Really good literature and music is a truly remarkable thing.  It makes us stop and reconsider things that we thought we knew, spurs new thoughts and helps us see past the trees to the forest itself.  I enjoy it immensly and appreciate those rare minds that can create at that level.  One of the best:  C.S. Lewis.  For any of you who don’t know, this passage is from The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.  The beavers are telling the children about Aslan, who represents Jesus.

“You’ll understand when you see him.”

“But shall we see him?” asked Susan

“Why, daughter of Eve, that’s what I brought you here for.  I’m to lead you to where you will meet him,” said Mr. Beaver.

“Is—is he a man?” asked Lucy.  “Aslan a man!” said Mr. Beaver sternly.  “Certainly not.  I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-The-Sea.  Don’t you know who is the King of the Beasts?  Aslan is a lion - THE lion, the great lion.”

“Ooh!” said Susan, “I thought he was a man.  Is he—quite safe?  I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “If there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just plain silly.”

“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver, “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you?  Who said anything about safe?  ‘Course he isn’t safe.  But he’s good.  He’s the King, I tell you.

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’  “The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.  So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

” ‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Matthew 25:14-28

It’s pretty clear to me that, while grace is free, our salvation should change us, and thus change our actions to be very different from those of people who are not subject to the same Lord and Master we are.  This is just one of many examples in which Jesus tells us that much should be accomplished with the lives He has given us.  I think this teaching makes it absolutely clear that our lives must include risk for him - there is no investment return without risk (certainly not doubling your money like the wise servants did).  And there will be no meaningful results for His kingdom without taking risks and making sacrifices with our lives and finances.  Jesus is saying that the result of lives lived with the overriding goal of simply preserving what we were given (life itself), rather than taking risks to acheive returns for His kingdom, are not pleasant.  Let’s leave it at that - no point to open a fruitless debate about salvation by grace vs. works.  It’s grace.  Let’s just leve that alone and agree that the results for servant #3 are not good, and they are not good because of what he did (or did not) do.  Whatever the implication about grace and salvation, I’m sure we can agree we don’t want to have our lives parallel servant #3 when we meet God face to face.