crowned king, after which he planned to return home. Before he left, he summoned ten of his
servants and gave them ten pounds of silver. He said, ‘Put this money to work until I get back.’
But his compatriots, who disliked him, sent a delegation after him with this message, ‘We do not
want this man to be our king.’

He returned, however, appointed asking. At once he sent for the servants, to whom he had given
the money, to find out what profit each had made. The first came in, and reported, ‘Sir, your pound
of silver has earned ten more pounds of silver.’

The master replied, ‘Well done, my good servant! Since you have proved yourself faithful in a small
matter, I can trust you to take charge of ten cities.’ 18 The second reported, ‘Sir, your pound of silver
earned five more pounds of silver.’ The master replied, ‘And you, take charge of five cities!’

The third came in, and said, ‘Sir, here is your money, which I hid for safekeeping. I was afraid of you,
for you are an exacting person: you take up what you did not lay down, and you reap what you did
not sow.’

The master replied, ‘You worthless servant, I will judge you by your own words! So you knew I was an
exacting person, taking up what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow? Why, then, did you
not put my money on loan, so that, when I got back, I could have collected it with interest?’

Then the master said to those standing by, ‘Take from him that pound, and give it to the one with
ten pounds.’ But they objected, ‘Sir, he already has ten pounds!’

The master replied, ‘I tell you, everyone who has will be given more; but from those who have
nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for my enemies who did not want me
to be their king, bring them in, and execute them right here in front me!’” So Jesus spoke,
and then he passed on ahead of them, on his way to Jerusalem.

Reflect:

“Which is the richest place on earth?” asked the Guru. The disciples named various cities on
earth. The Guru dismissed all their answers and said, “The richest place on earth is the burial
ground. There lie buried many rich talents and possibilities never realized.” How true! God
sends every child with wonderful potentials; but how many of them are realized! They remain
unrealized due to many reasons, not all of them are the fault of the individual, though. We fail
to give our children faith in God-given talents; we label them inadequate on the basis of birth,
class, gender, race, color, etc. Sometimes we force our unfulfilled dreams into them, ejecting
out their own. I guess at the end of the day, we will be held responsible not only for not realizing
the talents given to us, but also for not helping those around us to become who they were meant
to be.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2022