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    To me, it has been made into one of the most unfortunate words in the Bible: “talents.” The Parable of the Talents has suffered more from that word than any passage has a right to.

    As you probably know, a “talent” was a lump of money — a rather large lump — in Jesus’ day. And of course, in the Parable of the Talents, Jesus tells the story of three men entrusted with varying sums of money from their master. Two invest what they have been given, and make more in return. The other, in fear of his master, hides the money and presents only the single talent upon his master’s return. And rather than being praised for his prudence, he’s reprimanded severely for his actions.

    For years, preachers and teachers used this parable to tell folks that they had talents, too. Maybe not the money kind, but they had something else — “abilities” — that God had entrusted to them. And of course, they used the word “talent” synonymously with “ability” so many times, that it actually entered the English language, and the two became forever intertwined in our minds. Now that’s a successful illustration!

    But is it accurate? Lately, I’ve come to question that, and I’d like to share my thoughts.

    See, it strikes me as odd that Jesus would give a parable to instruct his apostles (and he was speaking privately to his apostles at the time) that they should make sure to utilize their abilities. He’s in the middle of a long discussion of the kingdom, and how things will be when he comes. Is he telling Peter to use that great singing voice? Or Andrew not to forget that his gift for greeting visitors shouldn’t be neglected? Is he saying that when he returns, he expects them to have cultivated new abilities? That just doesn’t quite seem right to me.

    But put this parable in a larger perspective. Jesus has just gotten through railing at the Pharisees and teachers of the law for their cold, dead faith. And now he’s talking to his closest companions, encouraging them about his coming kingdom. Could this parable be pointed squarely at the Pharisees, too?

The “better safe than sorry” attitude wasn’t going to cut it.

    Maybe what he’s saying is that the Pharisees’ “better safe than sorry” attitude wasn’t going to cut it? They took the faith and law that was entrusted to them, and they buried it in the ground. They said, “God is an angry god, a God that will punish us if we get out of line. We better bury this faith in rules and regulations and traditions and interpretations so we never make a mistake.” All the while, they were forgetting what the Law was for, and what their faith was all about. Rather than risk God’s wrath, they elected to follow a cold, ritualistic, legalistic pattern, never going beyond the hint of a boundary.

    But I believe Jesus is saying that’s exactly what God does not want his children to do. He wants people who will take what he has given them, and then use it extravagantly, investing love and faith in others, and watching that investment pay off. Sure, maybe they would risk loving too much, or extending grace too far, but wouldn’t that be better than hiding it in a hole? Wouldn’t a chance-taking, alive-alert-awake-enthusiastic faith be better than white washed tombs and buried treasure?

    To confine the message of this parable to “Use the abilities you have or God’ll be mad” is, in my opinion, a disservice. Instead, it speaks to us of awesome love and extravagant faith. Such a faith might take us beyond our “comfort zones.” It might even cause us to do things no one has ever dreamed of before. It might just move mountains. And it might just produce a return on investment that none of us could expect or imagine, except by God’s powerful hand.