Sunday School - Parable of the Talents

Judy taught the Sunday School class today, covering Jesus' Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30). Jesus told the story of the master who was planning a long trip. Before departing, he entrusted his property with three of his servants. One servant received five talents (a talent was worth a great deal of money), the second servant received two talents, and the third one talent, each according to their abilities.  After a long absence, the master returned and called his servants to him for an accounting. The first two servants had put their talents to work and doubled the value of the property they were entrusted with. They were handsomely rewarded by the master, who gave them more responsibility and invited them to share in his happiness. The third servant returned the single talent he had been given; he had merely buried it in the ground. The master punished the man for his laziness and threw him out of his house.

One interpretation of the parable is that Jesus is telling us to use our God-given gifts in the service of God, their value will be multiplied for the good of His Kingdom.

Judy talked about how banks work, as one way of putting your money to work. Another way is the many small gifts we will bring to Vacation Bible School (July 18-22) that will be put together and used to build a water well in Liberia that will help many people. The children were given a dollar bill, and challenged to consider how to make that dollar grow to be applied to the donations next week. They also received some coins, one of which was intended to be used right now, since it was made of chocolate!