Friday, June 13, 2008

The Parable of the Fourth Talent

The Parable of the Fourth Talent by Keith Giles

Then the Master turned to the man with the fourth talent and he said, "Show me what you have done, my servant."

The man with the fourth talent replied, "Master, I knew you were a savvy business man and that you require a substantial return on your investments, and so come and see the building I have purchased for many millions of dollars. See, I have placed photograhps of you throughout the facility and there are 46 inch flat panel plasma screens from which hundreds of people may watch me as I tell them to send me their money so that you can bless them. On Super Bowl Sunday we can even use this as an outreach to the community," he said. "Master, look here, we have recently installed a thirty thousand dollar sound system with a state-of-the-art mixing board and flipping sweet Bose speakers powered by a killer amplifier."

The Master looked at the man with the fourth talent and said, "You foolish man. Did you not realize that no one can build a house for me? In all the years you have served me did I ever, even once, ask that any of you build a temple for me to live in? All the Universe belongs to me, and Earth itself is my footstool."

The man with the fourth talent scratched his head, "Did I mention that the building seats 3,000 people and has a heated baptistry?"

The Master rebuked him and said, "This building was built with money that could have fed the poor, comforted the sick and provided shelter for the homeless. Take this building and rent it out to the local rescue mission so that my people can have a warm place to sleep and safe place for their children to live, for whatever you have done for the least of these you have done it unto me."

The man with the fourth talent replied, "Can we still have the Super Bowl Party in January?"

-kg

4 comments:

Mark Main said...

Love it. If the Bible were re-written today I think that would be included.

Julie said...

Rock on! Great post = and so very true.

Anonymous said...

I like you Keith Giles.

Together maybe we can help transform the popular notion of church back into the Biblical reality the world actually needs.

Anonymous said...

Ouch.

I have such a hard time giving to my church these days because I know the money is spent on padded pews, air conditioning and lawn care.

Of course I like these things, but why oh why are we missing the point?

I know I'm not saying anything new here, but church has become and end in itself, rather than means to an end.

Ughhh.

I just discovered your website/writings via the Ooze and so far have found them helpful while poignant. I intend to use as much as I can in my class as I try to do what I can to steer things in the right direction.