Pentecost 27

Matthew 25:14-30

Sometimes, I wonder if it’s okay to tell Jesus that his message today was really…bad. I suppose we could phrase it in such a way that wouldn’t hurt his feelings – like, “That was an interesting parable, Jesus,” or something less direct like, “You really look good in that white robe.” But if Jesus really pressed me to tell him what I thought about his message in Matthew 25 today, I’d have to honestly tell him that I thought it…pretty much stunk!

Did you?

Here is the very famous parable of the talents. In the Church, we’ve been using this parable for years now as a Stewardship sermon because it creates something in the hearts of the people who hear it that causes them to give more money – GUILT! “Don’t hide your talent in the ground like that foolish man, but use it for the glory of God!” And whenever the sermon is preached on Stewardship Sunday, people run home afterwards and dig up their treasures to give to the Church so they won’t end up going to hell like the man in the story.

And that’s why I don’t like the parable. You see, the detestable, unfaithful, uncharitable character that ends up being cast out into the darkness turns out to be…my mother!

Let me explain.

When my father died at age 50, my mother was left almost destitute. She was not the person in the parable who was given the five talents, and not even the person given two talents. She was the one who only got one talent – and maybe not even that much – and that would be her only income for the rest of her life. I remember scolding my mother once – not that scolding a parent is ever a good thing to do, but I was very upset with what she was thinking. It was Stewardship season in her church, and she was figuring out how much a tithe would be! She barely had enough money to keep a roof over her head, and food in her mouth, and yet she was considering giving ten percent of her paltry little income to the church! That was about the time I started to believe that we should not teach tithing in the church the way we usually do. It is an unfair and unjust burden placed upon the poor. Ten percent to my mother means a whole lot more than ten percent means to Bill Gates. Let the wealthy give 10-20-30-40 percent in gratitude for all that God has given. And they should practice super-tithing if God has blessed them as they claim. But leave my poor mother alone!

And it’s because of her that I think this parable stinks. No offense, Jesus, but I’ve got to stick up for my mom! OF COURSE, the person given the five talents can put the money to work making more money! Moneyed people do that all the time!! OF COURSE the person given the two talents can use it to invest in a 401k and turn a little profit – well, once this market turns around! But the person who’s gotten the short end of the stick and has barely enough to live on…

And here’s the rub. In most of Jesus’ stories, it’s the have’s, not the have not’s, who Jesus criticizes for lack of generosity. But not in this parable.

In this parable, it’s the poor person – that one-talent-or-less- mother-of-mine-kind-of-person – who is held up for judgment. Jesus says:

“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.”

So over the years, whenever this text has come up in the lectionary cycle, I’ve had to argue with Jesus about it. I’ve told him exactly what I think about this lousy sermon of his. He’s told me the same about a lot of mine! We’ve had some big knock-down, drag-out fights about it. And yet,  because he is who he is – and is as good as he is – Jesus has patiently listened to my protestations, and then gently opened my eyes to some things about the story I didn’t see before.

The most important insight Jesus gives is that the world is mostly made up of one-talent people. Did you know that? Five-talent, four-talent, three-talent, two-talent people are relatively few and far between in our world. They say that the vast majority of people who live on this planet – something like two-thirds of the earth’s population – are poor.

It’s important to know this fact because it informs the church about its God-given mission of justice and mercy. But there’s something else to be learned here. You see, one-talentedness is not just about economics! It is also about life itself!

When Sandy and I were kids, we sang in our church’s youth choir. In that choir, there was that girl who had a beautiful five-talent soprano voice and so was awarded all the best female solos. And there was her brother who was a 3 or 4-talent baritone and got all the good guy parts. And then there was Harold – dear less-than-a-talent Harold – who the choir director asked if he wouldn’t mind just moving his lips and not singing out loud!

There are a lot of people in this world who are left out on the one-talent-or-less fringes of life! The girl who is never asked to the prom. The boy who is always chosen last in the pick-up football game. The kid who doesn’t have any friends and who is made fun of by all the others.

When our son Peter and his wife Melissa adopted their beautiful little daughter Rebecca, Sandy and I were so thrilled, and yet at the same time, we also wept for our daughter Bethany and her husband Keith who had lost two babies. Surely they carried the heavy burden of those losses even as they graciously celebrated Pete and Melissa’s good fortune.

One person gets a great promotion, another gets laid off. One couple celebrates a 50th anniversary while a widow grieves the loss of a spouse in their 49th year. One of us gets a hole-in-one, another gets a diagnosis of cancer.

Do you see what I’m saying?

Life has a way of squeezing people to the side, to the fringes, to places of great want. The world is full of one-talent-or-less people.

And sometimes, when life overwhelms us like this and robs us of our human richness, we throw up our hands, bury our talent in the ground, and just give up. What’s the use? We have nothing left to offer.

That was the experience of my friend Norma – a college professor, a highly accomplished person, a leader in the church. And then, in the span of one year, Norma experienced a series of great losses that unraveled her life. First, her son-in-law was killed in a tragic ice-climbing accident at Tuckerman’s Ravine on Mt. Washington. And that great loss presented Norma with what has to be one of the most difficult things a parent can go through with a child – nursing them through a moment when they themselves don’t want to live anymore. Norma’s daughter teetered for many months on the brink of suicide. Oh, what a burden for a loving mother to bear with her child.

But finally, about a year later, some healing began to occur. I remember how joyful Norma was when she told me that her daughter was doing much better, that she had started playing her flute again, and had even met a man she enjoyed being with. Norma was excited as she told me that her daughter had once been a nationally renowned bicycle racer – a champion. And now she was ready to get back into the sport, volunteering first to serve as a race marshal for a cycling event in Vermont. Norma could not have been happier!

But that’s when the second tragedy happened. At the cycling race, a car careened out of control. Norma’s daughter was in its path. She was terribly injured and – days later – Norma had to make the heartbreaking decision to end life support, and the girl died.

All this happened to Norma during a period of time when her life was already swirling with difficult change by virtue of the fact that her husband had developed a very advanced case of Parkinson’s disease. Her freedom, her family, her future – everything – had been wrested away. And feeling all alone in the struggle, Norma would often come down to the church and talk with me. And we would sit and pray and cry together. And she would ask, “What’s the point of going on? What’s the use? I’ve got nothing left to give!”

Can you hear the shovel digging the hole to hide her talent in the ground?

Life has a way of shaking us and emptying us, and making us wonder “what’s the point?” I think that’s why Jesus focuses his spotlight on the one-talent man in this parable – because Jesus well knows that, sooner or later, we all get to that place in life.

So now I think I understand Jesus’ anger when the man in the parable gives up and buries his one-talent in the ground. It’s as if he’s saying he doesn’t matter anymore, as if his life doesn’t count. So Jesus reacts to the man by basically telling him that burying the one talent and giving up on life is a path that can only lead to a hell of meaninglessness and despair. I think Jesus loves this man – loves him so much that he cannot be content with him surrendering the dignity of his humanity and the meaning of his life. Jesus is telling us through this man that – even if everything else is taken away – our lives matter – we count for something – and even the little we have left can be enough to plant the seeds of new life!

And if this is true, then you and I have a sacred and unexpected responsibility. In the face of our own tragedies, losses, and difficult moments, we must NEVER let go of God’s love for us and of the gift of God’s Spirit within us! And we must be diligent in uncovering that buried talent in the lives of others who life has squeezed to the outer darkness of meaninglessness. Although the world is obsessed with the idea that the only things that really count are wealth, strength, and success, Jesus is teaching that in God’s Kingdom, less can become more – more than enough to bring healing and hope to others and ourselves.

It was Mother’s Day at that same church, and it was a very painful and difficult day for a woman named Joy. Joy’s adult son had died just a month or so before. She was still in shock, still stunned by the loss. At first, she wasn’t even going to go to church on Mother’s Day because she could not bear the inner pain that came from her parental instinct to blame herself for not knowing how ill her son was. And besides, everyone would be at church that day with their children. No one knew the depths of her terrible pain, for unless you’ve been there yourself, you just can’t understand what it’s like to lose a child.

Well, the worship service began. I looked out from the pulpit and saw that Joy had made it – she had forced herself to come to church that Mother’s Day. What courage! There she was, sitting in the back row of the sanctuary, sobbing like a baby. And then I saw something I will never forget – a most beautiful and amazing sight of what the Kingdom of God looks like.

Next to Joy sat a silent figure, cradling Joy in her arms, comforting her, weeping with her, sharing Joy’s grief, bringing her comfort and understanding in the face of deep pain.

It was Norma.

Out of the “less” of our lives, our loving God can create more than we can possibly imagine! So if life has brought you to “empty”, and the talents have slipped from your hands, and you’re one of us one-talent-or-less people, DON’T GIVE UP – DON’T THINK YOUR LIFE DOESN’T MATTER – DON’T GO AND BURY YOURSELF IN THE GROUND.

Offer your emptiness to God and let the Lord fill it with what only God can do!

It was Norma who brought new life to Joy!

Who could have imagined?