Dear Friends,
This last week I was invited to hold a couple Zoom meetings with churches that wanted to learn more about the work of Five Talents. The “lunch and learn” or “table top” format was casual and fun, a great chance to talk, learn, and explore ideas together. I was a little surprised to get a question from one of the attendees: “Why is your organization called Five Talents?” It was a good reminder to keep re-telling our story.
The Parable of the Talents
In Matthew Chapter 25 Jesus tells a story that probably caught his listeners a bit off-guard. It wasn’t overtly about love or grace, but in the end it did provide quite a lesson of hope. In Jesus’ story there was a rich man who was about to leave on a journey. So, he called his three servants together and told them they would need to take care of his property in his absence. To one servant he gave five talents, which was similar to five bags of gold. To the second one, two talents, and to the third, one talent.
The servant with five talents quickly invested them. The same for the servant with two. But the servant with only one talent was afraid he might make a mistake and loose part of his employer’s wealth. So he buried the one talent in the ground to hide it. (I can really identify with that poor, frightened servant. Can you?)
Members count their savings during a group meeting in Uganda. Photo by Adam Dickens for Five Talents.
Investing Wisely
When the rich man returned from his journey, he called his servants together and asked what they had done with his wealth. The servant with five talents gave his master 10 since he had invested so wisely. The same with the servant who was given two, who now gave the owner four talents. But the poor servant who had only been given one talent told his master how scared he was. “But here,” he said, “I buried the one talent and kept it safe for you.”
Then, Jesus said that the master praised the servants who had invested his wealth wisely, and he told the poor, scared servant that he had been lazy.
We might think, “come on Jesus, give the poor, scared servant a break; we’re not all great at business and investing.” But Jesus was as brilliant as he was loving. Jesus seemed to understand well that all people, even the very poor, develop much of their self-esteem by working productively. No-one wants to live on hand outs. And everyone wants to help their children have the necessities of life.
An Important Lesson
So, Jesus told this story to help his listeners (and all of us) understand some important lessons about charity. And that’s why Five Talents doesn’t give things to the poor. That’s why we don’t even provide loans to start new businesses. We provide the training that helps some of the poorest people in the world to identify and develop their own talents so that they help their children, their neighbors, and their communities.
I mentioned at the beginning that Jesus’ message sounded stern, but it was a lesson of hope. What a wonderful thing to know that God has given all of us, the rich and the very poor, the talents that we need to be successful. And that’s why we are called Five Talents.
Until next Monday morning,
Dale Stanton-Hoyle,
Executive Director
P.S. If you would be interested in a virtual lunch and learn for you church, please let me know. It’s fun, and it’s easy to prepare.