14“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.” (Matthew 25:14-15, NIV)
When Michaela was in the fifth grade, her teacher would redo the seating chart once every couple of months. When she did, she would reward good behavior by sitting you next to your friend. And, as long as you kept up that good behavior, you’d get to keep sitting next to your friend. It was positive reinforcement at its best! Now, Michaela was the kind of kid who mostly listened to the rules in elementary school. She raised her hand and engaged when the teacher asked questions. She did my homework and helped clean up after class. So, when it was time for a new seating chart, she’d wait with anticipation to see where the teacher would place her, hoping of course that it’d be next to one of her friends. But her teacher never placed her next to her friends. Instead, every single time, she was assigned the seat next to Stephen. Stephen was not her friend in the way fifth-graders define friendship. Steven had a hard time paying attention and was loud and was always in trouble with the teacher. Stephen sat alone at lunch and didn’t have anyone to play with at recess. A few years later, she started to look back and wonder if maybe her fifth-grade teacher had entrusted her with Stephen. Entrusted her to care for him and help him, to notice him and be with him. But, a few years after that, she started to wonder if perhaps she had gotten it backward. Perhaps, their teacher had entrusted her to Stephen, helping soften her rule-abiding heart and teaching her to love people who don’t always fit in. Teaching her about the messy, lovely, out-of-sorts way of God’s Kingdom and how to think about friendship beyond the lens of fifth-grader. All these years later, she said that she suspects it was Stephen who left more of an impression on her than the other way around. And, so this passage that’s about investing money, also invites us to think about how we invest in relationships. Who has God entrusted to our care? And, whose care have we been entrusted to? By the way, this language of “entrusted to our care” is a big part of how we define leadership; encouraging us to hinge our work on listening to the longings and losses of people entrusted to our care. Do you have Stephens in your life? People you felt were assigned to but were also assigned to you? In life, we have people who God trusts us with and people who God trusts with us. Our investment in each other truly can pay dividends in God’s Kingdom. In this season of your life, who has God trusted you to care for? Who has God has trusted to care for you? Gracious God, God, you are Lord of relationships. Thank you for the gift of investing in one another and for the ways that our lives can impact one another for the good of your Kingdom. Amen. Comments are closed.
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