Jesus uses a “mashal” to teach about the deeper things of God. A “mashal” is a riddle in story form. It’s like Muhammad Ali’s Rope-A-Dope. Jesus draws us in, then messes us up. Jesus tells a parable about a master with three servants in Mt. 25. It’s a well-known story that is often ignored or misinterpreted. Matthew provides four clues.

1. Audience. He’s talking to his closest friends.

2. Temple. All throughout the Gospel, he’s drawn a clear distinction between himself and the Temple, essentially saying that God is now taking up residence in a prophet from Nazareth.

3. “The End”. There’s a great sense of urgency.

4. “Talent”. Unfortunately we transliterate this word into English. It’s supposed to represent a lavish gift.

I think this parable is rarely read with Christocentric eyes (yes, my spell check went nuts with that word). That is, the parable must be interpreted in light of the one telling the story.

The disciples have been given a great gift (a life of friendship with Jesus) . . . now they are being commissioned to risk everything to tell the story (what’s known as the Great Commission supports this reading).

In Jesus’ economy, the greatest risk is to take no risk at all. Annie Dillard says we should all wear crash helmets to church to remember who it is we are following. It isn’t always about being successful, after all, the third servant didn’t lose the money he’d been given. He got in trouble

I used to think the end of Matthew was a word of comfort (”lo I’m with you always) . . . what if, for some of us, it’s also threat (”there’s  no where you can go I’m not”)? A threat because Jesus knows that it’s when we are most uncomfortable that we are most alive.

That’s the paradox of being human.