6.18.26 – Invest Wisely

It does not happen very often in my life, but the topic of the Red Heifer in Israel is in the news again. Within this week's Torah portion is the topic of the Red Heifer (Num. 19). It is a very strange ceremony, and though I have considered and studied it for many years, I am perplexed with the simplicity and the complexity of the eternal decree (Num. 19:21). Every year God gives me a deeper understanding concerning this topic, but, as I shared with a buddy this morning, I have a loooooong way to go when it comes to understanding this topic of how God restores us from coming into contact with death.

We live in a world that is saturated with death. We cannot watch a movie, TV show, or any YouTube series without being desensitized with the death mindset. Add to that the overstimulation of sex into our society and the longing to be loved, felt, or heard, and we are in desperate need of the Red Heifer—whatever the complete meaning of that could be.

Like many topics in life, it is one we tend to gloss over and not really consider the ramifications of that day, both positive and/or negative. Yeshua, our Messiah, dealt with this topic frequently with His disciples.

With a society that is saturated with death and behaviors that lead to death, we have become desensitized to death and also paranoid of death (Heb. 2:15). Consequently, maybe because it is not politically correct, I have seldom heard anyone speak of themselves as being what Yeshua described in Matthew 25:26 as a "wicked and lazy servant." I know I do not want to hear those words, nor in my self-justifying mind would I ever expect to hear those words. Far fewer, perhaps none, could imagine that Yeshua would say this to the man who returned 100% of what he was given.

Yet, reality has this statement being made to the third servant who returned 100% of what he was given. How could this be? In order to understand the terrible shock that this statement had in the first century, we need to know that, as far as the religious community was concerned, a man who buried money in the ground for safekeeping fulfilled his entire obligation. In fact, with all that has happened to the world's economies, inflation, and deliberate obliteration of income sources—all in the name of climate—hiding your money in the ground seems like a pretty good thing to do, all things considered.

When he returned the sum, the servant owed nothing further. Imagine the outrage when Yeshua calls this man wicked and lazy. The Greek phrase given to us is very strong: ponere kai oknere. Not just wicked but evil. Not just lazy but slothful. We would be shaking our heads in disbelief, too.

We underestimate the shock value in this story. We think that we have fulfilled our obligation to the Master when we return 10%, not 100%. If we take all that Yah puts in our hands, safeguard it until His coming, and return it all, unspoiled and intact, we cannot imagine that this is not enough! We are not prepared to be told that we are a 100% failure. Certainly, Yeshua could not have been that harsh! Surely He must have meant something else.

Remember, Yeshua is speaking about talanton (the Greek word means "a certain fixed weight of gold or silver"). This includes your musical ability or your gifted leadership (1 Cor. 3:10–15), and in plain language it is about money. Yahweh owns it all, and since we are servants of His, He expects us to use it to produce a return for Him. 100% is not enough in His economy. Those who believe that simply returning to Him what He gave in the first place are wicked and slothful. Try that on for size! Ouch!

Double ouch! What passionate misers we (speaking of me, myself, and I) are with His property! We take what He gives and offer Him a token while we spend His resources on our temporal objectives. The Master will return someday. He will call us to the accounting office and examine every entry in the books. Then He will say, "Where is my return? What did you do with the financial assets I placed in your hands so that I might reap where I did not sow?"

We live in a world that is filled with death and activities that lead to death. The question I find myself asking myself this morning is: "What words will I hear next? 'Well done,' or 'Wicked and slothful'?"

Invest wisely!

Shalom!!
Alan

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