Matthew
25:14-30
I have never played the lottery. I have
never had the rush that must come from scratching that little card that briefly
offers the hope of instant riches. I have never been to Las Vegas. I’ve never experienced
the thrill folks must get from Texas Hold’em. I can’t even remember buying a
half and half ticket at a high school football game. I wish my reasons for not
playing these games of chance were based on some deep moral conviction. But the
truth is, I am not a big fan of long shots, particularly when my money on the
line. More importantly, I would be a bookie’s delight. Once I lose, be it golf,
tennis, or even Go Fish with my grandchildren, I am obsessed with getting even.
Las Vegas depends on pigeons like me showing up in droves. In other words, I
can relate to the poor guy in this morning’s parable who refused to invest
money he was given by his master.
Let’s review the story. The owner of a
huge farm decides to take a year off and do some traveling. He brings in three
of his workers and says to them, “Boys, I am going to be gone for a while and
want you to take care of things. I am going to entrust part of my fortune to
you and I want you to treat it properly.” To the first he gave five talents,
the second was given two talents, and the last worker was given one talent. A
year later, the owner returned, and the workers reported back to him. The worker
with five talents had doubled his investment. Likewise the second worker had turned
his two talents into four. The third worker had placed his investment in the
ground and returned exactly what he had been given. The owner was furious with him.
He called the worker worthless and tossed him off the farm.
This seems like a pretty simple parable
with a pretty simple meaning. Use the talents God gives you, and God will be
pleased. Waste those talents, and you risk discovering God’s wrath. But, I also
believe there is more to this parable than meets the eye.
Let’s begin with the absurdity of the
story. The audience is a bunch of farmers and fishermen who have taken a long
lunch break from their duties to get a chance to hear this young rabbi who has
captured the imagination of the people of Galilee. These are hard working folks
who barely make enough each day to feed their families. They understand the
role of the workers in the story. What they could not possibly comprehend is the
advance each worker was given.
A talent was a huge amount of money. Some
scholars place the value of a talent at around $1,000 dollars. The footnote in
my NRSV identifies a talent as 15 years of wages. Let’s put that into a
language we all understand. Let’s say a person makes make $50,000 a year.
Multiply that times 15. No need to pull out your calculators. That would be
$750,000. But, that was only the amount given the last worker. Worker number
two was entrusted with $1.5 million, and the first worker was handed
$3,750,000. Talk about winning the
lottery. Only the payout wasn’t over 20 years. The owner handed over the
complete sum, trusted them to do the right thing, and off he went on his
cruise.
Can you imagine what the original hearers
of this story must have thought? They barely made enough to scrape by. All they
knew was farming or fishing. When they heard this story I am sure they punched
their neighbor and said, “Give me that kind of money, and I would spend it a
thousand ways and take my chances when the owner comes back.” How could these folks
be expected to understand such an absurd tale?
Imagine
you are the third worker. An advance of fifteen years of labor is suddenly
placed in your hands. Would you try Real Estate or stocks and bonds? Would you place
the money in some low risk savings account? Would you create a new business? What
would you do with this incredible windfall? In today’s crazy economy, the
safest approach might be to bury it and come back a year later. That is what I
would do. I would play it safe. Nothing ventured, nothing lost. That is too
much money to be messing around with. Fortunately, there are other members of
my trade who are much more creative than yours truly.
I read recently about a minister who
publicly illustrated the possibilities of this parable. He took $10,000 out of
the church’s savings, then after telling this parable, gave $100 to each person
in the pews. He told them they had 90 days to invest the money in God’s work. I
guess the markets must have been better than they are now, because after 90
days the results were incredible. The initial investment had doubled. In
addition, a number of new ministries were created. Their success was so great the
church was invited to DateLine to
tell its story. Other churches considered doing this same thing as part of
their stewardship program. And why not? These folks seemed to completely
understand the deep-reaching meaning of this parable. They were given a gift
and they multiplied it to God’s glory. It all sounds great, except I have a
suspicious mind. The more I thought about this church the more I began to ask
myself what had really happened. I know the money was doubled; I realize new
ministries were hatched. But where was the risk? Who among us wouldn’t take a
chance with “house money”?
While I have never been to Las Vegas, I
suspect if you are going to get out alive, you need to be playing with someone’s
money other than your own. Folks who enjoy gambling tell me the secret is to
decide how much you can afford to lose and never exceed that number. They
suggest walking into a game with only $100 in your pocket. If you lose it, walk
away from the table and count the experience itself as worth 100 bucks. If you
are fortunate and actually make a few bucks, you can enjoy the experience
longer, because you are playing with the house’s money. The key is to remember
your limit and enjoy the ride.
The truth behind the parable Jesus told
has nothing to do with house money. The first man was given the equivalent of
75 years of wages; the second, 30 years; the third 15 years. Then the owner said,
“How will you invest what you have been given?” Think about it…75 years, 30
years, 15 years.
Some of you are getting close to or have
passed your 75th birthday. What part of your life has not been a
gift from God? Some of you can still remember your 30th birthday. What
part of your life has not been a gift from God? What if suddenly we were 15 all
over again? I am not sure when I was 15 I had any real concept of who God was or
what God expects. My motivation for believing was based more on fear than
grace. But I still had some understanding of how blessed I was.
This parable is not about playing with
“house money”. It is about understanding who we are and whose we are. It is
about professing that our life is not only a gift from God, our life is an
investment made by God. This parable is asking what sort of risk will we take
to see a return in God’s investment.
I suspect most of us think of ourselves
as more sinner than saint. We see ourselves as under qualified or inadequate to
do the task God has set before us. I find that kind of amazing. When I look out
on this congregation, I can see the gifts God has bestowed upon each of you. God
has invested a lot of years in some of us. Now God is waiting for the payout. Each
one of us has won the lottery. Each of us has been blessed with a gift, a
talent, waiting to be shared.
A while back I was talking with Irene,
the wonderful woman who is downstairs every Sunday working with our children
and grandchildren. Sometimes no one comes but she always sits patiently, just
in case a family is late. I asked her how she found the strength to dedicate
her life to children who often are noisy, often misbehave, and demand more
attention than I might be willing to give. Irene said, “This is what God wants me
to do.”
Imagine if all of us could be as open to
God’s gift as Irene. Three things would happen.
First, there would be more saints than
sinners.
Second, the army needed to bring about
God’s peaceable kingdom would swell with recruits.
Third, the cemeteries would not be so
crowded with unused treasures.
You are a child of God, gifted with
treasures beyond your imagination. God knew what God was doing when God created
you. Don’t bury those God given talents behind hollow excuses. Become the treasure
God intended you to be.
Amen
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