By Paul Machira, All Saints Cathedral, Nairobi

One lesson I have loved teaching over the years in Sunday school classes for children is the parable of talents as recorded in Mathew 25:14-30 and Luke 19:11-27. There is always something new in this text that makes me keep going back to it for more. Recently, as I meditated on the text, my eyes were opened to how much the parable bears a lot of similarities with the Bible account in Genesis 1:28.

In both texts, the master (God) entrusts His resources to His servants with an expectation that they will be good stewards of it and will be fruitful, increasing it to give him a good return.

In both instances:

It is the master who initiates the stewardship relationship and not vice versa.

The master does not explicitly tell them what to do with the entrusted resources

The master expects a good return on investment.