Psalm 14:1 Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands
for battle, my fingers for war.
What if the Parable of the Coins was changed to The Parable of the Pieces of the Puzzle? Read the original parable, then read it again with the words "pieces of the puzzle".
The Parable of the Coins (Talents):
Luke 19: 11-28
While a people were
listening to Jesus speak, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near
Jerusalem and they thought the Kingdom of God would appear there immediately
So Jesus said,
“A nobleman went off
to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to
return. He called ten of his servants
and gave them ten gold coins and told them, “Engage in trade with these until I
return.” His fellow citizens, however,
despised him and sent a delegation after him to announce,
“We do not want this
man to be our king.”
But when he returned
after obtaining the kingship, he had the servants called, to whom he had given
money, to learn what they had gained by trading.
The first came
forward and said, “Sir, your gold coin has earned ten additional ones”
He replied, “Well,
done, good servant! You have been
faithful in this small matter; take charge of ten cities.”
Then the second came
and reported, “Your gold coin, sir, has earned five more. And to this servant too he said, “You take
charge of five cities.”
Then the other
servant came and said, “Sir, here is your gold coin; I kept it stored away in a
handkerchief, for I was afraid of you, because you are a demanding man; you
take up what you did not lay down and you harvest what you did not plant.”
He said to him, “With
your own words I shall condemn you, you wicked servant. You knew I was a demanding man, and taking up
what I did not plant; why did you not put my money in a bank? Then on return I would have collected it with
interest.”
And to those standing
by he said, “Take the gold coin from him and give it to the servant who has
ten.”
But they said to him,
“Sir, he has ten gold coins.”
He replied, “I tell
you, to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not,
even what he has will be taken away. Now
as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here
and slay them before me.”
After he said this,
he proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem
I heard the priest read this Gospel the other day. I know there are standards for explaining
Scripture. Scholars who study Scripture
and history do wonderful work in explaining the meaning of the writings. It is the priest’s life work to help the “flock”
understand God’s Word.
The brief explanation
in the Commentary and General intercessions booklet which priests can use as a
guide, lists one of the prayer petitions as: “For our parish family, that all
may share our God given talents in ways that benefit others and bring them
closer to the Lord.”
I have heard this Scripture passage from Luke many times. Matthew also has the parable. It makes me ask myself time and again, am I
using my talents as God would like or am I hiding or wasting them. When this Scripture passage is heard, if one
only listens with money in mind, then many of us would be taken out to the
woodshed if our bank accounts don’t total to large sums.
But, I know this Gospel message isn’t about money. The king, according to the priest’s Gospel,
was a veiled reference to an heir of the throne at the time of Jesus. He was just as mean spirited as his dad. Jesus in his parables often spoke about the
behaviors of the scoundrels of his time.
Any earthly king would expect the people under his influence to utilize
the money, authority and talents given to them to make his kingdom’s reign a
fruitful one. Often times, the fruits of
a king’s reign can be dead fruit.
If earthly kings expect fruitful labor, then we should
expect that our heavenly King to expect fruitful labor too. The fruits of our labor demonstrate who our
king is.
During the Gospel reading, I could not help but hear the
phrase, “piece of the puzzle” as a substitute for coin (or talent). God gives us pieces of the picture that he
sees in our lives because God knows the big picture. We may call the pieces intuition,
learning from experience, seeing the handwriting on the wall, etc. Our lives are puzzles. We are often confused as to what to do. The pieces help us discern direction.
What if for the sake
of this discourse, we substitute the word, “piece of the puzzle” for the word
coin or talent. Would it have the same
meaning or a different one?
When God gives us the piece of the puzzle, do we react as
servants of God or as frightened subjects of a malevolent leader?
“A nobleman went off
to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to
return. He called ten of his servants
and gave them ten gold pieces of the puzzle and told them, “Engage in trade
with these until I return.” His fellow
citizens, however, despised him and sent a delegation after him to announce,
“We do not want this
man to be our king.”
But when he returned
after obtaining the kingship, he had the servants called, to whom he had given
the pieces of the puzzle, to learn what they had gained by trading.
The first came
forward and said, “Sir, your gold piece of the puzzle has earned ten additional
ones”
He replied, “Well,
done, good servant! You have been
faithful in this small matter; take charge of ten cities.”
Then the second came
and reported, “Your gold piece of the puzzle, sir, has earned five more. And to this servant too he said, “You take
charge of five cities.”
Then the other
servant came and said, “Sir, here is your gold piece of the puzzle. I kept it
stored away in a handkerchief, for I was afraid of you, because you are a
demanding man; you take up what you did not lay down and you harvest what you
did not plant.”
He said to him, “With
your own words I shall condemn you, you wicked servant. You knew I was a demanding man, and taking up
what I did not plant; why did you not look at the pieces of the puzzle? Why
did you not share your pieces of the puzzle, at least with the bank? They could have seen what your pieces of the
puzzle were worth. Then on return I would have collected your piece of the
puzzle with more.
And to those standing
by he said, “Take the gold piece of the puzzle from him and give it to the
servant who has ten.”
But they said to him,
“Sir, he has ten gold pieces of the puzzle.”
He replied, “I tell
you, to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not,
even what he has will be taken away. Now
as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here
and slay them before me.”
After he said this, he proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem
Many people reject
earthly kings. Their leadership is
unwanted for a variety of reasons. With
human nature being what it is, people reject good kings as well as bad
kings. Jesus, in this Gospel, was not
only referring to an earthly king, but the rejection or our heavenly king…and
the rejection of the pieces of the puzzle God gives us.
Two of the servants in the Gospel were bold. They were obedient to the king and grew the wealth
for the kingdom. They didn’t use any
excuses. If we want to grow the wealth for God’s
kingdom, we need to utilize the gifts, talents and pieces of the puzzle God
gives us. We have to minimize our
excuses. Some would identify the coins
as faith. We have to maximize our gift
of faith. For, if we do not practice our
faith, we will lose it.
The third servant was timid and afraid. The talents, gifts, treasure, faith were
buried and hidden. There was no effort
to make use of the coins as the parable explains. The earthly king then was not a happy king
and
took away the very little that the timid servant had.
took away the very little that the timid servant had.
Do we act as the bold servants when God gives us a piece of
the puzzle in our lives? Do we use the
piece of the puzzle to help others?
I thought about the piece of the puzzle as something to be
compared with the gold coin or talent.
God gives us pieces of the puzzle but do we want to acknowledge the
significance of those pieces in our lives?
Do we realize when we trade the piece we have, we may have the one piece
that actually completes a puzzle or solves the mystery. Will the piece we have been given allow ten
other people holding a piece to place their pieces right alongside the one we
have? And by doing this, will another picture be made complete, a
mystery solved or a door open that has been long shut?
When we hold on to the pieces without trading, we may not
only be damaging ourselves, but damaging others as well. Great detectives are always looking for the
one clue that will solve the crime. When
scientists investigate, they hope that all the information is assembled so that
conclusions can be reached. Delicious,
favorite recipes make traditions memorable when the secret ingredient is
shared. When the secret ingredient or
puzzle piece is traded, new companies can be born.
Who would hold back the puzzle piece that makes the picture
clear so that a doctor can render an accurate diagnosis?
I had pieces to a problem puzzle one year. I prayed to God for a “window” so that I at
least had a clearer understanding of what was going on. God knew one person had information that I
needed. The person called me with a
piece of the puzzle for my life. The
piece fit in and cleared up the picture.
The person was an answer to a prayer, my requested “window”. The person could have held onto the piece of
the puzzle as our lives intertwined, but did not. We found that we had many pieces to trade and
share.
When child assaults occur, we often hear after the
assault, that neighbors or relatives will identify some type of puzzle piece that
they had or of which they knew. Un-traded
“gold coins” or “pieces” in child assault situations can mean the difference
between prevention and rescue and recovery.
By all accounts, the church scandals, Penn State, and many other
tragedies could have been prevented if the “gold coin” or “puzzle piece” had
been traded. Fearful of the malevolent
kings in the church and Penn State, people buried their pieces of information
out of fear or even less noble reasons.
As promised, the pieces they had were as priceless as gold
to another person’s life. But, burying
the information proved more costly than gold.
People’s lives were hurt to great extents. The guilty as well as the innocent had lives
forever and irreparably changed. The
ripple effects will be felt for generations to come.
The Scripture makes it quite clear what happens when we bury
the gold coin, talent, or piece of a puzzle meant to be traded.
Jesus completed the journey to Jerusalem to
prove that when trusting in the King who created us and who provides the pieces of the puzzle, we can make God's kingdom come right here on earth. Fear of trading our talents, coins, and pieces of the puzzle will only hinder the coming of the true Kingdom. Malevolent rulers will lead instead.
Marian R. Carlino
November 23, 2012
