The Good News: Matthew 25:14-29 CEB
14 “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who was leaving on a trip. He called his servants and handed his possessions over to them. 15 To one he gave five valuable coins,[a] and to another he gave two, and to another he gave one. He gave to each servant according to that servant’s ability. Then he left on his journey.
16 “After the man left, the servant who had five valuable coins took them and went to work doing business with them. He gained five more. 17 In the same way, the one who had two valuable coins gained two more. 18 But the servant who had received the one valuable coin dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money.
19 “Now after a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The one who had received five valuable coins came forward with five additional coins. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five valuable coins. Look, I’ve gained five more.’
21 “His master replied, ‘Excellent! You are a good and faithful servant! You’ve been faithful over a little. I’ll put you in charge of much. Come, celebrate with me.’
22 “The second servant also came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two valuable coins. Look, I’ve gained two more.’
23 “His master replied, ‘Well done! You are a good and faithful servant. You’ve been faithful over a little. I’ll put you in charge of much. Come, celebrate with me.’
24 “Now the one who had received one valuable coin came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man. You harvest grain where you haven’t sown. You gather crops where you haven’t spread seed. 25 So I was afraid. And I hid my valuable coin in the ground. Here, you have what’s yours.’
26 “His master replied, ‘You evil and lazy servant! You knew that I harvest grain where I haven’t sown and that I gather crops where I haven’t spread seed? 27 In that case, you should have turned my money over to the bankers so that when I returned, you could give me what belonged to me with interest. 28 Therefore, take from him the valuable coin and give it to the one who has ten coins. 29 Those who have much will receive more, and they will have more than they need. But as for those who don’t have much, even the little bit they have will be taken away from them.
Reflection: “Every Gift a Benediction”
We are almost always waiting for something, and winter especially is a time of waiting. Waiting through the season of rest and dormancy for spring’s rebirth. Waiting through the season of Advent for the arrival of God in the world. And there are other kinds of waiting in our lives, some hard, some joyful: waiting for test results, waiting for the arrival of a beloved visitor, just waiting for things to get better. We know that there will be an end to our waiting, but we don’t know how long we will have to wait or what to do in the meantime.
In today’s reading from the gospel of Matthew, Jesus is preparing his followers for a very hard time of waiting. He knows that his time with his disciples in his earthly body is almost at an end, and so he sits down with them to warn them about what is to come, to reassure them that what looks like the end is only the beginning, and to teach them how to wait. The Sermon on the Mount is in part a crash course in waiting.
This parable is one of four stories in Matthew about long-anticipated returns that prepare his disciples for Christ’s return, but also teach them how to wait.
This is often called the Parable of the Talents, because most translations use the word “talent” instead of “valuable coin” and I want to give you an idea of how much money that was. It does not refer to talents as we understand them now – our gifts and skills and abilities. It is a translation from the Greek word “talenton” that was a measure of weight and money. There are a few different ideas about how much a talent was worth, but a common equivalent in today’s terms is about the equivalent of 15 years of wages for a day labourer
That’s a lot of money!
I thought it would be interesting to do the math:
A labourer earning $15 an hour and working 40 hours per week would earn $31,200 in a year, so today’s equivalent of one talent would be $468,000. 5 talents would be $2,340,000 and 2 would be $936,000. So the Master in the parable of the talents is entrusting a huge amount of money to his servants. Even his least capable servant is trusted with almost half a million dollars.
And so this is the story: an important man who has built a successful business has to go away. We don’t know how long he’ll be gone, maybe a few weeks, maybe years, maybe forever. He chooses three employees to take care of some of the company’s financial assets: one is put in charge of two and a half million dollars, another a million dollars, and a third half a million dollars. And then he leaves.
The first two trustees each invest their money and double it. But the cautious third puts the money into a regular chequing account where he thinks it will be safe, and there it sits.
At last the CEO returns and calls his trustees into his office one by one. One by one they account for their use of the money. The first two are rewarded with even more trust and responsibility and invited to a big celebration dinner at the fanciest restaurant in town.
But then the third fellow is called on the carpet. He knows he hasn’t done well, so he remembers the saying that the best defense is a good offense. He tries to justify his lack of initiative by criticizing his boss, by saying that he was afraid of the consequences if he lost the money, by pointing out that he has returned everything that was entrusted to him. Needless to say, the CEO is not pleased. He fires him and gives his half million dollars to the first trustee.
Let’s start by saying that this is not a lesson on how to invest our money. It is also not a story about economic justice, because there is nothing just about those who have the most being given more, and those who have the least losing everything.
This is a story about what to do with our time and gifts and resources while we wait, even though waiting is not my favourite thing and probably not yours either.
At first listen, this story doesn’t seem fair, or just, or loving. Not like the Jesus who tells us to sell everything to give to the poor, and who forgives us no matter what. Why would that Jesus teach us that if we are cautious about using someone else’s resources, we will lose everything we have?
But when we shift our focus to waiting and relationships, it begins to make sense.
Here are a couple of the hard things about waiting:
- Waiting begins with endings, and so we must grieve our losses. We grieve the people close to us who have died, or close relationships lost. We grieve the terrible losses caused by war and violence and toxic drugs. We grieve the loss of civility and kindness in our public lives. We grieve the terrible wounds we have inflicted on Mother Earth. We miss the warm sunny days of summer. Endings and loss are always hard.
- The wait is so uncertain. We don’t know if this time of darkness and loss will ever end, if our world will ever heal, if spring will ever come. We feel helpless, as if we have no control over the outcome.
As I ponder this parable, I realize how strongly I identify with that careful, fearful trustee of one talent, and I want to ask the storyteller “What’s wrong with being careful? Why was the master so hard on this poor guy? Surely there are worse sins than being afraid to take a risk? Where is the good news in this story?”
Mark Douglas says, “Perhaps, for Matthew, the God we face is the one we imagine.” So instead of imagining a punishing God, let’s imagine a loving God who longs for us to love back, to risk everything, and to finally join her at the eternal banquet table.
As we imagine that God, let’s hear our brother Jesus telling his followers this good news:
It will be hard when I go away, but you are my people and I have given you everything you need to take care of each other and my beloved, beautiful world while I am gone.
Don’t be afraid. Waiting is hard, but I will return and the world won’t be the same as the one I left because you will have risked everything you have been given to make this world a better place. If you live and act in fear, it will be your own fear that separates you from me and from the world that needs your courage. I love you and trust you, and I need you to be joyful risk-takers, to live as though you have nothing left to lose and everything to gain. Follow my lead, risk everything for me as I give my life for you and for this world.
John M. Buchanan says, “The greatest risk of all, it turns out, is not to risk anything.”
To what kind of trust and risk and responsibility is Jesus inviting us in these waiting times?
Not to foolish risks, and especially not to risks that endanger others. But to the calculated, loving risk of living life fully.
Earlier this week, I attended a workshop on “Writing for the love of it”, and I was struck by the reluctance of almost everyone in the room to name ourselves as writers, to risk claiming our gifts, to share our words with others. The greatest need in that group wasn’t learning more about how to write, it was to feel empowered to use whatever talents we have been given.
Each of us has different gifts, but we all have the one gift that is most needed in this world, the ability to love each other and encourage each other as we wait, as we hope. It takes courage to use our gifts for the good of others, it even takes courage to use our gifts for our own good.
The apostle Paul says, “encourage one another and build each other up, as indeed you have been doing”. We are called to live courageously, because courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to do what is needed in spite of our fear, right now, while we wait.
In the words of the Song of Faith of the UCC:
Divine creation does not cease
until all things have found wholeness, union, and integration
with the common ground of all being.
As children of the Timeless One,
our time-bound lives will find completion
in the all-embracing Creator.
In the meantime, we embrace the present,
embodying hope, loving our enemies,
caring for the earth,
choosing life.
Creating and seeking relationship,
in awe and trust,
we witness to Holy Mystery who is Wholly Love.
Everything we have is a gift and blessing from Creator, and we are called to pass that blessing on. As hymn number 171 in “More Voices” reminds us, “With every gift a benediction be to the people of God.”
Amen.