Michelle Paquette

 

The Parable of the Talents

Originally published on Medium.com, May 10, 2022

A personal interpretation, through the filter of an agnostic Unitarian Universalist woman who agrees with much of what that nice Jewish boy had to say a few millennia ago.

Photo by Marek Piwnicki on Unsplash

I’ve been the recipient of a number of messages, often quoting bits of poorly translated tribal law written for a band of nomads some two and a half millennia ago. These texts, while of historical interest, are perhaps not as applicable now, as society as evolved a bit.

For many of us, these tribal laws are now routinely ignored. We no longer have battlements on our rooftops to avoid death or injury from rolling off of them while sleeping, for example, and we have developed a more sophisticated understanding of crop rotation. The stoning of women and unfaithful husbands is now rarely practiced in Western society. Improvements in our understanding of food safety have moved lobster and shellfish from being considered unclean to being a delicacy among diners. We routinely blend fibers to make up modern fabrics, and no longer affix colored tassels to the corners of our clothing to indicate tribal affiliation.

A few millennia ago a young man in the Middle East came forward with guidance on a better way to live in relation to one another. He often delivered his message in the form of short stories with a lesson to them, what we call parables. One of the most famous of these parables is the Parable of the Talents, which holds significant meaning to me.

Now, I am an agnostic old woman. I do not believe in the traditional deity of Western Christianity, that rewrite of Odin as the old narcissist in the sky, prone to toying with humans to win bets (Job, anyone?) and ready to torment anyone who doesn’t say the right magic words or engage in all the right rituals. I do believe there is something greater than us, whether we call that the Divine, Love, the Universe, or a nice shorthand for the unknowable, God or Goddess.

I also happen to be a queer person, an old married Sapphic queer woman of transgender experience. This is the proximate cause of the messages I mention above, threatening me with retribution from that gnarly old narcissist in the sky. They tell me that God does not make mistakes. I agree. God does test us, and those around us, through His gifts. He may grant us gifts to use in our lives, if only we can recognize them. What we do with those gifts matters.

The Parable of the Talents

A man going on a journey calls his three servants together. He entrusts 5 talents (a talent is about 80 pounds of silver, roughly 20 years wages at the time.) to one servant he sees as being very able, 2 talents to a capable servant, and one talent to the third servant. Then, he leaves. The servant with 5 talents invests them, and makes another 5 talents. The servant with 2 talents invests them, and earns another 2 talents. The third servant buries his talent, fearful of risking it. The man returns after a long period and settles accounts with them. The first servant returns 10 talents, the original 5 plus the investment gain, and the man praises him, granting him a high position. The second servant returns 4 talents, the original 2 plus the gain, and the man praises and promotes him as well. The third servant returns the original talent he buried. The man decries his wicked and slothful ways, takes the one talent from him and gives it to the servant with the 10 talents. “For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Now, when I was created, I had a family that was fairly well off, a good home, and I would develop with an intelligent and curious mind, the potential for a good education, as a white male. I think God looked at this and thought “OK, this one has it pretty easy, and needs a special challenge to fully develop. I think I’ll give this one the soul of a woman and see what they do with that.” God caused my mother and doctor to use a new medication, diethylstilbestrol (DES), that made my brain ready to receive a female soul.

Now, having been granted this gift, and realizing what I have, what am I to do with it? Shall I bury it, hiding it from the light, so at the end of my days I can only return this gift, unused and uninvested? Or should I bring this gift into the light of day, use it to its fullest extent, to let it grow and flourish, for the benefit of myself and those around me, so I may return this gift manyfold at the end of my days?

Now, there are those who would have me bury it, suffer in silence, for this gift makes them uncomfortable. At The End Of Days, they may very well be cast into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.