(Note: At the time of reading this passage to the congregation, explain that a single talent was worth more than fifteen years' wages of a laborer [per NRSV footnote to Matthew 25:14] — in other words, easily a cool quarter of a million dollars in today's terms!)

"I was afraid," quavered the third servant, "because I knew that you were a ruthless businessman, expecting profit even when it is impossible. I was so afraid of losing your money that I put it in a box and buried it. Here is your money, exactly what you gave me."1

I was so afraid of losing your money — or maybe I was so afraid of having your money.

Marianne Williamson wrote:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most fri…