Saturday 28 August 2010

Background

This is a parable (a story with a meaning) about commitment andservice. Set in the context of an employer commissioning hisservants to do something worthwhile with his inheritance, he handsover to them various amounts of money. In those days a gold coinwas worth 5 talents, 1 talent being worth 5,000 denari. This amountwould in fact be what one worker would earn over a 15-year periodas a rural worker.

On the surface it would be easy to assume that this passage wasabout attitudes to wealth and possessions. But it contradicts allthat many of us have grown up with thinking: that this is the wrongattitude the Christian is supposed to have towards money. On acloser reading, however, we can detect that the employer is the Sonof Man and that we do not know when he will come, so we must beconstantly vigilant, continually making preparations for hisreturn.

In today's world of quick turnarounds, rapid responses and instantbenefits, this parable of commitment to the long haul, the longwait, is quite countercultural for us here in the West. So how dowe approach a long-term situation when we may have no intention ofstaying in the same job for a lifetime, or of investing for a rainyday? This particular passage is encouraging us to watch and waitfor a long time until the master returns...

Because the passage ends with the faithfulness of the workers beingrewarded, it would appear that our waiting must be an engagedwaiting. The workers who gained the master's pleasure were thosewho had been active in his absence, working at making thingsbetter, doing what they could with what they had until his return.They had not given up on his coming again but had stuck with thewaiting.

But the true gem of this story is not in the amount the workers hadadded to the original sum - showing us that this is not a storyabout money and possessions - but what the employer said to the twoworkers when they met him on his return: "Well done, good andtrustworthy slave". It was their faithfulness that earned thempraise from their employer rather than anything else.

To Ponder

How do you dig in for the long haul when youdon't know when the end will be? What sustains you?

When have you appreciated faithfulness, or whenhas someone mentioned to you their appreciation of yourfaithfulness? What is faithfulness about for you?