[AI translation] Behold, thus speaks the third servant in the parable, when he calls his master to account... Serious words! Bitter words! And as if there were some truth in them! Imagine this man sitting in an espresso with his friends and saying to them, "Look at the injustice of this! My master has entrusted me with 100,000 forints. (Because that's about what my one talent is worth today.) He has entrusted me with keeping it until he returns. And you'll see that when he holds me to account, he wants to get back more than he gave me. He wants to reap where he didn't sow, and he wants to reap where he didn't sow." And his friends nod their heads: indeed, it is not fair! It is not fair to demand more than you have received. And our man continues to complain: "He wants to profit from my sweat! He goes away, and yet he wants to pocket the profit! But I will not be beaten to death; I will give him back exactly what is his. Not a penny more!" - You're right!" the others nod...Perhaps the other man, who has also been entrusted with a large sum of money, 200,000 forints, enters the same espresso. He is coming from a business meeting. He is full of plans and ambition. He is enthusiastic about his sense of responsibility and his master's trust. He is pleased to announce that the amount entrusted to him has almost doubled... They ask him, "Don't you think it's unfair that the fruits of your labour should be reaped by someone else?" - He looks up, perhaps smiles, when he says: "I hadn't thought of that. It is a pleasure for me to live up to the trust placed in me. What? That it's unfair? Come on! I don't even have time to think about such things... I'm off, I've got a great deal to do!"
What a contrast between two people! This second one gives the impression of a determined, energetic, happy man. The first is a complaining, desperate person. He has the air of a musty room. The windows should be opened, fresh air should be let in, because you can suffocate in there!
Look, if there weren't so many of this type of person on earth, it wouldn't be worth bothering with. But unfortunately, it is often the case. Perhaps someone has already recognised you in it. This servant is a typical example of a man who suffers from a disease common today: a feeling of inferiority. But it is not enough just to identify it, such an unfortunate person must also be helped! How? Let us take a closer look at how this feeling has developed in this man! In the parable, one fine day, the wealthy farmer summoned his three servants. He told them that he was going on a journey, but that he would divide his wealth among them. "I know you, I know what you are capable of." - he said. One received 500,000, another 200,000 and the third 100,000. This third servant was perhaps even happy first. Well, my master trusts me, he thinks I am worthy to help him. But later he began to wonder: why did I only get 100,000? Really, why? The others got much more. Yes, the others, they can do something, they have more than me. They have more brains, better jobs, more energy. It's easy for them to get ahead! They got more than me! The others...
But many people stand in front of the mirror like that in the morning! So that not only do you see yourself, but you always see yourself in comparison with others. "If only I looked as good as this one or that one... Unfortunately, I'm not as attractive as this or that... If I could speak languages like X or Y... But I am just a simple, modest, talentless nobody! What good is the world to me? What can I do for the glory of God?! Well, he can do more than I can with much less work. Why should I strive, for I can't do it! Why have I not more talents, physical or spiritual? Why can't I be like the others?! ...And so one becomes more and more lonely.
It's a terrible thing, this constant comparison with others! One is always revolving around oneself. He monologues endlessly to himself, feels sorry for himself, is dissatisfied with his lot, becomes depressed. Such a person slowly gets caught up in a vicious circle: I am incompetent, that's why I am helpless! I am helpless, therefore I am helpless! I cannot be like others, but I want to be! It is an injustice that I am the way I am! Life is the cause, God is the cause! But I will not be laughed at! I retreat into myself... This was the way that the servant in the parable pondered, and so do many others today.
A feeling of inferiority. It is a terrible thing! It destroys a man. It's an inner rebellion against the fact that one cannot be and live like perhaps many others whom one envies. But how can you help such a person?! Can one break out of this vicious cycle? Well, first of all, let us acknowledge this feeling as much as is true. For it is undoubtedly true that there are great differences in talent between people. And in many ways it is easier for the more talented: it is indeed great when one learns quickly, has good abilities, solves the tasks of life in a playful way - and it is certainly harder for the one who feels, knows, that he does not have the good head, the tough temperament, of the other. It takes him hours to do what the other solves in ten minutes. But listen carefully to the parable! The fact that one person is capable of less than another does not make that person inferior. A man of one-talent is not in any way inferior, not in any way of less value than a man of five-talent. You see, in the final reckoning, the five-talented man is just as much a man as the two-talented man. The reward of both is the same: "Thou hast been faithful to few, I will give thee more hereafter; enter thou into thy lord's pleasure." These three men, with their different abilities, are of equal value in the eyes of the master, who only requires that each of them should work according to his own ability: one more, one less, and one even less. Each with what he has! What he has been given. He who has been given one talent, his master does not expect as much from him as he who has been given two or five talents. Therefore it is senseless to compare my own talent, whatever it may be, with that of others. One must simply acknowledge the difference in talents. It is precisely one of the exciting beauties of life that there are so many different talents! One has a good head, another a great hand; one can organise, another can create; one is destined to build a great edifice of society, another to stack the bricks of a house under construction. The one may be at the wheel of a whole company, the other at the wheel of a truck of the same company - neither of them inferior to the other. And there's no one who doesn't know something who hasn't got something! Jesus is not talking about a man without talent in the parable. One of the greatest examples is the case of David with Goliath. When the little David presented himself to the king that he would take on the giant, King Saul was terrified. What does this child want, he doesn't even have a weapon, he doesn't even know how to use one! Never mind! David will try with what he has. He can run well, he can throw a sling at a target - so let him try! And he succeeded. The question is not: what does someone else have that you don't, but: what do you have that someone else doesn't? And that is how God expects the result from you. A woman who had been in bed for a long time told me once when I visited her: I have something that others do not have: I have a lot of time, and I use it to pray a lot for others. I can't do anything for the church or for people, but I don't feel unprofitable because I pray. - So it is not whether the task you are responsible for is big or small, but how you do it. It's that you do it well, reliably, faithfully, in a way that people can count on you - and then it usually turns out that you're capable of so much more than you thought!
But that's not all! So far, all that has happened is that in that particular room with the musty, stuffy air, we have looked around more and seen things in it that we couldn't see well before, but the musty, stuffy air still remains. You have to open the window. Let the fresh air in! How? Not just by saying, well, you can do something, you have some talent. While this warning is good and necessary, it is not enough. You need something more! Let's look at this one-talented man: what was his biggest problem? That he saw no purpose in his life. He had no goal to move towards. He had no expectations, no expectations. And even today, anyone who is struggling with feelings of inferiority should be asked: where is your life heading? Do you have a purpose? What are you moving towards? What are you looking forward to? Open the window, look outside yourself and try to see what is happening - because something big is happening in the world! The kingdom of God is coming to pass - or in the words of the parable, the Lord is coming back and holding a great reckoning. And anyone who hasn't done their part in preparing for the coming of the kingdom of God is missing out. All the prophets, all the apostles, and every believing man and woman since have lived, thought and acted in this great perspective of the great program that Jesus proclaimed, "The kingdom of God is at hand!" It is about the reign of God, the reign of God's love. And that's what we're all drawn into as co-workers, wherever we are, whatever we do, whatever skills we're dismissed with. And everything, everything is in a great movement towards a final great reckoning, towards the moment that the parable says: "And after many days the lord of those servants will come..."
So everything in the world is for the Lord, not for you. And your work, however small or great, is for the Lord, not for yourself! Get rid of yourself! One small word of comfort to let someone know that the Lord is near; one small gesture of touching your fellow human being with something of Jesus' love; every little victory over daily sins through your faith in Christ: all this means that you have contributed to the kingdom of God, that you are involved with one, two or more talents of your own in the mighty divine movement that is this programme of Jesus: the kingdom of God has come near to you! The active faith with which I am entering into the kingdom of God, and with which I myself am preparing to give account to the returning Lord: this faith frees me from measuring myself and my abilities against others. It enables me to accept myself as I am and to make use of what I have been given.
So let us dig out that talent, however great it may be, and take it with us to the great fair of life, in the sure hope that we too will one day be welcomed by the returning Lord: "Well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful to few, enter into the joy of your Lord."
Amen.
Date: 10 January 1965.