One last thought before class tomorrow...

I want to throw this out and get your thoughts and I want to just stick to these verses here in Matthew 25:14-30.  I believe this verse is saying, quite simply, that when Christ comes back, he's expecting a return.  He's expecting that we've done more than just "no harm."  Now that's the easy part.  The part that I want your feedback on is this.... What if there had been a fourth servant who had gone out, invested the talents in what seemed like a sure-fire winner, and completely unexpectedly and without any fault on his/her part, lost it all.... what would the master have said to him or her?

Abundance?

     In Matthew 25:29, the verse for this week, Christ says that to those who have, more will be given so that he will have "abundance", and to those who have not, even what they have will be taken away.  Is this the same Christ of the beatitudes?  It sounds like a winner-takes-all scenario, which is great if you're the winner, but not so good if.... How does this tie into stewardship?  We so often think about being a good steward as caring for things, protecting things, being frugal, but is that all there is to it?  In fact, if you read the parable leading up to this verse, punishment is dealt hard to the one who did no harm.  He didn't loose anything, in fact he preserved and protected the master's investment, doing no harm and letting no harm come to it.  And what was his reward?  Banishment, loss of all he had protected.   
     John Wesley said when describing the preceding parable: "It is true he had not done good.  But neither is he charged with doing any harm....[yet] He is pronounced a wicked, because he was slothful, an unprofitable servant.  So mere harmlessness, on which many build their hope of salvation, was the cause of his damnation!"
What is Christ saying here?  What is He trying to tell us that our "Master" wants?  Look at Matthew 13:12.  What are we to do?