The title of this post is a phrase none of us wants to hear: throw this useless servant into the darkness. It is what Jesus says to the servant who did nothing with the talent he had been given by the master who went away on a long journey in today's parable (Mt 25: 14- 30). The other two servants (who were given five talents and two talents, respectively) went off and traded with the talents (a unit of money which fortuitously also is the same word we use for abilities) and doubled them. The third servant, the one who receives the rebuke from Jesus, buried his "talent" so as not to lose it. Jesus obviously is not pleased with that conduct. So do we do that with the gifts God gave us? Maybe if we examine the reasons why the third servant buried his talent, we might come up with an honest answer to that question. Three reasons come to mind for why the third servant did what he did. The first is that he was risk-averse. Trading involves risk (as every brokerage company tells us) and he was afraid he might lose the money and incur his master's anger. So her does the safest thing he can think of-- nothing. He just buries the money, so as not to have any chance of a problem. How often as a Church, as a community, do we do that? How often do we take no risk, do what we've always done, because to do something new involves the chance that someone might take offense. Just doing what we've always done can't offend anyone, right? Up here in northwestern Wisconsin (where I am as I write this) we used to have a pastor who said the last words of the Church are: "we never did it that way before." In other words, when we get into the habit of refusing to change, refusing to take risks, we're dying. The second reason is laziness. Just burying the talent involved almost no work; trading involves a ton of work. The third servant just had to dig a hole, put the treasure in it, and fill it up, and he was done, regardless of how long it took for the master to return. Jesus accusses him of just that-- laziness-- when He has the master call the third servant a wicked, lazy servant. Are we lazy in using what God has given us? Do we settle for pretty-good because it is the Church, after all, and we can't be expected to be as good at things as those in the secular world, right? Jesus' attitude towards laziness in using what God has given us ought to be a wake-up call in that regard. The third reason is more subtle, I think, but perhaps the most problematic. Somehow we have gotten it into our heads that we don't have to use our gifts. Somehow we think that faith is just about me and Jesus, and about saying the right prayers and using the right rituals. We got to Mass and receive the Eucharist, we avoid serious sin, and we're good, right? It is easy for us to fall into that trap when all around us there is so much controversy about doctrine and dogma, and so much emphasis on believing the right things. Sure, those things are important. But equally important-- or perhaps more so-- is doing what Jesus tells us to do. As we will hear at the end of chapter 25 of Matthew's Gospel, the folks who are deprived of the presence of God are the people who did not feed the hungry, clothe those without adequate clothing, care for the sick, give drink to the thirsty, visit those in prison, and shelter the homeless. So, as the Letter of St. James makes so clear, if we profess the right beliefs, but don't use what God has given us for the benefit of others, we're just like the third servant in this parable. What the church calls "social justice' isn't an add-on or a nice-to-have. It is certral to this parable, and central to Jesus' teachings. So our challenge is to use what God has given us to build the kingdom, not fall victim to the temptation to justify the easy way out. How would Jesus judge your use of the talents you have been given?