Jesus' parable of the talents stresses that the one who received five talents went off immediately, evidently with great enthusiasm and excitement. It is not said that the second servant went off immediately but he is similar to the first man in that he doubled what he had received. The third man reacted in fear, and felt his master's trust burdensome.

On earth, God has given his possessions, his Gospel and his kingdom of justice and peace, into our hands. Jesus did not send an army of angels to proclaim the Gospel, but called us, weak human beings though we are, and handed over to us in different measures the treasures of his Gospel.

We only have what God has given us, and we should be grateful for whatever gift we have received. Whether we have received many or few talents, we are servants: servants of God, servants of Jesus, servants of the Gospel.

The man with five talents went off immediately. With fewer talents, we may not experience great enthusiasm. Nevertheless, we need not react out of fear. At least we can be like the second servant, who still made good use of his talents, even if he did not go off "immediately".