is equally vital in the fabric of this shared mutuality we call our lives.

Remember, for every one of the “great” acts of charity and compassion woven into human history, there have been countless millions who do grace filled acts of service that cumulatively add immeasurable joy and comfort to our human condition.

Each act of lovingkindness is equally vital in the sacred geometry of God’s divine mathematics. It must be so.

Go back to the “reward” the Lord bestowed for investing talents – It was identical regardless of the number of talents invested. The servant who invested five talents received exactly the same reward as the servant who invested two. And the servant who was given only one talent would have also enjoyed the grace of being “a ruler over many things,” and entrance “into the joy of the Lord” had he just invested his talent.

So let there be no deprecating talk about the perceived modesty of our individual responses to the human need life reveals to us. Each act of kindness adds to the cumulative grace available to our human family, Who knows which act of lovingkindness will be the one that tips the scales of humanity in the direction of universal compassion as way of life?

It could be yours!

Enjoy the Grace!.
--Chad

© 2005 Rev. Chad O'Shea

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