The moral value of our responsibilities.
Several distinct lines of thought open out from this parable.
1. The diversity of the talents with which men are entrusted.
2. The common responsibility of all before God, be their talents few or many.
3. The certainty found in the very nature of a trust, that a reckoning day must come.
4. The true apprehension of life is gained by treating it as a stewardship.
5. The apparent insignificance of a man's talent can never excuse its neglect. The point to which attention is now more especially directed is, that God works out a gracious purpose in moral character by putting men under responsibilities. In the case our Lord brings before us, no doubt the lord wanted his property cared for during his absence; but, beyond and above that, he wanted his servants tested and cultured, by meeting responsibilities, into a faithfulness which he could recognize and reward when he returned.
I. OUR RESPONSIBILITIES. Life is full of such from its beginning to its end. See the Divine idea in the two heads of the human race. The first Adam trusted with the garden, and trusted to leave alone the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The second Adam trusted with the work of redemption. Show
Illustrate by a few special cases, such as:
II. OUR RESPONSE TO OUR RESPONSIBILITIES. This our Lord so skilfully illustrates in three specimen instances. We can properly respond, because they are only given up to the measure of our ability. We should be crushed if they were too much for our strength. We can respond by opening our whole natures to accept them, as the flowers open to the sunshine. It is a beginning of good thus to lift ourselves up to meet responsibilities. We begin to feel what possibilities are in us. The true conception of the angel is not with folded wings standing, but with poised wing ready to fly. Waiting to meet his trust. From some points of view all human trusts seem little. Estimate their moral influence, and no one of them can be thought little.—R.T.