Edna Lister on the Parable of the Talents

The world views talents as God-given gifts or special abilities of mind or of the physical body. On the Via Christa, we extend the definition of a talent to include spiritual faculties, powers of soul or virtues, such as intuition, clairvoyance, clairaudence or other mediatorial abilities. While God does give us the rudimentary faculties, power and virtues of soul, He expects us to unfold and develop them all to their full potential, which requires personal responsibility, dedication, obedience to law, and perfect discipline of the self over time.

Your soul will recollect the many talents, virtues and soul powers then remind you of those you have developed and those awaiting your further polishing. Each talent is like a jewel in the rough, the facets of which you must cut and polish before you can add them to your individual Crown of I AM.

For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. – Matthew 25:14-30.

He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities. And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities. And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury? And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.) For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him. But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me. – Luke 19:12-27.

But since the Gospel (written) in Hebrew characters which has come into our hands enters the threat not against the man who had hid (the talent), but against him who had lived dissolutely – for he (the master) had three servants: one who squandered his master's substance with harlots and flute-girls, one who multiplied the gain, and one who hid the talent; and accordingly one was accepted (with joy), another merely rebuked, and another cast into prison – I wonder whether in Matthew the threat which is uttered after the word against the man who did nothing may not refer to him, but by epanalepsis to the first who had feasted and drunk with the drunken. – Nazoreans 18 (Eusebius, Theophania 22 [on Matthew 25:14-15])







Release Your Talents

Edna Lister created this Bible study outline for February 23, 1934, Buffalo, NY. Scriptures: Matthew 25:14-30 and Job 22:15-18.

The servant to whom his lord had given responsibility for five talents gained five more for his master. Then the servant to whom he had given two talents to account for earned two more.

Yet the servant whom he had given charge of one talent did nothing with it. The lord took the talent from him and fired him because he had failed to discharge his responsibility. Often the people who cry "unfair" the loudest are those who do the least.

Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood: which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them? Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. – Job 22:15-18.

Every idea carries its own ability to release all things associated with its perfect completion. Why complain because others may have many ideas when you have only one? Such an approach to life is walking in the "old way."

If you act on that one idea, you will undoubtedly think of more. To use one idea makes room for more to enter your mind.

The one Light, as Mind, Substance and Power, is "all that the Father has," and flows as a stream, the River of Life – you may keep any of it or none. Each day you save your leftover milk, but you must use money, or talents, like a free-flowing stream.

Anyone who holds onto Power is withholding from God and the world. You must bring forth whatever you have hidden.

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Faithfulness

Edna Lister created this sermon outline for November 25, 1934, Buffalo, NY. Scripture: Matthew 25:14-30.

The Spirit coming to earth is like the man who journeyed to a far country. You must trust the conscious mind to see and do and be for you.

The five talents are the soul faculties of inspiration, perception, apperception, intuition, and illumination. They represent the five physical senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste. The two talents represent desire and intellect, or at their highest expression, love and wisdom.

The one talent represents diligence and selflessness to work for others' profit. Unless you are diligent, fear deadens every higher faculty.

Spirit reaps the soul experiences from family, social life, work, and travel. Making a banker's investment, ultra-conservative of the good, in selflessness and giving, makes you wise. He who has and uses what he has, improves, and to him more shall be given.

For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. – Matthew 25:29. An unprofitable servant is cast into the outer darkness, with much weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This parable is all about faithfulness. How faithful are you? What is your capacity? You must use all you have to the glory of God. Have you said "yes" to God all week?

Spirit is the divine tempter, sent to entice, lure, and tempt. If you invest even one talent, you show diligence in standing under the Light, in faithfulness. You have a choice to continue prowling on the outer, or searching on the inner for hidden splendor.

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Your Inheritance

This Edna Lister Bible study transcript is dated May 31, 1942, Buffalo, NY. Scribe: Ruth Bender. Scripture: Matthew 25:14-30.

An inheritance is your share of a heritage, a gift, a possession or a blessing, freely bestowed or given. Your heritage is Light.

God has sent you here for experience and activity. Courage must not be a matter of environment, though we do develop certain faculties for expression. It takes courage to accept your inheritance.

Through your growth and study, you have awakened more virgin brain cells. A set of such cells, developed, becomes a faculty when you open their connecting neurons. It takes concerted study to awaken the brain cells enough to open a faculty.

The faculties include courage, peace and understanding, for example. Faculties are virtues in some cases, and virtues are also called powers of the soul. Every virtue is supported by a set of brain cells as well.

You must sacrifice self to gain the full faculties and virtues, which are your birthright, your heritage, but not necessarily well developed as yet. Sacrifice means different things to different people, but we view it as service and sacrifice to gain success.

We are all familiar with the Parable of the Talents, which ends with: For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. – Matthew 25:29.

Success comes to the soul who desires to succeed, is willing to serve God in any and all capacities, and to sacrifice self to do so. The soul who is too lazy to exert himself will atrophy (lose) his developed talents through lack of use. To the soul who has the desire to achieve, more shall be added. Wanting, wishing and hoping are not enough. You must ignite, feed and fan the flame of desire within your heart.

God has sent you here with equipment that excels the most highly developed and finely tuned mechanism ever produced. Your body is part of your inheritance of God, and only God can repair it. Any lack in your physical equipment is a fault on your part.

For example, you must feed it to renew more than twenty chemical elements daily [in descending order of amount, oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, magnesium, iron, fluorine, zinc, copper, iodine, selenium, chromium, manganese, molybdenum, and cobalt].

You take in vital energy as well as oxygen in the air you breathe, and you need to breathe deeply to feed yourself properly. Also, you need plenty of water and exercise, and to get good refreshing sleep.

Unless you do all this, you can fall prey to many illnesses through slight instances of physical malnutrition. You can suffer other ailments through your emotions, and nearly all of these trace to the key emotional element of desire. A lack of desire always results in some form of physical atrophy. Your brain's functioning becomes cloudy before you feel illness or pain.

The body is always operating under pressure, whether physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. The air pressure on your body is 14.7 pounds per square inch. Changes in air pressure can affect your appetite and the way you digest your food.

You would need a very special barometer to tell the weight of emotional and mental types of pressure. You feel emotional pressures because you "cannot bear" them. You notice mental pressure when you reject a new idea because you "simply cannot believe it."

You cannot serve God 100 percent physically, mentally and spiritually when you are caving in to all these pressures. You must train yourself to be irresistibly, rapturously expectant about your inheritance. Declare, "Today, I will win against every challenge I face."

Let go of the past. Let God do everything about it. Then you can say, "Let me plan greatly." Yet you must act, not simply plan for some indefinite future. Plan greatly, but do while you are planning.

Spend some time each day thanking God that you are receiving everything you need to fulfill the plan. Then do something toward attaining it.

You have all the time you need to develop your faculties right now, if you so desire. God makes everything perfect when you declare it is.

Your body remakes itself every seven years. If you do not experience this, ask yourself why yours is getting worse. When a weak part is being healed, it aches. Agree and adjust by standing in the Light and making the right statements for healing. Declare that the Light is moving through and healing you.

You can do anything if you have the flaming desire to succeed, backed by the courage of your highest convictions. Let no one push you off your high point in consciousness. God can take you anywhere your soul vision conjures.

Thank Him for all He does for you. Declare, "Father, please pour forth that vitalizing element of your Light. Let Your love flow through me to bring this to pass."

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References

The Compact Edition of The Oxford English Dictionary, "Occult, Fate, Destiny." Weiner, E.S.C., ed, 2 vols. Oxford University Press, 1971.

The Holy Bible. King James Version (KJV), Public Domain.

The Nag Hammadi Library. James M. Robinson, ed. San Francisco, Harper & Row, 1981.


Related Topics

See Gifts

See The Parables Jesus Taught

See The Metaphors Jesus Taught

See Responsibility

See Talents


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