The Great Risk – Part 4

DAILY BYTE

Yesterday we wandered through the first part of the parable of the talents. Today, we pick up the story when the master finally returned, and summoned his slaves to give account. The first one reported an impressive return. Seems like the markets bounced back after all. Similarly the second had good news. The developer had made good on his promises, and the new airport had been a great help in pushing up property values in the area.

Hearing what they had done, the master said to each of these, “Well done, good and faithful slave. I trusted you and you have been trustworthy. I will continue to entrust my things to you. Come and share my joy.”

Now it’s the little guy’s turn. First thing he does is start attacking the master, “You’re a harsh man. You reap where you did not sow, and gather where you did not scatter seed.” What? Nothing in the story thus far supports this outrageous accusation. And nothing could be further from the truth. All the master does in the story is give and trust in the most prodigal way, and sow and scatter with reckless generosity, and invite others to share his joy.

And suddenly we understand why the third slave has been so afraid – because he’s got the master all wrong. He thinks the master is out to get him. And so he cannot trust the master’s trust in him.

He was invited to participate in the richly abundant life of the master, to risk himself in a whole new way, but he refused. And in his refusal he brings judgement on himself, and is thrown into outer darkness.

If that sounds harsh to you, and it does to me, maybe it’s because Jesus didn’t want to sugarcoat the difficult truth that ordinary people, like us, need to hear.

Yes, this parable speaks a challenging and uncomfortable truth. Whether we like it or not, God hands us an invitation that is both exciting and scary at the same time. It’s an invitation to take hold of this great gift of life, and to risk playing it, investing it, living it, in the audacious belief that it can become even more.

We did not choose this, but we can choose our response. We can refuse the invitation. We can refuse to participate. We can bury our hearts. Our dreams. Our passion to see this world renewed. We can bury our sense of being called.

Or, we can say OK. Let me risk it.

That’s what Abram said in response to God’s risky call for him to leave the comfort and security of the life he had always known. And that’s how the story of the people of God began. With a great risk. And in every age there have been others, ordinary people of faith, who in similar ways have risked themselves in the hands of God, and have found life in the process.

In the living of your life today, will you dare to join their ranks, as you abandon yourself into the hands of God and risk living your ordinary life in quite extraordinary ways?

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord God, remind me who you are. Remind me what you are like. Remind me that you are a God of generosity, mercy, compassion and grace. Remind me that you long to bless me that I might be a blessing to others. Remind me of these things, because when I remember rightly who you really are, it is then that I can more freely embrace and trust the person that you declare me to be – a beloved child of yours. Amen

SCRIPTURE READING

Genesis 12:1-4

Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed.