November 15, 2020
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois
Matthew 25:14-30[1]
Are you good? Are you trustworthy? You have been entrusted according
to your ability. What will you do with what you have? The meaning of the world “talents”
in this parable is not the same as we would use it today, but let’s go with
that for a moment.
What are the talents you have been given? What have you done
with your talents? For some of us, you can see what we’ve done. Tetyana, a
talented musician, has preformed in operas, leads music at this small church
every week, and teaches others how to express their musical talent. T.C.,
likewise, shares his talented voice by singing for us each week, and he has also
performed in musical theater. I sing and play guitar on occasion, and I have
been quite fortunate to have an outlet for my musical gifts.
You may also have gifts and talents that you have invested
in the world. If we think of the “talents” in this parable as particular skill
or ability, then we have probably managed to increase what we have been given.
I, at least, have also hidden away some talents. I am pretty good at math and
science, and I love Astronomy, but I never committed to the astronaut path in
my life. There are times when I gnash my teeth about it, but I don’t think I’ve
been thrown into the outer darkness.
A more accurate way of understanding the parable comes from
understanding that the Greek word, talanta, actually refers to an amount
of money equal to the wages of a worker for a year. The man entrusting property
is giving a significant amount of money to stewards who are expected to put
that money to work. And two of them do just that, they take a risk by investing
or trading to generate earnings on top of their capital. But is the story really
about them?
The third slave, the one entrusted with one talent, plays it
safe. Putting money in the ground is a normal way of protecting it in a time
without banks. We learn why this one is so careful at the end of the parable. The
servant explains his actions: the boss is a harsh master, unscrupulous. If the
money is lost, he expects a harsh punishment. Better to return it all to the
master than risk losing it. This is the prudent one, the cautious investor.
Rather than taking chances, taking a risk that the money will be lost, he
protects it. And when the master returns, it is all there.
Most of us are like that. I’m not a venture capitalist, and
I don’t think any of you are either. We don’t throw money at the newest tech
company or the public offering of a social media phenomenon. We might wish we
did, in hindsight, but we have responsibilities and debts to pay, so we don’t
risk it.
Yet the other slaves take the risky approach. In dealing
with a ruthless, greedy master, they invest and produce a return on the
investment. They are praised and rewarded. And in that interaction, we catch a
glimpse of a different side of the master. Is he really so terrible and cruel?
The master generously rewards the ones who traded with more responsibility.
They are celebrated.
In these parables, the master is often understood as a stand-in
for God. So, is the boss in this parable a metaphor for God? Is God ruthless, greedy,
and unscrupulous? That’s not the God I know. God is “merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”[2]
God loves us, and forgives us. God does not reap without sowing or gather
without planting seed.
One commentator suggests that we need to flip the script, to
step outside of the parable. David Buttrick writes, “If we reverse the boss’s
moral status, then we end up out of the parable, trying to figure out how to
conduct our lives in response to a free-grace God. We don’t play it safe,
because God is patient and ever merciful.”[3]
If we think outside the box, so to speak, and not limit our thinking to one of
two paths, the path of risk or the path of safety, we get closer to the way
things really work.
In the old westerns, the good guys wore the white hats, the
bad guys wore the black hats. You knew who the heroes and the villains were. Most
of the shows and movies we watch keep this structure. The good guys are always
good and morally right. The bad guys are always bad and morally corrupt. But we
know that life is not like that.
Life tells more complicated stories. There are stories where
no one wears a hat. The good guy has a gambling problem, or an affair. The bad
guy uses drug money to pay for medicine for his grandmother. Real people are
complicated, a mix of good and bad impulses, and have a history of heroism and
cowardice. Real people take risks and lose it all, or play it safe and slowly
build up enough to retire on. Real people have unexpected losses and unexpected
windfalls. Sometimes the right choice is to take a risk; sometimes it is to
play it safe. And none of us can see the future to tell which choice is which.
Is this a story about risk? The parable comes in chapter 25 of
Matthew. Matthew only has 28 chapters. We can’t know for sure when in his life Jesus
may have told this parable. We can only know where Matthew placed it in his
Gospel. So, in this context, as Jesus is nearing the end, has already entered
Jerusalem, and cleansed the temple, what time is it? Is it time to play it
safe, or is it time to take a risk?
What if the first two slaves had risked the money and lost
it? How might the master have reacted? It’s possible that they would not have
been punished, but praised for making the effort. Rather than the story being only
about winning, about success, maybe it’s about taking the risk. Maybe it’s
about growing rather than shrinking, living boldly rather than holding back.
After all, the larger story being told is about Jesus, what he has done, and
what is going to happen to him. The story is about what it means to follow
Jesus, and how to be faithful in living the lives given to us.
This parable, then, may be trying to tell us that playing it
safe is not the way to be disciples. If nothing is at risk, then what is the
value of living? If we don’t care deeply enough about anyone or anything to risk
losing our comforts, if we don’t give our hearts away to something or someone,
we risk not living. This parable may be a warning that to play it safe, to not
care or love passionately, to not give our time and energy to something
worthwhile, is like being banished to the outer darkness.
You may have heard the saying, “A ship in the harbor is
safe, but that’s not what a ship was built for.” There are times in life when
you need to stay in the harbor, to heal from a sickness or a broken heart, or to
protect your community from a global pandemic. But there is a time when you
need to set sail, to seek a distant shore, to discover a larger world. There is
a time to take a risk on giving your heart, soul, and mind to help others to
heal and to set sail.
When Jesus knew they were coming for him, he didn’t stop teaching
the disciples. He didn’t send them back to Galilee, to play it safe and hide
from the Romans. He invited them to follow him, to proclaim the good news of
the kingdom of heaven. Jesus invites you to take the risk of loving yourself,
your neighbor, and all the world. In doing so, you enter into the joy of the
master, thou good and trustworthy servant.
Amen.
[1] The
scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard
Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2]
Exodus 34:6.
[3] David
Buttrick, Speaking Parables: A Homiletic Guide (Louisville: Westminster
John Knox Press, 2000), 173.
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