Dear Friends at Trinity,
The man who was given one talent (Matthew 25) was afraid. He was afraid of losing his talent so he buried it. He was afraid of his master, whom he perceived as a hard man. He did what we all do. He tried to avoid what he feared.
Of course, as you know, the man ran head-on into it. He explained his rationale for burying his talent when his master called him to account. What the man got was exactly what he expected…a hard master. Almost as if to confirm the man’s initial suspicions, the master stripped him of his talent and cast him out into the darkness where there was weeping and gnashing of teeth.
This has long bothered me. Why didn’t he correct the man’s suspicions and treat him leniently? The master, in effect, showed that the man was, in some aspect, correct. The master appears hard.
I have come to conclude that the master, in fact, loved the man of one talent. He just loved him in a very peculiar manner. The master, I am convinced, loved the man of one talent every bit as much as the other two, whom the master generously commended.
This is how the master loved the man with one talent: He treated the man according to the man’s particular malady in such a way as to free him from it. The man was timid and afraid. What is to be done in the face of fear? To face it.
You can’t talk a person out of fear. You have to walk him through it. A fear that is confronted loses its power.
I am astounded by seeing people face dreadful circumstances that are fearful. I see them suffer the first shock and be rocked back on their heels. But then I am amazed to see people of faith catch their balance and demonstrate a resilience nothing short of miraculous.
There is nothing so frightening as death. And so our Lord drives us through that fear. He shows us that even this can’t defeat us. We must face it and go all the way through it.
Life is the miracle which we can only fully appreciate by dying. But how the value of that appreciation would be lost were there not life after death. Dying is the only cure for fear. Our Lord walks us through death; alongside us. In the darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, we find Jesus. The man of one talent is not out there to be condemned, but to be released and redeemed. He’s the character in the parable who really catches our attention. The other two servants are extras.
The action is focused on the fearful man not only because he is us, but because he is the focus of our Lord’s love and attention. It’s a peculiar but powerful sort of love. After this experience, the man of one talent will never have anything that can scare him anymore. When he is let in, he will have an appreciation for his master that will free him forever.
In Christ,
Pastor Picard