Last but not least was Abuelo. “I did nothing with your money as I did not want to disappoint you if I failed. I kept the money in a shoebox under my bed.” Am could almost taste the disappointment he felt with his friend. Abuelo had never been a good choice, as he was a bit strange in personality. Am wanted Abuelo to leave his presence as soon as possible.[i]
BIBLICAL INSPIRATION:
6 Among those young men were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah from the tribe of Judah. 7 Ashpenaz gave them Babylonian names. Daniel’s new name was Belteshazzar, Hananiah’s was Shadrach, Mishael’s was Meshach, and Azariah’s was Abednego. (Daniel 1:6-8)
14 “At that time God’s kingdom will also be like a man leaving home to travel to another place for a visit. Before he left, he talked with his servants. He told his servants to take care of his things while he was gone. 15 He decided how much each servant would be able to care for. The man gave one servant five bags of money. He gave another servant two bags. And he gave a third servant one bag. Then he left.
16 The servant who got five bags went quickly to invest the money. Those five bags of money earned five more. 17 It was the same with the servant who had two bags. That servant invested the money and earned two more. 18 But the servant who got one bag of money went away and dug a hole in the ground. Then he hid his master’s money in the hole.
19 “After a long time the master came home. He asked the servants what they did with his money. 20 The servant who got five bags brought that amount and five more bags of money to the master. The servant said, ‘Master, you trusted me to care for five bags of money. So I used them to earn five more.’
21 “The master answered, ‘You did right. You are a good
servant who can be trusted. You did well with that small amount of money. So I
will let you care for much greater things. Come and share my happiness with
me.’
22 “Then the servant who got two bags of money came to the
master. The servant said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of money to care for.
So I used your two bags to earn two more.’
23 “The master answered, ‘You did right. You are a good
servant who can be trusted. You did well with a small amount of money. So I
will let you care for much greater things. Come and share my happiness with
me.’
24 “Then the servant who got one bag of money came to the
master. The servant said, ‘Master, I knew you were a very hard man. You harvest
what you did not plant. You gather crops where you did not put any seed. 25 So
I was afraid. I went and hid your money in the ground. Here is the one bag of
money you gave me.’
26 “The master answered, ‘You are a bad and lazy servant!
You say you knew that I harvest what I did not plant and that I gather crops
where I did not put any seed. 27 So you should have put my
money in the bank. Then, when I came home, I would get my money back. And I
would also get the interest that my money earned.’
28 “So the master told his other servants, ‘Take the one
bag of money from that servant and give it to the servant who has ten bags. 29 Everyone
who uses what they have will get more. They will have much more than they need.
But people who do not use what they have will have everything taken away from
them.’ 30 Then the master said, ‘Throw that useless servant
outside into the darkness, where people will cry and grind their teeth with
pain.’ (Matthew 25:14-30)
11 As the crowd listened to what he was saying, Jesus went on to tell a story. He was now near Jerusalem and knew that the people thought it was almost time for God’s kingdom to come. 12 So he said, “A very important man was preparing to go to a country far away to be made a king. Then he planned to return home and rule his people. 13 So he called ten of his servants together. He gave a bag of money to each servant. He said, ‘Do business with this money until I come back.’ 14 But the people in the kingdom hated the man. They sent a group to follow him to the other country. There they said, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, unnamed master in the Parable of the Talents (Parable of the Loaned Money), and the three unnamed servants
11 As the crowd listened to what he was saying, Jesus went on to tell a story. He was now near Jerusalem and knew that the people thought it was almost time for God’s kingdom to come. 12 So he said, “A very important man was preparing to go to a country far away to be made a king. Then he planned to return home and rule his people. 13 So he called ten of his servants together. He gave a bag of money to each servant. He said, ‘Do business with this money until I come back.’ 14 But the people in the kingdom hated the man. They sent a group to follow him to the other country. There they said, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’
15 “But the man was made king. When he came home, he said,
‘Call those servants who have my money. I want to know how much more money they
earned with it.’ 16 The first servant came and said, ‘Sir, I
earned ten bags of money with the one bag you gave me.’ 17 The
king said to him, ‘That’s great! You are a good servant. I see that I can trust
you with small things. So now I will let you rule over ten of my cities.’
18 “The second servant said, ‘Sir, with your one bag of money I
earned five bags.’ 19 The king said to this servant, ‘You can
rule over five cities.’
20 “Then another servant came in and said to the king, ‘Sir,
here is your bag of money. I wrapped it in a piece of cloth and hid it. 21 I
was afraid of you because you are a hard man. You even take money that you
didn’t earn and gather food that you didn’t grow.’
22 “Then the king said to him, ‘What a bad servant you are! I
will use your own words to condemn you. You said that I am a hard man. You said
that I even take money that I didn’t earn and gather food that I didn’t grow. 23 If
that is true, you should have put my money in the bank. Then, when I came back,
my money would have earned some interest.’ 24 Then the king
said to the men who were watching, ‘Take the bag of money away from this
servant and give it to the servant who earned ten bags of money.’
25 “The men said to the king, ‘But sir, that servant already
has ten bags of money.’
26 “The king said, ‘People who use what they have will get
more. But those who do not use what they have will have everything taken away
from them. 27 Now where are my enemies? Where are the people
who did not want me to be king? Bring my enemies here and kill them. I will
watch them die.’” (Luke 19:11-27)
BIBLICAL PARTICIPANTS: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, unnamed master in the Parable of the Talents (Parable of the Loaned Money), and the three unnamed servants
[i] Adapted from the 2011 America Star book, All for One: the Towns of Ohio Complete Trilogy by Robert A. Kinker, part two (“They’re Just Like Us”), chapter one. All scripture is from the Easy-to-Read Version (ERV) of the Bible.
Additional source used: “How Much Was a
Talent Worth?” by Mike McCormack
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