Matthew 25:14-30
Sermon preached at Franklin United Church of Christ
November 16, 2014
Being a storyteller myself, I've always appreciated Jesus' method of teaching. I always remember things better if it's taught through a story that engages me, and as we know, Jesus loved to tell a good story. When you engage people through the heart as well as the mind, they tend to remember things better. I know I do! However, with this story, one might wonder, what in the world does this have to do with me? With my life in the 21st century? First of all, though we may have heard the story in Sunday School, we probably don't know what a talent is, at least in Jesus' use of the word. And burying money in the backyard just sounds silly.
I grew up in the Church, so I've heard many stories on this passage, and it seems to me that a lot of preachers struggle with what to say about this passage. If we're honest, though, we might often wonder what the Bible has to do with us and real, everyday lives. All of these stories of men in robes or togas-- which in the Christmas Pageant always look like bedsheets-- wandering through the Middle East wearing sandals and hanging out in the marketplace, or dragging in nets full of fish from the sea. All this happening two millenia ago! How can we relate to any of this in our technologically driven world where we can travel via computer and talk to our friends or relatives across the world?
A few years ago I took a Theater class for fun at the Community College in Grand Island. One of our assignments was to give an oral presentation on a subject of our choosing. The subject of my presentation was the influence of the Church on Medieval Theater--something in the range of my expertise, anyway. What I found #1) Did not surprise me, and yet #2) was still a bit disturbing. I love theater! I love going to see live theater, especially when it's done well. I can enjoy a good musical at the University in Kearney just as much as a traveling Broadway show in Omaha. But back in the Dark Ages, the Church was very influential in getting rid of live theater altogether. The Church had a lot more power back then and used that power to literally ban certain things in society. So, in the Dark Ages, the Church successfully got rid of all live theater because it could. Some of it, mind you, was a bit risque and had gone too far. As in most things, humankind has a way of taking a good thing too far-- we seem to have trouble with balance, don't we?
We too often think of most things in Black and White, All or Nothing, Good or Bad. So theater, with the exception of traveling minstrels and jugglers, were dismissed from the world of the Dark Ages. (Keep in mind, this time was called the Dark Ages....) What was most interesting-- and terribly ironic to me-- was the fact that in the Middle Ages theater came back to society-- through the Church.
Illiteracy was an epidemic in those days, and the Church looked for a way to teach the Bible and Christianity to those who couldn't read. The best way, they found, was through drama. They already had the seeds of the dramas in the common liturgies of the Church that went through the cycle of stories of Creation, The Fall, Sin, and Redemption. So people learned about Christianity and the Bible by some folks acting it out in a theater-type demonstration. Sometimes they inserted some comedy into the play to keep it interesting, but they didn't have to look far. If you've read the Old Testament, you know there is plenty of absurd and entertaining dynamics, as well as stories fit for modern day soap operas. If you're looking for family values, don't look for it in the Old Testament!!
And out of all that the theater began to be born again-- pun, I suppose, intended-- and the dramas eventually spilled out into the streets to entertain the masses. Theater was back.
As often happens, a good thing could go too far, and the theaters acted out stories that the Church didn't approve of or want told, but it was too late. The Church eventually disowned the theater, threatening censure again, but the theater took on a life of its own.
I say all of this because once again, I was disappointed to see that throughout history, the Church has had a reputation for spoiling parties, raining on parades and being very suspicious of Fun, Joy, and Good Feelings. Somehow, Joy and Freedom couldn't be good.
In my experience, many preachers use this passage to tell us, hey! God has given you talents to use, and you need to use them, share them! God wants you to sign up for a committee or take a leadership position in the Church that the pastor is trying to fill. More often, this passage is used in stewardship sermons. It's about money, and how we use our money wisely. God has blessed you with money and so, give it to God! Put it in the offering plate and God will be pleased... but neither of these interpretations make much sense to me. More specifically, they don't stir me up and resonate with my heart. I think it's about more than money. Jesus was not one to be too concerned about money, you may notice.
I did notice that Jesus told this story amid many other stories not long before he was going to die. He was very aware of the fact that he was dying soon. He knew that he'd made a lot of people angry and that some powerful people believed that he was in fact, not the Son of God, but more an enemy of God. Of course, we don't that anymore, do we? If we disagree with someone in leadership, we don't start spreading or believing vicious rumors about them that could get them killed by fanatics, right? And we don't demonize anyone, like maybe Arabs or Muslims or worse yet, Democrats!! No....
Anyway, Jesus is about to get himself killed and he knows his time is short. He knows, too, that whatever happens to his ministry-- the message that he came to deliver, to teach-- he knows that message is now going to be in the hands of those 12 disciples. If I were him, I'd be pretty worried. They haven't always shown themselves to be too bright or reliable or clear-headed! But they're what he has to work with! So he know they have to get it-- get HIM-- who he is, why he came, and most importantly, what he came to teach... so they can spread the Good News and little by little work with God in transforming the world. So he does this by telling them stories, that even they can understand. This one, about a man who goes away for awhile and entrusts his slaves with his property... He's a very rich man, by the way, and so he must have an unusual amoutn of trust in his slaves-- either that, or he's just stupid for leaving. Because before he leaves town, he divvies up his property-- not equally, mind you-- between the three slaves. Five talents to one, Two talents to the other and just one to the third.
If you haven't studied up on this story, you may not know that a talent was a form of money that was worth about 15 years worth of wages for the average worker. Fifteen years worth of salary for someone who works perhaps at Baldwin's, Cabela's or Eaton's. One talent equals 15 years of wages, so you multiply that by 2 and by 5-- that's a lot of money. A lot of money to be placing in the hands of someone who isn't used to having that kind of money available at one time. The man had to be pretty careless in his financial management.
But as it turns out, his slaves were honest and reliable. Better than that, they increased his wealth by double! The first two slaves increased his money, though we're not sure how. Either they were very shrewd or just very lucky. The third guy kind of freaked out, though. The master gave him one talent-- 15 years of wages-- and he didn't know what to do. He'd never seen that kind of money before. We're not sure what happened-- maybe he didn't trust himself, maybe he knew that he could be tempted by that wealth and run off with it. Maybe he knew he could easily spend it all, squander it and leave the master with a serious deficit. He could just imagine the consequences of that! he'd be whipped, brutally tortured and die a painful death, he was sure! He knew his master to be a harsh man. It was almost cruel to do this to the poor guy. So the slave responded by doing the best thing he knew to do-- he dug a deep, deep hole and buried the money. But that wasn't enough! He was sure that someone would see the earth disturbed in that area of the yard, so he got nervous that someone would go digging. He watched over that hole day and night, night and day, checking again and again, looking over his shoulder, jumping at every sound, every footstep. He didn't dare move too far from that hole.
When the master returned, he called for an accounting of his wealth. He wanted to know what they did with his money, and how much he still had! The first two slaves were thrilled to report that they'd made him an even wealthier man! As you'd expect, the master was overjoyed. He told them that now they'd proven themselves trustworthy in a few things, they would be entrust with many things! "Well done, good and trustworthy slaves," he said, and I bet they felt really, really good. They'd pleased the master and certainly things would go well for them from here on out.
The third slave approached him dragging a muddy sack. His eyes were a bit bloodshot, his face strained from lack of sleep.
"M....Master," he said, "I knew you to be a harsh man, and so I was afraid, and so I went and hid your money in the ground. Here," he said, shoving the muddy sack towards the master, "you have what is yours..." he backed away, bowing, wringing his hands nervously.
Whaaaaat??? The master was furious! He let the guy have it! Called him "worthless, lazy," even "wicked"! And he said, "throw him into the outer darkness where there is only weeping and gnashing of teeth!"
I don't know about you, but I think the master is overreacting a bit here. Ok, the guy was a bit foolish, but hey, he didn't lose anything. Sure, the guy could have put it all in the bank and gotten interest on it, but why not chalk it up to just bad management, be thankful nothing was lost and let him go? And if that's not strange enough, Jesus concludes the story by saying, "For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance, but to those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away...." Well, that doesn't sound good! Isn't that the way things already are? The rich get richer and the poor get poorer? I thought Jesus liked the poor! In fact, in the very next story he tells, he says that we will see his face in the face of the poor, and when we turn away the poor, we turn away Jesus! So what's this about? Is Jesus contradicting himself?
I don't know about you, but I've always kind of identified with that poor third slave. What was his problem? He said it himself. He was afraid. He was terrified of his master. And on top of that, the master put this magnificent responsibility in his hands, and by doing so, said essentially, you are trustworthy. You are awesome. I trust you with my very life and livlihood. The guy was just a slave.
Have you ever received a gift that was just too heavy? One that was so remarkable that you uttered those ridiculous words, "Oh, I can't accept that!!" It doesn't have to be a piece of jewelry or a car, it can be a friendship, a relationship. I think when we truly fall in love, we have that sense that wow, this is too good! I'm not worthy of this! and we're humbled. Some people--tragically-- push away the gift, and never get to receive it. The third slave was terrified of the gift... No, no, he said, I can't do this, I'm not worthy. I'll blow it... and then I'll be punished. And so, in anxious terror,, he buried it in the ground to make sure he didn't screw it up, and made sure he could contain it and maintain control over it.
His greatest fears were revealed in that moment that he was handed that responsibility. After all, what did the master give those three slaves? He gave them everything. Everything he owned, and if they blew it or stole it, he'd be destitute. The third slave realized this. He was afraid of failing. He was afraid he wasn't trustworthy. So he punished himself before anyone else could. He buried it, buried the magnificent gift deep in the ground.. and then worried over it, paced, stewed about it.. and even that wasn't enough. He essentially buried his life in that ground. He put everything in that hole. And it makes me think that many of us are all too often like that third slave. We don't know what to do with gift! We can relate, even accept the idea that we are all sinners in need of redemption. Who knows us better than we know ourselves? We know what we've done, what we've thought, what petty jealousies we've had, whom we've hurt. We know why we're not worthy of God's great trust in us. If you're like me, when something wonderful happens, or you get something that you'd never thought you'd get-- you're almost apologetic. As if you don't deserve good things, good feelings-- or JOY. I think a lot of us build rigid boundaries around the Gift. We want to make sure we don't lose it, so we try to control it, protect it, contain it. Some people are afraid of losing God, I think. So they try to keep God within strict, measurable boundaries, little boxes they can understand-- black or white, good or evil, either/or, heaven or hell-- nothing in between. No gray areas!
But trying to protect God or even God's grace is way beyond our capabilities. And trying to protect God is not trusting God. The third slave's tragedy, I think, was anyone's tragedy. Too often we bury the richest treasure we have. We do that by not becoming the people we might have been-- by not taking that leap of faith, not allowing ourselves joy in our love life with God. And so we, too, can cast ourselves into that outer darkness where there is only weeping and gnashing of teeth. For that is the natural consequence of burying your most beautiful and sacred treasure. Your body may keep on living, but your soul is buried, your life is buried... and you are utterly alone. To all those who have, more will be given, and to those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away....When we bury our treasures that come from God we don't grow; in fact, we shrink more and more and our light grows ever dimmer. When, in fact, God gave us that light within ourselves to share with the world, to light up our little corner of the universe-- to help others know peace, and most of all the transforming, empowering love of God.. What is Jesus trying to say? I think he's telling us, Do not let your light go out in this world, don't use my words for death instead of life, don't hole up in your self-dug graves and bury the treasure that I am giving you now....
The Church historically has a well-earned reputation of stomping out anything that brings joy, freedom of expression and absolute fun...Yep, it still goes on. We still hear of Christians trying to ban this or that in an effort to keep out all evil. We still hear of Christians bringing judgment and damnation to an otherwise exhilerating event. In the recent elections it wasn't about who you voted for and why-- but I heard too many people making it about good and evil, Them and Us. Christians making other Christians feel damned for voting for the other guy, as if politics is ever more than just politics. You may notice that Jesus never ran for any official office or even sponsored anyone seeking official leadership.
Why are we here? Why do we come here? Is it just another burden that we bear? Something we do out of guilt-- something to win points with God? Do we come because that's what good people do? They go to church? Do we come to put in our time-- check it off for the rest of the week? Or do we come to be transformed? Do we come because we find joy here? Do we come because this is family? Do we come because we have a sense that God has given us a remarkable gift, leaving the future of the Kingdom of God in our shaky, all-too-human hands? Do we come, because we remember who we are, truly, when we are here? Do we come out of sense of obligation or have we opened up our lives to the extravagant transformation of the Gospel and to a life of adventure in Jesus Christ? Do we bury our greatest treasures in the ground only to spend our time and energy running in mad circles over things that will not ultimately last?
I hope you haven't lost that sense of gift. I hope you don't bury that gift in the ground or in the deep recesses of your hearts and souls, or tuck them away on the highest shelves of your storage room and wonder why you've lost all sense of joy in living.... The gift is ours, the gift given from a dying friend who promises us that he will in fact live again, and that when we join him on the journey, life can be so extraordinary, adventurous, radically joyous beyond our human comprehension... So let's stop digging around in the backyard. There's a whole world out there in need of what gifts you have to give. It's a tough world, yes, and it gets scary. But don't be afraid. Life with Jesus can be an awesome adventure. So put down your shovel.... and enter.. into the joy of your master.
