We’ve heard Jesus tell wonderful
stories. This is one that challenges us
to think about how we use our talents.
There may be some new readers of
the blog so I will remind you that these sermons are pretty much as I preached
them—as a consequence there may be references to events from a few years
ago. That shouldn’t effect the
fundamental message.
Matthew 25:14-30
I
know you are a forgiving group of people.
If I misspeak in a sermon, you’ll forgive me. If I make a grammatical error, you’ll forgive
me. If I quote some really unpopular
person, you’ll forgive me.
You
know, if I should quote Karl Marx, Adolph Hitler, or Osama ben Laden, you’d
forgive me. This tendency to forgive
makes be bold enough to take a risk and quote…Rush Limbaugh.
Limbaugh is the most listened-to radio talk show host in
America; though I have to say I’ve never
met anyone who admits to listening to him.
Admitting that is like being an adult who has grown children out of the
house and admitting that sometimes—when there’s nothing else on TV—you watch
wrestling. Those people I’ve met who do
admit listening, say they were just tuning in to try to catch the weather or a
traffic report.
Anyway, Limbaugh has a catchphrase that irritate people. He
says he is doing his show “with talent on loan from God.” That statement drives some critics to distraction. Well, I once heard Limbaugh explain what he
meant—I was just tuning in to catch a traffic report. He said, “Any talent, any of us may have, is
from God. God has loaned it to us to
use.” Whatever you may think of his
politics or other ideas, that’s a biblical explanation of talent.
What I just read is known as “The Parable of the Talents.” In the story, “talents” refers to money; still, the story gives us our word talent
which usually refers to a gift, an ability, a flair for something. That’s okay but keep in mind that the parable
may be referring to how we use anything whether it’s an ability, an
opportunity, a resource of any kind.
Investment Strategy
On the surface, this is a story about the investment strategy
of a very wealthy man who was going away on a long journey.
Before he left, he gave three of his slaves some of his money
to use to carry on his business while he was gone. What he gave to each was determined by what
he knew of their individual skills and abilities. Then he left for his journey.
It might seem strange that he would entrust slaves with this
task. Remember that in the first century
slaves were often captured from other countries. A slave might be as well educated or even
better educated than the master. Slaves
could, in certain circumstances, earn money and if they carried out a task
particularly well, a slave might receive a monetary bonus. The slave might even earn enough of his own
money to buy his freedom. Still, slavery
is slavery. Though Roman slavery was in
many ways different than British and American slavery, it was still trafficking
in human beings, men and women who might be treated well one day and harshly
the next. Slavery is wrong whether it
was in the first century or the 21st century. Slavery is still carried on in several
nations around the world and we should still do what we can to try to end it.
But back to Jesus story.
The absence of the master was an opportunity to carry on his
agenda. He was a capitalist. His goal was to make a profit and two of his
slaves understood this. So, they went to
work investing his money. Maybe, we’re
left to imagine them buying some item low and then, when the time was right,
selling it high. We don’t know what they
may have done, but they did it well.
Each of them made a hundred percent prophet.
By the way, we’re talking about a lot of money. One talent was worth 6,000 denari. One denarius was one-day’s wages. So, a talent was worth about twenty years
wages! Imagine an annual salary of about
$40,000 (that’s more than some Americans make and less than some Americans
make). In those terms, the slave
entrusted with five talents was entrusted to manage about $1.8 million dollars.
Jesus is not teaching economics. Most of us would like to know money managers
who could double our money, especially these days. Jesus wants to underscore the two servants’
commitment to the master’s agenda.
The other slave did nothing, nothing. He could have done something but chose to do
nothing.
Then, the master returns.
Obviously, Jesus wants his disciples to think of his own return someday.
The master calls for the three servants to find out how things
went.
The first two had glowing reports. And it’s obvious they didn’t have to cook the
books to make that report. They were
able to put the bags of money at his feat.
As you might imagine, the master is thrilled. These slaves had understood his agenda and
acted accordingly. They had each doubled
his money. So he rewarded them.
--they would have more responsibility.
--they would have an opportunity for greater fellowship with
the master.
Then the third servant brought his report. It was not glowing. It was filled with excuses. He even seems to try to blame the master: “you’re such a hard man, I was afraid to do
anything, so I did nothing.”
Before we move on, let me remind you that the master’s response
to the first two slaves seems to show that the third’s slave’s claims were
groundless.
As you might imagine, the master is not thrilled. He explodes:
“You irresponsible, lazy bum, you claim
to know I harvest where I haven’t planted.
You sure didn’t act like it. The
least you could have done was put the money in a bank so I’d get some interest. But you did nothing.
The master then orders the talent to be given to the first
slave, who has already proven his ability to handle the challenge. He then announces a principle: “ Those
who have much will get more, and they will have much more than they need. But
those who do not have much will have everything taken away from them.”[1]
It’s not an easy principle to understand. When we say the rich get richer and the poor
get poorer, we’re talking about a bad reality of life. We need to remember, first of all, that this
is a parable, not a discourse on the way economics ought to work. Keep in mind that this slave had failed to do
the very least he could do. If the
master had given him back the talent and said, “Let’s try again,” he probably
would have done the same thing—nothing.
The first slave had shown remarkable ingenuity, so he was the logical
choice to care for the talent that had been buried.
The fate of the third slave is frightening. He is thrown into darkness where there is
wailing and gnashing of teeth. Several
commentators suggest this proves the third slave represents the church member
who is no believer, but simply a nominal Christian. That
“solution” raises its own set of problems. To begin with it makes the parable an
invitation to guilt and service born out of fear and a desire to prove to
ourselves and our neighbors the sincerity of our faith.
Maybe it’s best to not try to wring too much out of the
conclusion. It may simply be a reminder
to believers that we need to take our responsibility to the Master’s agenda
seriously.
Lessons in Investment
What are the lessons in investment we’re meant to take away
from this story?
1 There’s a spiritual
truth to “nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
The third slave did nothing to promote the absent master’s
agenda and received none of the reward when the master returned.
When the master said, “For to all those who have, more will be
given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even
what they have will be taken away.” He
was putting this truth in other terms.
Those who seek to build a health spiritual life will grow in ways they
never expected. Those who neglect their
spiritual lives will not only remain fruitless, they will stagnate and grow
more remote from God in their lives.
Those who actively seek to see the Kingdom grow will find that their
influence becomes greater and greater.
Those who make no effort to promote the growth of the Kingdom, will find
their influence diminishes with time, to the point that no one would want to
become a Christian if it meant being like them.
2 There’s a place for
risk in building the Kingdom.
Taking the familiar way, refusing to take a chance on a venture
that might fail can be devastating. It
can also be like burying our opportunities in the ground.
It’s an insult to the Master who has give us the talents, the
opportunities. It is better to take a
risk than do nothing.
3 No excuse allows us to
escape our accountability. The third
slave tried to excuse himself by pointing to his perception of the master’s
character. Didn’t work. As Christians, God empowers us to do the work
of the Kingdom and will use our special
abilities to make an impact for him—if we don’t bury them.
4 All of us need to be
ready when the Master shows up to ask, “ What have you done with what I have
given you?”
[1] The
Holy Bible : New Century Version , Containing the Old and New Testaments. Dallas,
TX : Word Bibles, 1991, S. Mt 25:29
