The Conundrum Beat, November 10, 2025

Oh, what a conundrum that I hear beating in my ears! And here I think I have ears to hear! Yet, the more I think God gave me in talent to be refined and used, the beating grows louder!

I heard a sermon yesterday… the parable of the talents. The preacher made the standard, expected points. Too young to know, the preacher pounded on the lectern like a young Nikita – drubbing the congregation with a combination of words and force – as if a meat tenderizer to the hearts of the hearers. His sermon? Taken from Matthew. 

One laborer was given five talents, another two. At the return of the master, they had doubled their master’s investment and were commended. Another was only given one talent, but he buried it. When the master questioned why the man hadn’t earn interest on it, the man accused his master of being a hard man and fearful of him. The preacher associated the two and one laborer with the later goats and sheep at judgment. And so the beating of the conundrum.

At seventy-three years, how many times I’ve heard that same rendering of the parable? Too many, with the preacher’s message suggesting his congregation was well endowed with unused talents, intended for the church – presumably his. Was the young Nikita the master to suppose? He didn’t acknowledge that the greatest gift that Christ the Lord gave to his workers is the Gospel, and from that gift, all talent should spring, as given by the Father. Was that point mentioned from the fist worn lectern? No. Nevertheless, without the Gospel, what eternal good could ever come from the doubling of the secular five? the two? Why didn’t I hear Matthew 23:15 mentioned? “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.”

You see what Jesus taught in this parable was taught by the one who knew what talents were given in each of us. The true Shepherd knows his sheep, and his sheep knows the Shepherd’s voice. That young Nikita had no idea – he could only presume, but then again, I must go easy. Who knows but Christ who are his in every congregation and what talents were given – used and buried? The young Nikita didn’t know. I likened his preaching to another parable: that of the scattered seed which fell on different soils. (Sigh) What a conundrum of parables.