Trips, Talents, and Returns
Sunday, November 13th, 2005
Pentecost + 26
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Matthew 25:14-30
A talent was worth more than fifteen years wages of a laborer.
That is the single bit of information that has consistently, apart from the central lesson of the parable, been drilled into me over the last 35 years of reading and hearing this passage mentioned in studies and sermons.
What I didn’t realize is that this very passage is where we get the term ‘talent’ as used today – in the sense of a skill or ability – or a gift.
Jesus is in the middle of what is sometimes called his “eschatological discourse” – that is, a discussion about the end times – due to his repeated references at the end of each parable to a judgment or a sentence carried out on the orders of the Master.
Remember, Matthew was writing to an early church that was struggling with the reality that they had witnessed the death, burial and resurrection and ascension of Jesus, along with his great commission and promise to return. They had also witnessed the life and ministry and the martyrdom (in most cases) of the disciples, and THEY were suffering persecution, and JESUS HAD NOT COME BACK YET.
So the writer of the Gospel is writing to encourage and strengthen them in their resolve to continue in the faith, to hope in spite of their circumstances, to continue to live each day as though Jesus was coming back in the next minute, or hour, or day.
So in the passage this morning we hear Jesus continuing in the same vein as last week – to let his followers know that he would be gone for a while, but to stand firm, because he WAS coming. Here, it is somewhat more explicit, IF you read closely, but in some ways it seems to get lost in the events of the story – at least for US it does.
Have you ever been part of a conversation that is terribly important to you? One in which you are waiting, holding your breath, listening to hear that one phrase or that one word that will make all the difference? I think that may have been what was going on in both the writer’s mind and in the listener’s ears with this parable. And to us it gets lost in the context. The opening phrase of verse 19: After a long time.
Of course, that’s not the focus of the parable, but for people who are living with the uncertainty of their conviction --- people who were literally risking their lives by adhering to the basic tenets of their faith in Christ, it was a critically important element of the story. The words are coming from Jesus’ own mouth. And he’s telling his followers he’s going to be gone for a while. Earlier, he’s already said that no one knows the day or the hour. So that doesn’t change. It is Jesus telling his followers there and then and here and now to be patient, to be steadfast, to hold firm to what they believe.
But, just as we saw last week, and the week before that, his is not a call to passivity, to a status quo approach to the world around us while we await his return. It is, rather, a call to action, to faithfulness in view of faithlessness. It is a call to be salt and light, to be different, to be contrary, and to be surprising.
This past Wednesday Leslie and I drove up to Woodbridge for the Pastor’s Conference before the BGAV meeting that began on Thursday. We decided to stop by the conference center first, and register, before heading off to find the Church that was hosting the meeting on Wednesday. As we walked up to the building, Leslie and I were talking about the events of this past Sunday evening. As thrilled as we are about Leslie’s ordination, we are acutely aware of the fact that not everyone, even folks we continue to consider beloved friends, not everyone is in agreement with the action that Jerusalem took in ordaining her. So we quietly decided between ourselves that we wouldn’t make a big deal about the ordination. As you heard Leslie say, it is a simple step of obedience in a lifetime of discipleship and a desire to serve the Lord – wherever he leads.
No sooner had the words come out of our mouths than we walked through the doors of Hylton Chapel and there was John Upton, General Secretary of the BGAV. We started to say hello, and almost the first words out of his mouth to Leslie were, “CONGRATULATIONS REVEREND! I HEARD IT WAS A WONDERFUL ORDINATION SERVICE! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!” So much for not making a big deal about it. We were surprised by the joy and the grace with which the news was received.
What we were reminded of last Sunday evening, and in truth, last July, at the business meeting when the church voted, AND at the ordination council in September, is that the unused opportunity is lost. The parable is not about the money. That is why the term ‘talent’ has come to mean what it means today. It is about the gift. Or Gifts, rather, that God gives us.
And it is about faithfulness.
In the first century, trusted slaves, even though they were slaves, were put in charge of property and businesses belonging to the master/owner. Setting aside for a moment the master/slave issue, coming from a twentieth century perspective, the trusted slave recognized that HIS or HER welfare depended on the welfare of his or her MASTER, and that they were just as much beneficiaries of ably dealing with that welfare as the master was. This would have been something that was patently obvious to the folks listening to Jesus’ telling of the parable.
We get a skewed view of the dynamics if we apply twentieth-century sensibilities to a first-century parable. The driving thought behind the parable is not the gaining of wealth; it is the trust between the master and servant – the relationship between the two.
What we find different in the last servant is mistrust of the master, and a dishonesty in dealing with the realities of the responsibilities entrusted by the master to the servant in his absence.
That is something we can all wrap our brains around as twenty-first-century followers of Jesus Christ. All of our gifts and opportunities come from God. However we break it down, ultimately, what we believe requires that we acknowledge God as the giver of all good and perfect gifts. There is no distinction between the praise given to the servant who received five talents and the one who received the two talents. It makes no difference to God how many gifts we receive individually. If we remain faithful to God in the use of them, in the exercise of them, in the living out of them, we are maintaining that relationship of trust in him by doing so.
The shadowside of the parable is apparent in what happens to the servant who was entrusted with one talent. It’s not so much that he received ONLY the one talent, it is more what he DID … or DIDN’T do with the one talent, that is the sticking point of the parable and the Gospel lesson today. God has entrusted us – fallible human beings that we are, flawed, selfish, petty, ambivalent, at times cowardly and at other times courageous, God has entrusted US with the duty of ushering in the Kingdom here on earth until his return.
So we have this talent, this gift within us – the Holy Spirit—that is prompting us to take the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ into all the world … and the question for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton is this:
What have we done, what are we doing, and what are we going to do with that trust that has been placed in us by our Master?
Can we approach the master with the almost childlike “Look! See what I did!?” tone of the first two servants, or is our response going to be the sullen, mistrusting tone of the third servant, trying to lay blame where none is due but on himself?
Do you realize it all comes down to a question of the individual?
We are called to live and live OUT our faith in community, and as a body we serve each other and encourage each other in our daily pilgrimage, but when it comes right down to it, the question is asked of each of us.
What will your answer be?
Let’s pray.
Sunday, November 13th, 2005
Pentecost + 26
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
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.”
A talent was worth more than fifteen years wages of a laborer.
That is the single bit of information that has consistently, apart from the central lesson of the parable, been drilled into me over the last 35 years of reading and hearing this passage mentioned in studies and sermons.
What I didn’t realize is that this very passage is where we get the term ‘talent’ as used today – in the sense of a skill or ability – or a gift.
Jesus is in the middle of what is sometimes called his “eschatological discourse” – that is, a discussion about the end times – due to his repeated references at the end of each parable to a judgment or a sentence carried out on the orders of the Master.
Remember, Matthew was writing to an early church that was struggling with the reality that they had witnessed the death, burial and resurrection and ascension of Jesus, along with his great commission and promise to return. They had also witnessed the life and ministry and the martyrdom (in most cases) of the disciples, and THEY were suffering persecution, and JESUS HAD NOT COME BACK YET.
So the writer of the Gospel is writing to encourage and strengthen them in their resolve to continue in the faith, to hope in spite of their circumstances, to continue to live each day as though Jesus was coming back in the next minute, or hour, or day.
So in the passage this morning we hear Jesus continuing in the same vein as last week – to let his followers know that he would be gone for a while, but to stand firm, because he WAS coming. Here, it is somewhat more explicit, IF you read closely, but in some ways it seems to get lost in the events of the story – at least for US it does.
Have you ever been part of a conversation that is terribly important to you? One in which you are waiting, holding your breath, listening to hear that one phrase or that one word that will make all the difference? I think that may have been what was going on in both the writer’s mind and in the listener’s ears with this parable. And to us it gets lost in the context. The opening phrase of verse 19: After a long time.
Of course, that’s not the focus of the parable, but for people who are living with the uncertainty of their conviction --- people who were literally risking their lives by adhering to the basic tenets of their faith in Christ, it was a critically important element of the story. The words are coming from Jesus’ own mouth. And he’s telling his followers he’s going to be gone for a while. Earlier, he’s already said that no one knows the day or the hour. So that doesn’t change. It is Jesus telling his followers there and then and here and now to be patient, to be steadfast, to hold firm to what they believe.
But, just as we saw last week, and the week before that, his is not a call to passivity, to a status quo approach to the world around us while we await his return. It is, rather, a call to action, to faithfulness in view of faithlessness. It is a call to be salt and light, to be different, to be contrary, and to be surprising.
This past Wednesday Leslie and I drove up to Woodbridge for the Pastor’s Conference before the BGAV meeting that began on Thursday. We decided to stop by the conference center first, and register, before heading off to find the Church that was hosting the meeting on Wednesday. As we walked up to the building, Leslie and I were talking about the events of this past Sunday evening. As thrilled as we are about Leslie’s ordination, we are acutely aware of the fact that not everyone, even folks we continue to consider beloved friends, not everyone is in agreement with the action that Jerusalem took in ordaining her. So we quietly decided between ourselves that we wouldn’t make a big deal about the ordination. As you heard Leslie say, it is a simple step of obedience in a lifetime of discipleship and a desire to serve the Lord – wherever he leads.
No sooner had the words come out of our mouths than we walked through the doors of Hylton Chapel and there was John Upton, General Secretary of the BGAV. We started to say hello, and almost the first words out of his mouth to Leslie were, “CONGRATULATIONS REVEREND! I HEARD IT WAS A WONDERFUL ORDINATION SERVICE! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!” So much for not making a big deal about it. We were surprised by the joy and the grace with which the news was received.
What we were reminded of last Sunday evening, and in truth, last July, at the business meeting when the church voted, AND at the ordination council in September, is that the unused opportunity is lost. The parable is not about the money. That is why the term ‘talent’ has come to mean what it means today. It is about the gift. Or Gifts, rather, that God gives us.
And it is about faithfulness.
In the first century, trusted slaves, even though they were slaves, were put in charge of property and businesses belonging to the master/owner. Setting aside for a moment the master/slave issue, coming from a twentieth century perspective, the trusted slave recognized that HIS or HER welfare depended on the welfare of his or her MASTER, and that they were just as much beneficiaries of ably dealing with that welfare as the master was. This would have been something that was patently obvious to the folks listening to Jesus’ telling of the parable.
We get a skewed view of the dynamics if we apply twentieth-century sensibilities to a first-century parable. The driving thought behind the parable is not the gaining of wealth; it is the trust between the master and servant – the relationship between the two.
What we find different in the last servant is mistrust of the master, and a dishonesty in dealing with the realities of the responsibilities entrusted by the master to the servant in his absence.
That is something we can all wrap our brains around as twenty-first-century followers of Jesus Christ. All of our gifts and opportunities come from God. However we break it down, ultimately, what we believe requires that we acknowledge God as the giver of all good and perfect gifts. There is no distinction between the praise given to the servant who received five talents and the one who received the two talents. It makes no difference to God how many gifts we receive individually. If we remain faithful to God in the use of them, in the exercise of them, in the living out of them, we are maintaining that relationship of trust in him by doing so.
The shadowside of the parable is apparent in what happens to the servant who was entrusted with one talent. It’s not so much that he received ONLY the one talent, it is more what he DID … or DIDN’T do with the one talent, that is the sticking point of the parable and the Gospel lesson today. God has entrusted us – fallible human beings that we are, flawed, selfish, petty, ambivalent, at times cowardly and at other times courageous, God has entrusted US with the duty of ushering in the Kingdom here on earth until his return.
So we have this talent, this gift within us – the Holy Spirit—that is prompting us to take the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ into all the world … and the question for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton is this:
What have we done, what are we doing, and what are we going to do with that trust that has been placed in us by our Master?
Can we approach the master with the almost childlike “Look! See what I did!?” tone of the first two servants, or is our response going to be the sullen, mistrusting tone of the third servant, trying to lay blame where none is due but on himself?
Do you realize it all comes down to a question of the individual?
We are called to live and live OUT our faith in community, and as a body we serve each other and encourage each other in our daily pilgrimage, but when it comes right down to it, the question is asked of each of us.
What will your answer be?
Let’s pray.
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