This parable is really an extension of last week’s lesson of the ten grooms-maids, as Jesus extends from a call to readiness with the phrase “For it is as if…” The second parable, or should I say, this 1.5 parable, builds from being wise and ready to act whenever the groom is announced to be coming to imagine a daring and fruitful way of living. Wise and ready. Daring and fruitful. These qualities will be necessary to enter the wedding banquet, to enter into the Master’s joy.

But what does this daring and fruitful life look like? It is not a reckless or thrill-seeking one, but rather one which draws from wisdom and readiness, willing with even vigor, hope, and imagination to invest wholeheartedly the resources, not just of money, but also time, effort, talent, and humor to increase and multiply goodness of the world. The first two slaves were able to see a world where not just five generous talents or two generous talents could happen and be worked into life, but that the entire investment could become twice as much!

Only fear, which is often just uncertainty or worry about a possibility of loss rather than probable losing, can stand in the way, telling us it is best to bury a gift instead of sharing it with even the safest methods of worldly gain like a bank, can truly have costly consequences. For the third slave/servant, it was his perception of his master that drove him to fear and bury the one talent. Notice what he said, that “I knew” how harsh and cruel you were, and how you gained from where you did not sow and gathered where you did not scatter. Rather than recognizing the Master’s generosity, he only saw someone to fear and someone to accuse. 



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