Attitude, Fear, and Gifts – Proper 28A

I recently watched a hilarious little video on YouTube that features a guy who wakes up in his bed covered in wrapping paper. As he sits up, he tears the wrapping paper off himself and yells, “Hey, I’m alive!” Then his wife sits up next to him, also wrapped in gift wrap, then his kids shuffle into the room bound in gift wrap, too. The light switch is covered in wrapping paper, and so is the bathroom faucet and shower. His breakfast is inside of a gift box, and when he goes to put on his shoes, they’re wrapped up, too. Finally, after discovering his keys inside a stocking, he receives a gift-wrapped cup of coffee and runs toward his gift-wrapped car. Every single moment of what would be for most of us the typical start to the day is an experience of joy and delight, something to be “opened” and savored.

This weekend we’ll hear the Parable of the Talents, in which Jesus tells the story of three slaves entrusted with enormous sums of money. Two of them embrace the opportunity with enthusiasm and creativity, investing the money and doubling the amount they had received. But the third slave responds with fear – fear of the master, of the money, of the whole scenario – which causes him to literally bury the sum in the ground. Jesus says the first two “enter into joy,” while the third receives condemnation.

As followers of Jesus, it’s more important than ever before that we recognize the importance of our attitude on our lives and behavior. We need to capture the attitude of the first two slaves in Jesus’ parable, as well as the man in the YouTube video, because like them, it will help us live more hopefully, creatively, and boldly. When our attitude is shaped by appreciation that God is extravagantly generous, and has entrusted us with enormous gifts every single day, we begin to loosen fear’s stranglehold on our lives. People who appreciate all that God has given them, and who choose to recognize the abundance of gifts that fill their daily lives, “enter into the joy” that God desires for them every day.

In these strange and unsettling days, our attitude matters more than ever before. Pray that you may resist the temptation to let fear cause you to bury your talent in the ground. Pray for the faith to see your life and everything in it as an extravagant gift to be enjoyed and savored. Pray for hope and trust in God, because he longs for you to enter into joy, too.