14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.3 You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’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.’23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away."
Biblical scholar Tom Long says the way to understand this parable in the book of Matthew is through another of Jesus' aphorisms spoken at the Sermon on the Mount and recorded in the same book: “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"(Matthew 6:22-23).
How we see and perceive always shapes our understanding of what we see and perceive. We see what we expect to see. We hear what we expect to hear. Our reality outside us is shaped by our reality within. This is true of our perception about all manner of people, places, and things; and is an important part of the ongoing national debate over implicit and unconscious biases we may have towards people of color which we need to be made aware of so as not to be led astray. It is also true about our perception of God. When we expect God to be vindictive and mean-spirited then that becomes the God we worship and serve. As Jesus said also in Matthew, "The measure you give becomes the measure you get," (Matthew 7:22). The God whose wrath outweighs His mercy becomes the God we judge ourselves and everyone else by.
"What you see is what you get," we say. But what we see is always shaped by how we see. And so it's true; the eye is the lamp of the body and if the eye is dark then everything else will be dark also.
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