Matthew 25:14-30
Last week we
heard Jesus tell the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. The main point of that was an encouragement
to be ready when the Bridegroom, that is Jesus, comes for the great marriage
feast in the kingdom that has no end. Be
ready, by availing yourselves of the word and sacrament, and your lamp-oil will
never run out.
On the heels
of that parable, Jesus tells another – the Parable of the Talents. Perhaps because it deals with money, at least
on its face, this has often been used by churches for a Stewardship emphasis. But there’s much more going on here than just
the right use of money. Here the
end-times teaching is something like this:
Make good use of the time, the talents, and the treasures he gives you,
because he will soon return. Being a
Christian is not just about sitting around and idly waiting. Rather, God gives us work to do. He expects us to put his gifts to use. He expects our faith to be active in service
to him and our neighbor, even as we await Christ’s return.
Perhaps the
first notable, or even shocking point of the parable is that the Master
generously, and trustingly, gives his servants charge of varying sums of money
– but each of them receives quite a bit.
One talent alone is worth somewhere in the neighborhood of 6000
denarii. Or another way of saying it is
20 years wages. No small sum, even for
one talent! And some of the servants
received more!
Take note,
then, the generous character of the Master.
He gives his servants gifts – without any haggling or pleading from
them. There are really no strings
attached, even. I know people who give
the cat sitter a 3 page itemized set of instructions. This fellow just hands out his treasure like
it’s candy and goes his merry way.
He gives
them gifts in varying amounts, according to his good pleasure. Of course God is the master, and he gives us
out of his generosity. And not just
money. He gives us all the gifts of this
life – body and soul, eyes, ears and all my members, my reason and all my
senses. Food and drink, house and home, wife
and children, land, animals, and all I have.
He gives us money to use to buy things we need, and the ability to work
and earn money. All of it is still his,
but it is entrusted to us, his servants.
The very creation itself is placed under man’s dominion, to subdue it
and rule over it – to care for it as a faithful steward.
Ah, but the
problem is – we are not always so faithful with our talents. We may think of some or all of these gifts as
our own. Mine to do with as I please,
and only for my own benefit and selfish purposes. Or, we are lazy and neglectful, burying the talent
in the backyard, as it were. Or, perhaps
we pervert or twist or corrupt his good gifts in other ways – how we use our
bodies, how we spend our time, yes, even our money. In fact there is no good gift of God that man
can’t find a way to misuse and abuse. Even
the Word of God itself – though often neglected, can be twisted and taught
falsely, and believed wrongly.
We sin so
much, and in such a myriad of ways.
But back to
the parable anew. Perhaps the greatest
gift, the highest treasure, the shiniest talent he gives us – is the Gospel of
Jesus Christ itself. The good news that
our sins are forgiven in him! That he
died for us and all of our misuses and abuses.
That for Christ’s sake we are saved from the wrath of a Master who would
rightly send us off to the weeping and gnashing of teeth. That when God looks at us he does not see the
lazy, neglectful servant, he sees the one who was given much and invested well,
earning even more.
And isn’t
that what our Lord Jesus did? He took
his vast treasury of talents, his divine nature and sinless human life, and
devoted himself fully, invested himself entirely, into our salvation! He paid the price of our redemption, not with
gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood, and his innocent suffering
and death.
Oh, yes, and
then he was buried, for a short rest in the tomb. But unlike the talent that was buried, Jesus
rose with a dividend beyond computation. The firstborn of the dead rose to bring the
joy of the Master to all who are in him.
Yes, by baptism, his death and resurrection become our own. Buried with him, and raised with him, we
enjoy everything that he has earned by his perfect life and death, and we will
one day enjoy all the benefits of that resurrection in full, even as we have it
now in part. He who has begun this good
work in you will bring it to completion at the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have the
down payment on an eternal treasure.
What we have now is only a foretaste of the riches to come. We are like those servants in this way – we
wait. We wait for the Master to return
and settle accounts.
And while we
wait, we don’t only wait. We don’t bury
our talents in the yard, oh no. We put
them to work. We live our lives. We exercise our faith. The treasure of the Gospel – we do what is
right to do with it – we first of all receive it, and believe it. Treasure it!
That’s what you do with a treasure.
But that’s not all.
We also
share it. For this treasure doesn’t
become less when we do, but only ever more.
There’s no benefit or blessing in keeping the Gospel to ourselves (as if
it belongs to us anyway!) But it is a
treasure meant for the very purpose of sharing, distributing, a wealth meant to
be spread. That’s part of the joy of
it!
We ought to
do so wisely, of course. Just as a
shrewd investor doesn’t take on undue risk and lose his precious capital, so
the Christian must know not to throw pearls before swine to be trampled. We must consider our place in life, our
various vocations. We must make use of
the opportunities that God places before us, and give answer for the hope that
is within us. But the Gospel isn’t a
weapon with which to bludgeon the unbeliever.
It’s not a shoe-horn to force him in, or a crowbar to muscle him away
from unbelief. It’s a treasure, to be
set forth, that by the Holy Spirit all might see it for the beauty that it
is. It’s an invitation, a call to
believe.
And along
with that witness, is the witness of our love.
They may know we are Christians when we confess Christ with our
words. But they will also know we are
Christians by our love. That is to say,
faith invests and abounds in love for our neighbor. So again, whatever opportunities God places
before us to love one another, to help and serve and be kind and encourage… all
of these are a good use of the talents he has given us…. A good use of this
life and everything in it.
See how
broad is the application, then, of the Parable of the Talents. The gifts God
gives are manifold. They are physical
and spiritual. They are given freely and
broadly, in different measure, according to God’s good pleasure. But they are gifts not to be hoarded, nor
squandered, but invested. The Gospel
believed is the gospel that is shared. Faith
itself works. Life is lived. And love received becomes love given to
neighbor. The opportunities to use the
gifts God has given are as innumerable as the gifts themselves.
So treasure
and share the talents he gives, dear Christian, for the joy of it, until the
Master returns and we enter his eternal joy, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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