Little talents

“He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” ~ Luke 16:10

Today let’s talk about small matters. Tomorrow we’ll talk about larger matters. These are very much related discussions.

What is a talent? In ancient Greece there is a word talanton which refers to a scale or device for measuring weight. A talent is a large and standard weight. In the image above are five large bars of refined silver, roughly five talents.

Two thousand years ago Jesus told a story about three servants who were trusted with certain amounts of silver such as five, two, and one talent in the different instances. The man with the wealth set off on a journey after turning over the funds. The one who was entrusted with five talents set about trading with that wealth and made in the time the wealthy man was far away about the same again, so when the traveller returned, there were ten talents where before there had been five.

Jesus relates the lessons from the story. With regard to the five talents fellow he says, “His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”

So, you see the importance of small things. But wait, I pretend to hear you say, how much is a talent anyway? Well, it would be a measure used widely in a given region. Let’s say that 75 pounds such as you might use for grocery store purchases would be one talent. The historical usage isn’t more clear than to say between 50 and 80 pounds. Well, in the ounces we use for trading gold and silver (which come from the great medieval fair at Troyes and are called “troy ounces” and have 31.1034768 grams in each of them, as any bullion dealer would tell you) a 75 pound bar would have within it 1,093.75 troy ounces. So five talents would be 5,468.75 troy ounces. But ounces of what? Traditional discussions around this topic indicate that silver was meant. Obviously if the talents were of gold that would be more. Today the spot market for silver says that each ounce is worth $64.

What do I mean by “the spot market”? I mean that in the places where spot contracts are traded that can be delivered in silver “on the spot” without delay that’s the going rate. I do not offer to discuss “futures” contracts with future delivery at some identified date in the future for many reasons. Among them, the futures contracts are subject to all manner of manipulation; the futures markets often are “allowed” by state regulatory pseudo-authorities to accept cash equivalence rather than actual delivery so that the person who thinks she is buying silver to be delivered is given cash and shown the terms of the contract; there have been very large fines in the billions of dollars levied against bullion banks including JP Morgan Chase, for manipulating the precious metals markets. Thus I have no interest in whatever you say is the futures price of silver, nor the options market for silver contracts, nor the “exchange traded fund” or “etf” price of silver.

Thus, five talents would be $64 times 5468.75 = $350,000. The fellow who was entrusted with 5 talents was able to generate a further five talents, for a total of ten, or about $700,000 of value in today’s money. (I gather that’s 35,000 burritos at the going rate. jk lol)

So, you say to yourself, well, I would be worthy of such trust. And you would look at the words Jesus spoke, “faithful over a few things.” Five talents is “a few things” in this parable.

What are you doing about the small things? How about that first commandment?

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” How are you doing with respect to your appointment book? Are you making plans for today and calling it “tiw’s day” or as you write it “tuesday”? Do your plans for tomorrow involve “wodan” of “wodan’s day” or “wednesday?” I’m not using the capital letters because I have no respect for these terms. Moreover, to me and hundreds of thousands of other members of the religious society of the friends of Jesus, the people known as Quakers, today is “third day.” Tomorrow is “fourth day.” As you would recall, that’s how the days are identified by God in the book of Genesis.

What about the rest of your calendar? The months are named for janus, mars, apru, maia, juno, julius, augustus, and there’s also that short month for atonement and purification “february.” Are you putting those names before God for some reason? You could choose to refer to them numerically. First month, second month, and so forth. Personally I find “september” to be inconsistent with its place in our calendar, ninth. The Latin for seventh is septem. Octo is eight. Novem is ninth. Decem is tenth. From my perspective it makes more sense to call them “ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth” months since “-ber” represents the concept of integer order. The month you call september isn’t seventh, is it?

Do you think these are small matters? Yes, they are small, in the same sense that five talents is a few things. But if you are not faithful in small things, should you be trusted with greater things? If you are unjust in the least of things, are you just in the greatest of things?

And if you are calling on the name of your demon “wodan” tomorrow in this month named for your demon “augustus” why do you expect God to attend to the things you want done about the world around you? You look at the British parliamentary investigation into the rape gangs (other than the house of Windsor) and their finding that more than 200,000 children were raped, some of them also mutilated, many of them wounded and some killed, by rape gangs in just one year. Their related finding is that the same pertains to about the last ten years at least, maybe longer. So, around 2 million children, probably many more, just in the home isles of the “united kingdom” as it is called. So, are you praying to “wodan” and to “augustus” to resolve these matters for you? Or did you think that God wouldn’t mind if you called upon “wodan” and “saturn” and “thor” and “frija” and “tiw,” and the sun and the moon every week? Please tell me what scriptures you are using to support your choices in this matter of the names of the days of the week and the names of the months of the year.

Yes, of course you may be forgiven your sins, especially as you forgive those who trespass and transgress against you. But it would help a good deal if you were to repent and turn away from your sins.

Jesus is in the temple area of Jerusalem when men bring to him an adultress who was caught in the very act. They have gathered stones and are prepared to stone her. Jesus takes a moment to write in the pavement of the temple courtyard, perhaps in the dirt the keepers of the temple have allowed to gather there. Then he faces the crowd and tells them that he who is without sin should cast the first stone. He returns to his writing, which might also be him writing with his finger in the very pavement stone itself. Each of the men has dropped his stone and wandered off. The adultress remains and Jesus asks her where are her accusers. She says that they have left. Jesus says, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” Jesus is a man without sin and doesn’t cast the first stone.

He doesn’t condemn the woman, either. But he does command her that she go and sin no more.

How about you? Did nobody tell you where the names of the days of the week and of the months of the year come from? Well, I’ve told you. Did nobody offer you an alternative system? Well, since about 1650 a bunch of people who thought about it have been using numbers for the days of the week and for the months of the year. Computer professionals have used digits to represent day, month, year for a very long time. You can do it.

No, I don’t condemn you. Nor do I command you. But if you want a better future for yourself and your posterity, you might spend some time thinking about how to behave. And if tomorrow you call upon God to help you with things that are going on in the world, maybe don’t call tomorrow “wodan’s day” but simply refer to it as the fourth day. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. Sin no more.

That’s all I’ve got for today. Come back next time when I have something new. Or old.