The Parable of the Talents by J.A. McCormick

Author:J.A. McCormick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: J.A. McCormick
Published: 2017-05-07T00:00:00+00:00

The Fearful

I am reticent to share the insights found in this short chapter because it deals with a subject which most of us, including myself, have done our best not to acknowledge. But, the parable is not complete without the third servant. His existence and the legitimate danger of becoming like him is real. And since there is still some degree of fear in most of us, I hope to encourage as many as possible to trust. I wish that I could paint you a picture of the third servant so that you could recognize him. But since he is a pretender, that would be impossible. Nonetheless, I will do my best to describe his underlying motives and their manifesting behaviors so that you may be equipped to recognize these traits in yourself.

The first thing that you must understand is that the path of the investor and that of the non-investor are mutually exclusive. Consider the fact that the master makes it clear that he would have been happy with the most measly increase. He even suggests to the non-investor that he could have put the money in the bank and gained a little interest. By this, we know that the master is able to reward even the weakest attempts at faith since by today’s standards, a savings account would yield no more than a fraction of a percent annually. And since there is no category for those who risk but do not gain an increase, every yearning for truth, no matter how feeble, is answered with acceptance.

But the non-investor trusts his purse with no one but himself. He does not need the handout that Providence offers, but instead insists that if he only broods over his stash a little longer, that it will grow on its own. But in reality, he has only buried himself away. Fear and darkness have taken him captive for he will not come into the light. Even if the master were to make him a gift of truth, he would run away screaming. And because he has chosen darkness over light, in the end, darkness is his reward.

By this, we know that for the non-investor, truth is not his primary motive. In fact, he purposefully avoids any place where he might come in contact with the answers to his soul questions. His talent is hidden away where there is not even a chance that it may be found, even by accident. This is why the fearful will not come to the altar of sacrifice. It strikes them with a terrible dread and foreboding for it threatens all that they have made of themselves. So that, they are not half-hearted in their ignorance. They are fully committed. They seem to know that were they to open the door even a crack to the idea of not knowing, it would fly open and invite with it every question that they had worked so hard to suppress. This is not to say that the fearful are not seekers.

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