Who here has talented children or grandchildren?

Everybody, I hope! And, do you know what? We're right. Everybody is special in some way; everyone is gifted. Everyone is talented.

And, frankly, that makes it easy for us to get the point of Jesus’ parable today. The owner of a huge estate (hint: the owner is God) is going away for a while, so he makes sure to give his servants talents for them to use and even profit from until he returns.

Two of them do. They take the talents they've been given and they use them and everyone--everyone--is enriched. One, however, buries his treasure. And, guess what? No one profits: not the one with the talent; not the world; and, most certainly, not the owner of the estate (hint: the owner is God!).

So, am I right? Do we all get Jesus’ parable? I think we do! Use the talents you’ve been given. Everybody is special in some way; everyone is gifted. Everyone is talented.

But, what's interesting, is that it’s the English language--and not the original Greek of this story--that helps us in this interpretation!

The Greek word translated as “talent” in this story is …ta¿lanton. And guess what that is?

Talent! The word we translate as “talent” is, in Greek, ... talent!

But, get this. In Greek, a “talent” is simply a measure of weight. In other words, “talent” does not mean (as it does in English), “a marked innate ability, as for artistic accomplishment. ... Natural endowment or ability of a superior quality.” It’s a weight, a valuable lump of metal!

How valuable? If you took every penny you earned, every day, for twenty years, that’s a “talent”!

So, in our story, when Jesus says the owner of an estate (and hint: the owner is God!) goes away and gives one of his servants five talents, what that owner is giving that servant is a lump sum payment of every penny earned for one hundred years of continuous labor.

The point in all this, then, is that, because we speak English, we have an advantage that even Jesus’ first listeners did not have! When they heard the word “talent” in the story, all they heard was a valuable lump of precious metal, worth 20 years of labor.

When we hear “talent” in English, we think, each of these people have been given different “innate abilities”! We hear the parable saying to us that the owner of the estate (which, of course, is God!) wants us each and wants us all to use the gifts we have been given!

And, we’re right to hear the parable this way! And, frankly, we’re right to live our lives exactly this way! Just as the owner of the estate (which we know is God) has given his servants gifts and talents to use to bring profit and blessing until he returns, so God does with each and every one of us!

We have God-given talents which God asks us to use profitably to bless him, to bless each other, and to bless ourselves.

But that’s not all that the parable is saying! That’s not all that Jesus wants us to hear. And it is to that that I now wish to turn.

The real key to the parable is not in what each of the servants have been given. Even though they are not equal amounts, in every case, what they've been given is not only a sheer gift, it’s also more than enough. (By the way, we can--and should--say the same things about the talents we've been given. Even if we've been given different talents or even differing amounts of talent, what we've been given is sheer gift and is more than enough.)

No, the real key to the parable is something different.

The servants had different views--differing opinions--about who and what the owner was to them (and hint: the owner is God!). Two of them viewed the owner as generously bestowing gifts on them--talents--that, like a good parent giving gifts on Christmas morn, he can't wait to see what they do with them.

He can't wait to see them enjoy them and put them into practice! "You're good at math! Fabulous! I can't wait to see what you do with that!" "You love children! Me, too! I can't wait to see what you'll do with that!" "You're conscientious and meticulous? Bravo! You can put that gift to use just about anywhere!" "Oh, wait! You're retired? I bet there's still a lot you can do--and do right now--that puts your gifts and talents to good use!"

Two of them profitably put their gifts and talents to use because, Jesus suggests, that was their view of the owner of the estate (hint: the owner is God!).

But there was a third servant, wasn’t there? And that servant did not see the owner as generous, caring, and encouraging. After digging a hole in the ground and burying his valuable talent, this third servant explains, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.”

The key to the parable is not the talent the servants have been given. Everyone has generously been given more than enough. The key to the parable is the way the servants viewed the owner of the estate (and hint: the owner is God!).

Two of them saw the owner as generous, freely giving gifts, and delightedly waiting to see what each of his servants would do--the blessings that they would create--out of what they were given. One saw the owner as hard, cruel, and punishing. Out of fear, he buried his talent. And no one was blessed.

I read this week that one statistician of religion suggests that America is well on its way to becoming a nation of “310 million people with 310 million religions,” each tailor-made to suit themselves.

The problem with this is shown by Jesus’ parable! It really matters how we view God. How we view God shapes how we live our lives and what we do--or don’t do--with the gifts and talents we’ve been given.

We believe in a God of grace and love. That means that we believe in a God who loves us so much--and who trusts us so much--that he dumps a whole lump of talent on each and every one of us.

He enjoys who we are. He delights in seeing what we do with what we’ve been given. He gives us talents and abilities--each of us different than the other--so that, together, we might bless one another and, in the process, bless both God and ourselves.
This is the real God. This is the God that Jesus loves and serves. This is the God who has already richly blessed each and every one of us.

So let me ask you: is this the God revealed in the way you live your life? Are you living your life using your gifts and talents to bless others (which means to do good to them)? The blessing we give to others is the way we bless ourselves and God.

In Jesus’ name. Amen!