I was sitting next to an older lady at a recent church potluck when in the course of a conversation, the topic veered to the subject of talents emerging in the next generation of young people.
This older adult reminisced how she once knew a young woman, who had been a Christian since youth, who was very talented in a particular field of expertise. But when at the full promise and vigor of serious talent to be put at the service of others, the young woman ultimately decided to abandon the gifts and resources she had up until then carefully cultivated. What was the reason given? The young woman had told my acquaintance that she wanted to "instead fully serve the Lord." The older lady relayed it to me in a completely neutral tone, where I could not decipher if she disapproved or admired the sudden abandonment of all that talent. I guessed that this older friend was not sure how to process that sudden abandonment in a woman who was poised to use her gifts and skills in service to others. Out of deference to my older church friend, I did not press the inquiry much further. But this sudden abandonment is something I have heard more than once. For whatever reason, it seems to peculiarly affect the thinking of young women here in the upper part of northern California where I live.
Here's my interpretation of why the young woman was concluding that it was time to abandon what she built up:
- The young woman was afraid of failing and being rejected by others so she decided it was safer not to do anything with her advanced talents. It's hard to fail at sweeping the parish floor after a potluck, but it's possible to fail, for instance, in a music ministry, where the working out of talent gets more complex. Someone might get frustrated with her for not getting everything precisely right.
- The young woman was confronted at a stage in the growth of her talent that required her to find a way to serve others truly. As long as she was officially a student, she didn't have to serve anyone. As a student of her talent, she had been benefitting from constant affirmation by a paid teacher. As an active steward of talent, outside of a school environment, it is the impact on others that counts, and you can fail to be a good steward.
- The young woman sat under a local church ethos that focused on valuing only the basic milk of the faith. By working out her talents in the context of building up the Kingdom of God, in a self-disciplined consistent manner, she was inadvertently distancing herself emotionally from a community of local believers who only want to preach the basics of salvation. The application of her exceptional talents requires exercising mature Christian wisdom for the Lord. Her local church was probably not ready to graduate to a more mature outworking of the faith in the context of the congregational life.
The above attitude is one of the reasons I am sure that Jesus gave the parable of the talents.
14 "For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.
15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.
16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more.
17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more.
18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.
19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.'
21 His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.'
22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.'
23 His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.'
24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed,
25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.'
26 But his master answered him, 'You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed?
27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.
28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.
29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' - Matthew 25:14-30
Yes, he, in effect, says, you are all given different starting advantages in life, and you will not be judged for that difference in beginning circumstances. But, He says, I will judge you if, when given so many talents, you refuse to work hard and take risks in an attempt to multiply them far beyond what your starting life circumstances gave you. And what especially grieved our Lord in that parable is when he heard the excuse from the one who buried his talent. According to that unproductive servant, it was because he was afraid our Lord would blame him for circumstances beyond the steward's control.
In the parable of the talents, Christ refused to give a definite promise of an exact one-to-one correlation between effort and performance. He made it clear that if you sit on your talents, He will judge you very harshly. In essence, He would have told that young woman, if you are indeed so afraid to fail, go diligently find a more courageous person under whom you can be told what to do specifically with your skillset. He would have said, allow yourself to be directed day-by-day on how to support that other person in their of Christian service, rather than let the talents go to waste. But whatever you do, don't just bury your talents. It matters to God.