Sermon for September 27th, 2020

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Matthew 25:14-30

14 “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15 to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17 In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18 But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20 Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29 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. 30 As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Jesus and His Pair of Bowls: The Talents

This month we're looking at some of the parables of Jesus, or as I like to call them, Jesus' pair of bowls--a story in one bowl, and a deeper, spiritual meaning in the other bowl.

I'm reminded of the story about a man who walked into a bar and saw two lobsters, seated at the bar. Each lobster had in front of him a bowl of french fries, and the man (who was hungry) asked if he could have some fries. The bartender stopped him and said, "Don't bother, those lobsters won't share anything from their bowls."

"Why not?" said the man. "Because," said the bartender... "They're two shellfish."

Like many of the parables we've already considered, todays "Parable of the Talents" is really about generosity and selfishness. Let's dive into the parable.

In verse 14, Jesus says "For it is as if..." and you might be asking yourself, "what is the "it" he's talking about? This parable comes in a rapid sequence of parables, and the one right before this one begins "For the kingdom of heaven is like..." Then in the the subsequent parables (like ours today) he simply begins by saying "it is like" -- meaning the Kingdom of Heaven. Two weeks ago, we saw that when Jesus talks about the Kingdom of Heaven, he's not talking about the place you go after you die. He's talking about this life, on this earth, and how we can live that life in a way that better reflects God's values and God's principles. Right now. Today.

So what does that look like?

Again, verse 14: "For it (the Kingdom of Heaven) is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them."

I want to pause here and say something about slavery. The word used repeatedly in this passage for slave is, in the original Greek "doulos." Sometimes in modern translations in order to avoid controversy, this gets translated as "servant" but in the first century world of Jesus, slavery was a real thing. I don't think Jesus viewed slavery in a positive way--in Luke chapter 4 he says that he has come to set the captives free--but in all of his parables he uses the realities of his day, the things people understood, in order to make his point. And the reality was that slaves were at the very bottom of the social order. They had no rights, no property, and no hope for advancement. And yet, this master does something completely unexpected: He entrusts his entire property (which, as we'll see was considerable) to three slaves, and then completely disappears for a long time. Who does that? Clearly someone who is more invested in the lives and livelihood of his slaves than your typical 1st century master.

Verse 15: "to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability." Now, on the surface that may seem a bit unfair. But before you feel too sorry for the poor slave who only got one talent, let's look at what exactly a "talent" was. It's not like the modern word talent, which refers to our skills and abilities, although ironically that meaning comes directly from this parable, which over the last two thousand years has often been interpreted to mean "whatever resources God (or the master) has given you." More on that later.

But when Jesus told this story, a talent was a weight of silver, equivalent to about 15 years of wages. Think about what you make in one year at your job, multiply that by fifteen, and now you probably don't feel nearly as sorry for the slave who was given one talent. It's still a ridiculous amount of money.

Continuing on (and I'm paraphrasing here) the master eventually returns and asks the three slaves what they've done with the money entrusted to them. The man with five talents has doubled his money, and the master says to him, "Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master." I like how the master refers to those five talents as "a few things." This guy was given more money than he could have earned in an entire lifetime--but to the master, that's just "a few things" and now he's prepared to give this man even more than that.

The next man, the one who got two talents, has also doubled his master's money and gets exactly the same praise! That's an important lesson here: It's not about how much you were given, and it's not about how much you end up with--it's about what you did with it! Both slaves did the exact same thing, even though their totals were vastly different. And the master praises them both.

Then comes the third slave. Now, in theory, the same rule should play out here. This guy could have taken his one talent, his fifteen years worth of wages, and done the same thing as the other two, and he would have only had two talents to give his master. Presumably, if he had done that, the master would have given him just as much praise and recognition. But instead, the man buries his master's money in the ground. Why?

Because unlike the other two, he has a different perception of his master. He is afraid of his master, saying in verse 24, "I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed." If you think about it, this is clearly not true--the master has already proven to be generous (maybe even foolishly so) and now he is clearly reaping (or gathering) exactly where he scattered seed (or wealth). But because his fear, he plays it safe. He takes the money, says to himself "that's not mine, so I'm not going to touch it." And thinking he is being cautious, he sets it aside and then gives it back to the master. You didn't gain anything, but hey, you didn't lose anything either.

And the master goes ballistic, calling him wicked and lazy, saying that he could have at least put the money in the bank to gain a small amount of interest. He takes the money from the slave, gives it to one of the others, and throws him out into the darkness--which perhaps justifies the slave's fear that his master is "harsh." But more on that later.

Most perplexing of all, the master (or maybe Jesus) proclaims as the moral of the story that "to all those who have, more will be given . . . but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.

And that sounds SO unlike Jesus, who, everywhere else in the gospels takes a special interest in the poor who have nothing, and challenges those who have plenty. What's the deal here?

It may be helpful here to remember what a parable is: The word parable comes from the Greek word parabolein. Para means "next to" and bolein means "to throw." A parable is a story you "throw" not directly at the thing you're talking about...but next to it. Parallel to it. But different from it, near it, next to it.

What that means is that when Jesus is talking about talents or money in the parable, that money could represent any number of things. But the only thing it CAN'T represent is the one thing it is in the story: Money.

In other words, this story is not about money, even though it has sometimes been preached and understood that way: Invest wisely the money God gives you, and don't bury it (or sock it away) or else you will be punished.

Sometimes the talents are interpreted as, well, talents (in the modern sense): Use the gifts God has given you, don't waste them, or else you will be punished.

I'm not sure I agree with that interpretation, either. In both of those interpretations, the master represents God, from whom all blessings flow, and to whom we are all eventually accountable. I don't disagree with that part. And when asking the question "who are we" in this parable, I think it's pretty clear that we have a choice--we can be one of the two faithful slaves, or we can be the fearful slave.

So the real question this parable boils down to, then, is "what do the talents represent," if they don't in fact represent money or our skills and abilities?

And to answer that question, we have to think a little bit more like Jesus, like God, which means flipping upside down our perceptions about what IS the most valuable thing? Is it money? Is it success or achievement? Is it skill or talent? I don't think so. What is the most precious, most valuable thing, to God? Hold that thought.

In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells this parable just two chapters before his crucifixion and death. He knows that his time on earth is coming to an end, and that he is leaving all of his life's work in the hands of his followers. He's a lot like the master in our story, who is going away for a long time, but will someday come back. What does Jesus want his followers to do in those intervening days, years, and centuries? Does he want us to make a lot of money? Does he want us to achieve greatness and leave our mark in the pages of history?

No. This is the same man who said to the rich young ruler "give away everything you have to the poor and follow me." This is the same man who told his followers that in the Kingdom of Heaven "the first will be last and the last will be first," and that "whoever wishes to be great among you must be your slave."

But Jesus did actually tell us what he wanted us to do while we wait for him to return. In fact, it was his very last words to his disciples before he ascended into heaven. He said, in Matthew 28, that we are to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

What is the most precious, valuable thing to God--worth more than all the silver and gold and talents in the world? It's the people God created. The people Jesus gave his life for. The people that God has entrusted to our care, the lives God wants us to reach and connect with and invest ourselves in, multiplying his love throughout the earth.

Read the parable of the talents in this light:



  • Talents represent people--the most valuable resource to God.