Entrusted

Have you ever had a moment when someone gave you some responsibility or walked you into some experience, but you felt like you were unworthy of it? Did they make things worse then, by saying “I trust you with this“?

Sometimes I wish God didn’t trust me with what He does.

We are careful when it comes to who we trust. We measure out our trust of politicians, technicians, professors, students, church workers, medical personnel, and the like. But when we look at God, we see someone who disconcertingly seems to trust us with things that we shouldn’t be trusted with. He trusts us with His Word, His sacraments, His Church, and with an almost endless amount of gifts that He gives us for our vocations. 

We can accuse God of a reckless trust. A trust that shouldn’t be placed in us, poor sinners. That trust is writ large over the readings of the end of the Church year: the Parable of the Virgins, the Parable of the Talents, and Jesus’ words about where we find Him in our daily lives. Not only is there trust there, but there is also responsibility. That’s what we’re really afraid of. More than the trust, it’s the responsibility. We are fine having the talents until we know that burying them in the backyard is unacceptable. And when we find that out, we don’t even want to accept the talents anymore. 

And why is that? Because our faith doesn’t match God’s trust. And why doesn’t it? Because God’s trust assumes the growth of our faith. God doesn’t give us a trust in who we are today. Rather, God gives us a trust in who He knows we will be because of His Son’s life, death, and Resurrection.

This Sunday we begin a short series for the end of the Church Year, the end of our “Follow Me” year of exploring our discipleship under Jesus. This series will be called “Entrusted,” and it will call us to consider the trust that God has placed in who we will be, and how His trust assumes, mandates, and empowers the growth of our faith in who Jesus has made us to be.