Matthew 25:22. "And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying 'Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.'"

I think I got this specific verse today as a clarification to my journal entry on May 16th. I titled that entry "Get Out of the Lukewarm Middle!", but I was thinking about that title later, and how there is sometimes nothing wrong with being in the "middle", it just depends on what you're in the middle of! This line is from the parable of the talents, which we all know. The servant who was given two talents and made two more is right in the middle of the three servants. He was not given five talents, like the first servant, nor was he given just one talent, like the third servant. He also did not make five talents to give back to the master, as the first servant did, but neither did he bury the talent that was given to him, as the third servant did. This second servant is praised by the master, just as the "richer" first servant was, because he took what was given to him and made something of it. We are not all given the same gifts, some are given many more talents than we are. But the number of gifts we are given does not matter it, it is what we do with them. Even the servant who had been given only one talent would have been praised by the master if he had done something with it, or even just tried to - it would not have mattered to the master if that servant's talent was lost in the effort, it is the effort that matters to God!

The servant in the middle is, I would say, most people. It is a rare person who is given five talents, but we all have some talents we can use in God's service, and that is a perfectly fine middle to be in. The "lukewarm middle" to be in here would be to not use the talents we are given fully in service to the Lord - like maybe using one for God and playing it safe with the other. We are to use everything we have in God's service, and not worry about what will happen to us if we lose any of it. It certainly looked like Jesus lost everything when He died on the cross, but it was only because He was willing to lose everything that He won everything. If we give everything to God wholeheartedly, He will take it and do the most amazing things with it. However, if we only give Him part of what we have, we will be like Ananias and Sapphira, the two disciples who held back in Acts, and paid for it with their lives. (Acts 5:1-11).

In my prior entry, I talked about how we are not all either acknowledging or denying Christ, many of us are really doing neither, and that is the lukewarm middle that Jesus really has a problem with. In the parable of the talents, the servant who buries his talent is essentially like the person who is denying Christ. The master calls this servant out as a wicked and lazy servant, and expels him from the kingdom. But both of the other servants are fully acknowledging God with what they have been given. The lukewarm situation would be if one of the servants used his talents half-heartedly; or used them for his own good, and not the good of his master; or, as mentioned above, used some for his master, but held back the rest. That is what Ananias and Sapphira did, and they were not just called wicked and lazy, they died on the spot when confronted with what they did. (See Cause of Death for more on why I think Ananias and Sapphira died).

I also don't want to give the impression that being in the "middle" means we should stick so firmly to our understanding of principles that we become intolerant or extreme. We must always have an open heart for others, even when they are doing something that is clearly wrong. If do not engage with them in charity, they will never find their way back to the truth. Also, unless it is a dogmatic teaching of the Church that we're talking about, there is always a possibility that we are wrong in some way, too. Humility does not make us lukewarm, just honest, and it predisposes us to use our talents to their fullest!