It’s a story we all know by heart:

3 slaves, 8 dollars.

One gets five bucks, one gets two, and one gets one.

The first two slaves double their money and their master smiles.

The third one does nothing, so his master cans him and gives his dollar another slave.

Like all parables, this one is not perfect – every element can’t be equated to a timeless axiom – every detail doesn’t fit seamlessly into a sound, contemporary ethical conviction. Parables are intended to get across a main point and in this case, it is quite clear.

It’s faithfulness.

When we attempt to return Jesus’ love to Him we are invited to be faithful. When we say our heart’s desire is to please the Lord, then Jesus says, ‘OK, follow me.’

And so we do.

Sometimes well, sometimes not so well.

When we do it well we find we’re blessed even more. And when we don’t do it well, we find we lose.

The irony is that we resist taking steps toward Jesus even when they are always in our best interest.

As CS Lewis famously said, “to walk out of God’s will is to walk into nowhere.”

Where are we walking today – into nowhere – or into faithfulness?

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Reading

The Pastor – Eugene Peterson

Renovation of the Church – Carlson and Lueken

Matthew – Donald Hagner