Matthew 25: 14–30
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Lord, may we hear your voice in the words spoken in your name. Amen.
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A parable, they say, is a little story that makes a great big
point. And Jesus, as you know, told a lot of parables. By
telling parables he could make his points obliquely – to certain
people or groups of people – like the religious authorities in
Jerusalem — before they even realized he might be speaking to
them. So, a parable has a way of sneaking up on people – and
making its point before they even see what is coming. And part of
our delight in reading Jesus’ parables in the various Gospel
accounts is that we get the joke – or the point – long
before those Pharisees or those Sadducees – or whoever else his
intended target is.
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This morning’s parable of the talents seems – at
first 𗾤 to be the same kind of story. It’s the week
we have come to call Holy and Jesus is in Jerusalem, speaking both to
his disciples and to the crowds. He knows he is about to leave
them to return to his heavenly Father. But no one around him seems
to have grasped that his departure is imminent. So, Jesus, this
morning, offers them a big hint by telling them a parable about a rich
man who is going away for a long time – but promises someday to
return. In the meantime, he says, they’re to take good
care of the immense riches he is entrusting to them, leaving with
them. For he means for those riches to yield big dividends.
And when he comes back, he says, there will be an accounting.
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The riches the man in the parable is offering are talents. But
the kind of talents Jesus was talking about have nothing to do with
someone’s ability to play the piano or teach Sunday School or
sing in the choir. We’ve all heard that interpretation of
this parable – especially during stewardship season – when
we are asked to invest time, treasure and talents in our churches.
But that’s not the kind of talent Jesus was talking about.
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It’s at this point that we begin to grasp that this parable
might have some meaning — some pointed meaning — for
our own lives. As, indeed, it does. For the third servant
offers us another story entirely. This third servant is
afraid – afraid of taking risks in life and afraid of his Master,
judging the man to be a harsh and unforgiving person. So, as he
receives the money, this third servant simply buries his Master’s
talent in the ground – for safekeeping– so he will be able
to return it untouched when his master returns. And he actually
thinks he has done well. But his Master does not agree. In
fact, his Master is furious with him. “You could at
least,” he says, “have given the money to the bankers so
it could have earned some interest.”
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And then, as if there were any doubt about it, Jesus adds the detail
that clinches the parable’s meaning for us. For he has the
Master say to his other servants, “Take this man’s talent
and give it to the one who will make something of it. Give it to
the one who now has ten talents, because I trust he will do something
with it. And as for this guy who refused to do a thing with
my gift – well, throw him into outer darkness, where there will
be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
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Whoa! If we hadn’t been paying attention before, we
are now. Jesus clearly means each one of us to learn something
from this parable. He means us to apply it to our own
lives. So, how do we begin? I think we begin by
realizing what the Master in the story was offering all three of his
servants – and it wasn’t just money. It wasn’t
more stuff. Even more valuable than the money he gave each one was
the trust, the loving trust he’d placed in each one of them.
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For the Master in the parable is Jesus himself. He is the Master
who is about to go away, the Master who is about to give his
all. Just before he leaves, he entrusts his servants, his
disciples with his most valuable treasure – which is love – a
love that creates relationship with God. He is giving them the
wealth of his own being.¹ This is the love that makes us
different persons – persons of courage, persons of trust. This
is the love that dissolves the kind of fear that locks us up from one
another. In other words, the talent, the money, the gift given by
the Master in the parable is the loving relationship with God – that
transfigures our human lives.²
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The first two servants invest this gift they’ve been given with
others, in others. And surprise, surprise – the gift
grows! Love does grow when it’s invested in
others. But the third servant does something very different.
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“Oh,” he says. “I”ve been given a
relationship, a loving relationship with God. It’s so
precious, so vulnerable, so important – that the best thing I
can do with it is . . . nothing. Tell
no one about it. Show it to no one. Keep it buried. Never
mind relationships with others. Never mind transformed
humanity. I will keep this relationship with God – my
relationship with God — so safely locked up that no one else
will even know about it.”
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What the third servant missed, you see, was the fact that love only
grows when it is shared, when it is invested in others.
That’s what the third servant didn’t understand. And
that’s the fatal mistake Jesus doesn’t want anybody else to
make. And hence – the pointed parable. For Jesus does
want us to sit up and take notice.
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But, this morning, I don’t want anyone here to think this parable
is aimed at them. For in this church, this congregation, we are
not guilty of keeping God’s love to ourselves. We do share
his love with others, whenever and wherever we can. This past
Monday, in fact, I received a letter from some people who visited us
for the first time last Sunday. The visitor wrote:
I had the privilege of attending your church Sunday with my sister,
brother–in–law and their friend while I was visiting them
over the weekend. I just had to let you know, so that you could
pass it on to everyone there. I have never received a warmer
welcome or felt more at home than at your beautiful and gracious
church! I believe I have found my place of worship whenever
I am in Eatonton.
I know how hard you have to work to keep a small church functioning
and I think we saw a bit of it in action yesterday! I pray God
blesses you abundantly! The love and light was a joy to receive!
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That is what our visitor last week wrote. So, what can we say
but, “Thank you, Lord, for the love you have bestowed on
us! We will continue to do our best to invest it wisely.”
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To God be the glory for the things he has done.
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Amen.
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¹ See reference below. I am hugely indebted to the Archbishop
for this brilliant sermon, this brilliant perspective.
² “The Wealth of his own Being” A sermon
given by the Archbishop (Rowan Williams?) at Birmingham
Cathedral on Sunday 16th November, 2008.
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