Pentecost 25

Matthew 25:14-30

It may seem strange to you that our sermon text – on this Sunday following the close of our Stewardship campaign – would be the parable of the talents. This parable from Matthew 25 is probably the most popular stewardship text of all. We preachers particularly like it because it not only calls for the wise investment of our resources, but also because it uses this peculiar word “talent”. This gives preachers the ability to sort of soften our annual pitch for money. We can package it together with an appeal to give generously of your time and TALENT, too. And yet, truth be told, if your Trails Through Tellico pledge card offered more of the latter, and less of the former, our financial leaders would be very worried right now!

But we didn’t use the parable of the talents as the text for our Stewardship campaign. Because, you see, it really doesn’t belong there.

This is a parable not about how to give, but about how to live. And its written for people living in a time like ours – a time of millennial excitement. This moment in history is a wonderful time to study the parables of Jesus, and especially those in the later chapters of Matthew. Like many in our society today, who are convinced that we are nearing the end of history and the return of Christ, the people of Matthew’s day believed Jesus was coming back at any moment.

Well, that’s not entirely accurate. Fifty years earlier, the Christians believed Christ’s return was imminent. But now, a half-century-of-waiting later, they’re not so sure anymore. Its been a long time. And in this historic context, Matthew writes his Gospel. And in it, he places parables that begin with the thought that the master, the bridegroom, the landowner – Jesus – is delayed.

How are you going to live if, on New Year’s Eve, Dick Clark counts down the millennial drop of the Times Square ball, and Jesus doesn’t touch down on the Mt. Of Olives? That’s the kind of question framing this story. This is a parable not about how to give, but about how to live in a world where Jesus’ return is delayed and the problems and challenges of life continue and are not fixed once and for all.

And another thing about this parable. This talent is not a skill or special ability. This talent is an economic term. It is an amount of money. In fact, a talent was one of the largest values of money in the Hellenistic world. It was silver coinage that weighed between 57 and 74 pounds. Now, follow this with me. Workers in that day were usually paid one denarius for one day’s labor. It took six thousand denarii to make up one talent! In other words, a talent was worth more than 15 years wages! And when you consider that the master handed over five talents to one person, two talents to another, and one talent to a third, you come up with 8 talents which would roughly translate into modern assets worth about 3.5 million dollars!

Do you get the picture? This is not a parable about some early ancestor of Ted Mack assembling a bunch of talented tap dancers to appear on his famous Amateur Hour. This is a story about high-powered financial dealings – Wall Street stuff – involving a first-century Bill Gates leveraging his wealth in order to wipe out Netscape and Apple and all the other competitors to form a giant monopoly. Not that Bill Gates would ever do such a thing!

And think about the magnitude of the return on the master’s investments. The first man was given 5 talents – about 2.2 million dollars! And what does Matthew tells us? The man immediately went off and traded the talents, and doubled his money to 4.4 million! Wouldn’t you like to get into a deal like that?

What about the second guy? He receives 2 talents – about $900,000. And Matthew says he went out and did some trading, too. And the second man doubles his money to 1.8 million! I wish my retirement fund was that good!

And then, there’s the third guy. One talent is given. Its worth about $437,000. And this fellow goes and buries it in the ground because he’s afraid of what the master will do to him if he loses it in the market.

And you know how the parable goes. The master – representing God, but played by Bill Gates – finally returns. He demands an accounting of his money. The first man says, “You gave me 5 talents, and I made 5 more!” Bill Gates smiles and says, “Well done! For all your efforts, I’m making you vice-president in charge of developing Windows 2000!”

Second man comes forward and says, “You gave me two talents, and I made 2 more!” And Bill Gates smiles and says, “Wonderful! I’m putting you in charge of Internet Explorer 6.0!”

Third fellow comes along. “Here’s the money you gave me. I know how irritated you get when your people really screw up – like they did with Windows 98 – and I was afraid. So I took the money and hid it in a hole in the backyard of your new house in Seattle. Here it is – every last penny!” And Bill Gates becomes furious! He terminates the fellow on the spot! And I like to imagine that this poor guy, now a disgruntled former Microsoft employee, later lands a low-paying job – in government service – in the Justice Department – in the anti-trust division… and now you know the rest of the story. Well, that’s a stretch.

But you get the picture. And there are some provocative questions that arise from it!

Michael Farris, theoretically defending the actions of the third man, wonders what all the fuss is about. He asks, “Why was the master furious at what any good Presbyterian would do?” Or, for that matter, what any good church financial leader would do? Why, here was someone who took his fiduciary responsibility very seriously! Here was a man who kept account, who took care, who didn’t play fast and loose with someone else’s money. He made sure his master’s money was perfectly safe. So why is the master so terribly upset with someone so prudent and accountable? And why is the master so deliriously happy with the other two?

And then Michael Farris suggests we turn our attention away from the servants and toward the master. What does the parable tell us about him?

I think it tells us the master is not a banker, but an investor! And why is he so pleased with the first two servants? Because they doubled his money? No. Because they showed themselves to be like him. Cut out of the same cloth. Formed in the same image!

You see, it takes risk to double your money. These two guys are not fooling with United States Savings Bonds. They are speculating on Amazon.com or Yahoo! Long before they even turn a profit. This is not fixed-rate mortgage stuff, but high-risk NASDAQ high technology stocks. This is the kind of investing where there’s a risk of losing it all!

And, like it or not, understand it or not, Matthew shows us that this is what God is like! Extravagant! Reckless! An investor who puts his money on long shots and bad risks.

Take a look at God’s portfolio and you see where he puts his money. In groups like the stiff-necked Hebrews who took forty years to complete a thirty day trip. Ship captains like the alcoholic Noah who saved the world by building and sailing an ark, and then drank himself into a stupor as soon as he hit shore. Dried up old people like Abraham and Sarah given the job of having the first baby of the covenant community. Adulterers like David. Prostitutes like Rahab. Pregnant teenage girls like Mary. Disloyal followers like Peter. Doubters like Thomas. Murderers like Paul. People like you. People like me. And people like those all around us today who we identify as long shots, bad risks, and sure losers.

And what projects is God investing in? A crucifixion – in the hope it will become resurrection. In an enterprise of reaching into death itself, and plucking out a gift of new life!

These are the things God is putting his money on! And the question is: what are YOU doing with the resources God has given YOU?

The first two men did what their master did. They lived like their master lived. They invested like their master invested. The third man didn’t – because he was afraid.

You know, there are a lot of people today, especially in the church, who are afraid. Afraid of other Christians, and people of different religions. Afraid of speaking up for Christ in their families, and among their friends. Afraid of facing the great social problems of our day as Christians rather than as republicans or democrats. Afraid of learning the Bible. Afraid of prayer. Afraid of forgiving others. Afraid of embracing and advocating for people of color, poor people, and people on the margins of life. Why, a short while ago up in Lynchburg, Virginia, Jerry Falwell held a groundbreaking meeting with gay people about how to cooperate in reducing hate crimes and violence toward gays and others. What a tremendous expression of Christian love! Praise God for Jerry Falwell helping to make such a meeting possible! But, you know, every time you step beyond fear to faith, new fears arise. And what a sad thing to read in the press that at the end of this healing meeting, when it came time for supper, members of the Thomas Road Baptist Church just couldn’t bring themselves to sit down and eat dinner with their guests. The paper quoted some as saying it was because they were afraid of what God might think!

Can you imagine that? Unwilling to love another person because they are afraid of what God – the most extravagant, high roller, reckless Lover who ever lived – will think?

The third man said to his master, “I was afraid of you. That’s why I didn’t risk it.”

Dear friends, you can’t be a Christian without risk. Every one of the major themes of the Christian Faith – caring, giving, witnessing, forgiving, trusting, loving, hoping – cannot be undertaken without risk. To live as a Christian is risky business indeed!

And yet, the parable tells us to take the measure of what God has given you, and multiply it! Take the love you’ve received, and invest it in the lives of many others! Take the forgiveness that’s come to you, and spread it around as far as you can! Take the friendship God has brought to you, and make friends with hundreds of others! And don’t be afraid of long shots and bad risks – because this is God’s capital. And God wants you to risk it on others!

Now here’s what Christian risk looks like. Risk is when you’re 85-years old, and you volunteer to teach the Sunday School class of 5-year olds! Risk is when you’ve experienced the greatest loss you can imagine, but you dare to trust God to help you build a future! Risk is when you come alongside someone who doesn’t deserve it, and say, “I’ll be your friend!” Risk is looking hurt and pain in the eye, but deciding to love, to forgive, to embody Christ in spite of it!

To be a Christian, you have to take risks!

So here we are on the verge of a new millenium. Maybe Jesus will return and resolve all the problems of life. And maybe he won’t. Maybe the master will be delayed again – just like in the story – and the poor will continue to get poorer, and racism will keep increasing, and man’s inhumanity to man will produce more holocausts, more ethnic cleansing, more genocide. Maybe our problems won’t be erased with the sound of the trumpet, and we’ll have to still contend with that cancer, or that loss of a loved one, or that problem in a marriage, or that pain of a lost friend.

How are you going to live in such a world?

One man took the gifts he had, and buried them in the ground because he was afraid.

But others invested! Extravagantly! Recklessly! In long shots and seemingly lost causes! And when the master finally came, he had a return on his investment that made him rejoice!

Where do you need to be investing God’s love this week? In whom do you need to invest the gift of forgiveness? What lost cause, or high risk group of people do you need to capitalize with a generous expenditure of grace? Who needs you to invest hope in them? And which of your own burdens must you trust to the faithfulness of God, as you go your way this week and invest for the kingdom?

To be a Christian is risky business!

But thank God for risking it ALL – even on people like us!