The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
November 13, 2011
Vol. 14 no. 43
It’s the talented people who are the problem. In the English Bible that is a major pun, although the evangelist Matthew did not intend our personal skills and aptitudes to substitute for how we use our money. Luke also told this parable, but utilized the mina as the currency involved, which is rendered as ‘pound,’ equal to around $20. Nothing talented, just money.
A number of churches have translated this parable into a living demonstration of how one can capitalize on what is given to you. The treasurer goes through the congregation on a Sunday and hands out as much money to each member as they wish (within certain limits, of course!). The idea is that each person will then come up with a project to increase the ten or five or one ‘talents’ they have been given. A simple example is to use the dollars to buy the ingredients for making cookies or bread and then sell the baked products. One church I was in, received back almost three times the original talent.
Needless to say, this is capitalism at its purest and simplest. Jesus was not promoting economic policies, though many have made him the champion of capitalism. Jesus did not ignore money, however, and think it was beneath him to use. There are more than a few occasions in the Gospels in which it is obvious that Jesus and his company were buying supplies, housing, food and transportation with a few coins.
What he did pay attention to is that the third servant did nothing with his entrusted talent, a fairly large amount of money then, perhaps a thousand dollars or more. Eugene Peterson’s translation has the master furiously declare, “It’s criminal to live cautiously like that!” Overstated?
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan