It is hard to understand sometimes, what you ask? Life. That is pretty much a no brainer right? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to come to the conclusion that life doesn’t always make sense. In fact kids will say it all the time, “That doesn’t make any sense!” And, they are usually 100% correct but we try to pacify them with things like, “You’ll understand when you get older” or my personal favorite, “You don’t need to understand.” On the contrary helping people to understand, the art of not understanding is vital to civilization. Life, isn’t always fair. Let’s look at a story in Scripture about “talents”; We find it in Matthew 25:14-30.
Here is the story in a nutshell; The master of the house is setting out on a Journey. He gives to three of his servants some money. To one he gives 5 talents or basically 5 sacks of gold or silver. To another he gives two talents and to a third he gives one. He gave to each of them according to their ability. Let me pause here to make a point, Jesus is telling this story, and it is good and profound. But, it doesn’t seem to make sense now does it? i mean why the difference in amounts? i get that it is based on ability but even if one has a lesser ability shouldn’t he at least have equal chance? Meaning equal opportunity with equal resources?
These questions stump a lot of people. We live in a world that has struggled with this idea and have made attempts to make things “fair” for all. Time and time again these efforts have fallen short, for various reasons. Life just isn’t fair, and that doesn’t make sense therefore, we as an intelligent species attempt to correct it. i mean why not, shouldn’t life be fair? This is going to be a two part series, this week i want to focus on the first part of this story told by Jesus. The master gave to his servants, according to their abilities. Did you catch that? Their ability. We all have various abilities and we receive based on those abilities.
Shouldn’t we all have the same ability, the same chance, the same resources? Why are some abilities worth more than other abilities? What was Jesus trying to teach his disciples with this story? i think the lesson is multifaceted. 1. Not all abilities are worth the same however, all people are worth the same. 2. Opportunities are earned. 3. Abilities are another form of diversity.
We should spend less time worrying about fairness and spend more time finding out where we fit in. How does our diversity help society better itself? You see one seeks its own, the other shares; One maintains status quo, the other expands its horizons; One hides, the other explores. Jesus is looking for those that will share, expand, and explore. The take away, seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness….we won’t always understand but we always have opportunity to share, expand and explore life.
You are loved,
cj
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