How many of you have read the The United States of America Declaration of Independence? It is a phenomenal document that took the bold step of American Colonists telling the British Empire to go take a long walk off a short pier. The complaint was that Britain were making decisions for the American Colonies, including issuing tax bills, without American representation. The rights were being trampled on by the King and a majority of colonists wanted no more of it.
The second paragraph is perhaps the most well know:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men…”
The portion I wanted to highlight is this:
“…endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...”
The Declaration of Independence does not guarantee that all citizens are guaranteed happiness. They are each guaranteed the right to PURSUE happiness. This means that all peoples are equal and are therefore equally able to work for whatever they need to achieve happiness. The government guarantees the ability for this pursuit. They ensure the means…but…not the outcome. This means that you have the right to have equal access to education, to a job, to fair pay, to be protected equally from crime and for temporary financial help when hard times are encountered.
What the Declaration does not say is that all citizens shall have equal happiness. That what one has, all shall have. It is not government responsibility to provide that happiness. Merely to make the pursuit of happiness equally attainable. We must then take advantage of these opportunities and apply them to achieve success. And that success can be wealth but it can also be using these opportunities to benefit mankind.
In today’s Gospel reading we see the familiar story of the master going away on a journey and giving each of three servants varying amounts of talents (wealth) for them to manage in his absence. Two invest the money and double the initial amount they were given. The third, in fear of the consequences from the master if he should lose the money, merely buries the money and returns to the master the same amount he was given.
Now this servant I am sure thinks he has accomplished great things by not losing the funds and his master receives them back intact. Because the master reaps where he does not sow, the servant thinks that his strategy to protect the one talent will bear much fruit from the master. Not true!! When the master returns he rewards the first two servants with large monetary rewards. With the third servant he had to tell the master that he had protected and preserved the wealth. Not what the master wanted to hear. He expected some appreciation of the value of the one talent the servant had received. The GIFT he received.
When the master realizes that the third servant had merely buried the talents, he was furious. He took the one talent and gave it to the one who had gained the extra 10 talents. What!? Doesn’t seem fair. Shouldn’t the master have shown pity on the servant and at least let him keep what he was given? To ensure at least some residual wealth.
But we know that what Jesus is trying to inform his disciples is not about how to best invest their savings. The money, or the talents, are gifts from God to each one of them. To each one of us. And those gifts vary from person to person. What we are expected to do is to take whatever gifts that God has given us and USE them to expand His kingdom on earth. To be Jesus’ hands, feet and intellect. But what value is a gift not used? If you have a penchant for carpentry, then use that in some way to help God’s people and His Church. If you have the gift of writing, of telling stories, then use that gift to help spread the good news of the Gospel. To not use these gifts as God had intended misses the opportunity to give glory to the Father and make His goodness known to all.
Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. [16] Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5: 14-16)
It does no good to have a God given gift…a talent…and not use it to glorify God and help the world to know Jesus. So what is your gift? What talent are you potentially hiding under a bushel? Use it (for the good of God’s Kingdom), or lose it!
