Sermon: “Investing with God”

Text: Matthew 25:14-30

5^th Sunday in Lent (B)

March 29, 2009

Scripture introduction.  Our third reading this morning is the parable of the talents, as told by Jesus and recorded in the 25^th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel.  Although this is not one of the normal readings for Lent, it’s appropriate for the season because it comes just before the beginning of the Passion story in Matthew, now only a week away in our church calendar.  The parable of the talents is the second parable of chapter 25; and, as Jesus said, both illustrate what the kingdom of heaven is like.

In the ancient world a “talent” was a measure of weight.  Different governments in different centuries measured the talent differently, but it was heavy—probably between 60 and 130 of our pounds.  Because large sums of silver and gold were measured in talents, the term also was used as a unit of money.  Scholars are not certain, but in Roman times a talent “seems to have been equivalent to 6,000 denarii, or 6,000 days worth of wages for a day laborer, [which would make] the talent worth about a million dollars in today’s money.”[1]  I was interested to learn that our own word “talent,” which we use to describe mental gifts and other natural abilities, is derived directly from this ancient word for weight and money.[2]  And that is very appropriate, for while on the surface Jesus’ parable is about money, its underlying lesson applies to all the talents—all our skills, mental gifts, and natural abilities—that God has given us.[3]

Sermon.  If we want to understand this parable of Jesus, we first must say the things it is not teaching.  Famously, the German poet and dramatist Bertholt Brecht, deeply disturbed about the ending of this story, wrote a piece in which Jesus was accused by a poor person of saying that it was right to take from the poor and to give to the rich.[4]  Nothing could be further from the meaning of the parable!  Several chapters earlier in Matthew, Jesus had counseled a righteous, but rich, young man to give up his possessions in order to inherit the kingdom of heaven.  When the young man went away grieving, Jesus observed that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.[5]  Moreover, if a talent really was equivalent to a million dollars, it would be hard to see the one-talent slave as poor.  So the parable of the talents can’t be about taking from the rich and giving to the poor.

Another thing that bothers us about the parable is the seeming harshness of the master.  Because Jesus tells us that this parable illustrates what the kingdom of God is like, we instinctively recognize that the master in the parable represents God.  And we naturally will recoil from any story that portrays our loving God as harsh.  Professor Ben Witherington has helped me understand that this parable has deep roots in Jewish “wisdom” literature—books like Proverbs and Job and Ecclesiastes, and even parts of the Psalms.[6]  One of the characteristics of these books of the Bible is their recognition that a wise person tends to become wiser, and a foolish person more foolish.  I already have hinted that I believe this parable is not really about money at all, but about all the talents that God has given us.  If we understand the parable in this way, then the ending has a certain logic.  People who use their talents become more talented.  A famous concert pianist—I think it was Artur Rubenstein—once observed, “If I miss one day of practice, I can tell it.  If I miss two days of practice, my wife can tell it.  If I miss three days of practice, the audience can tell it!”  And by the same token, those who do not use their God-give talents lose them.  As they say, “Use it, or lose it.”  That, I think, is at the heart of Jesus’ message. 

Now I grant you that forty or fifty years after Jesus told the parable, when Matthew was writing his Gospel, the church might have been hearing the story in a slightly different way.  By that time perhaps they understood Jesus himself to be the master who went away for an extended period but who was coming back.  And that may have led them to interpret the parable as a lesson about salvation and judgment.  Maybe that influenced how Matthew recorded the parable, especially the language about casting the slave into the outer darkness.  Even that interpretation assumes the parable is about more than money.  If we understand that God gives us all some measure of faith, then that faith is in a sense a talent.  If we use that faith, if we practice our faith, then it grows and becomes stronger.  If we bury our faith and never put it to work, it cannot grow and may even dissolve, leaving us in the darkness of separation from God that is of our own making.

I’m not as certain of my next point, but I think I’m right.  The problem with the third slave was not so much that he was lazy, but that he was fearful.[7]  In verse 25 he actually describes himself as “afraid.”  The Greek word that our New Revised Standard Version translates as “lazy” has a root meaning of “shrinking back” and can be translated as “hesitating, unready, timid, or fearful.”  Almost all the translations use “lazy,” but “fearful” fits the story better, I think.  While we may imagine the first two slaves to have been incredibly industrious to have doubled their talents, their profit was not really that surprising.  Jesus said that the master was gone for “a long time.”  Let’s assume that “long time” meant about seven years.  Seven is a nice biblical number that often denotes fullness or completeness.  At a modest profit level of ten percent per year, the amount invested and reinvested would have doubled in seven years.[8]  So the first two slaves were notable not so much in their investing skills but that they were willing to risk the original principal amount entrusted to them.  Nor can we say that the third slave was particularly lazy.  Burying money was a fairly common practice in the ancient world, where the only relatively safe places to store money were temples.[9]  I imagine the third slave working pretty hard to find a suitable place, to go there when no one was watching, and to remember carefully where the money was without producing a map that could be stolen by others—not to mention the physical effort of digging.  Our text says that the first two slaves “immediately” invested the talents entrusted to them, whereas the same word is omitted concerning the third slave.  Presumably, he fretted, he hesitated, he held back, he was timid and uncertain and fearful.  We don’t know how long it took for him to decide what to do with his one talent.

Whether they were courageous, or merely industrious, the first two slaves received the approval of their master.  If we understand this parable to be about more than money, the lesson for us is to be courageous and industrious with the all the gifts, talents, skills, and resources we have from God.  I am so very proud of this congregation because you have been courageous with your resources at a time when the general economy would have suggested that you shrink back or be fearful.  Instead of hesitating, you moved ahead with this much-needed project.  From our children, who have worked to invest their $2.00 stakes with God, to you adults, who have decided to support this project in spite of gloomy financial reports, you all have applied your energies and talents to the work of the kingdom.  Just as Jesus said, the way you have used your talents shows us what the kingdom of God looks like.

Of course we are all eager to know what the financial result will be.  Within the hour we will have a preliminary total to report to you.  When we have that number, it may be less than, equal to, or greater than the amount predicted for our congregation.  Whichever it is, I know that many of you have made courageous decisions in our campaign.  Many have exercised and strengthened their faith by participating in the campaign and by giving generously.  Just as with the parable of the talents, it never has been a matter of equal giving, but of equal sacrifice.  If there are any who have shrunk back, at least the kingdom of God has come near.  The rest of you have modeled what faith looks like, and the fearful may yet find their courage.

If it appears that the number will be at or above our expectations, then we will give God the glory and use all our other talents and skills courageously and wisely as we move forward to renovate our facility.  If it appears that the number will be below our expectations, then we will give God the glory for what we do have and will use all our other talents and skills courageously and wisely as we adjust our plans and decide how to proceed.  During our prayer vigil yesterday, I picked up a request card that I had not seen before.  One of you had written, “Pray that fear will be replaced with hope.”  Whatever tomorrow may bring, I am convinced, as Paul Shaw reminded us with his reading from Isaiah,[10] that God is always doing a “new thing.”  I look forward to seeing what that new thing will look like in the days and weeks ahead.