Sermon
Preached at St. David’s, Washington DC on November 13, 2011 on Matthew 25:14-30
Sometimes
when I have preached before I have had a look at the readings for the day and
thought: well I don’t want to preach on that passage – far too difficult! This
Sunday is different, when I looked at the texts my first thoughts were, I can’t
preach on any of them…
“The Israelites again
did what was evil in the sight of the Lord …. So the Lord sold them into the
hand of King Jabin” (Judges) or “sudden destruction will come upon them, as
labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape”
(Thessalonians) and finally “As for this worthless slave, throw him into the
outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew).
Cheery stuff and what ‘nice’ images of God we are given.
But the Church chooses
the readings and I have to preach from the Lectionary. The text I have chosen
from the three is the “Parable of the Talents” from Matthew. In some ways this seems
the most difficult reading. One reason, as mentioned, is what appears to be a
picture of a pretty vindictive God at the very end of the passage. The other reason
is a long tradition of interpreting this in a particular way; one which I don’t
think is the only or best way.
Over the centuries the
word ‘talents’ has come to mean abilities or gifts and the message in this
interpretation is that God has given us all different gifts and abilities (so
being wealthier or fitter or more creative is fine, it is God-given). It is up
to us to make the most out of these gifts, if we don’t then it is really our
fault, we had a talent and we just did not use it properly. Oh and if this
reading pops up during the Stewardship campaign then the preacher might add an
admonition that we are all called to give back some of what we so bountifully
received … or else!
But the Greek word Talenta really just meant a very large sum
of money, the equivalent of about 6000 x daily wage of a laborer I am told. So
if this story took place today, and we assume that a laborer at least gets the federal
minimum wage of 8.25/hour, one talent would be about 400,000 $. So it’s quite a
lot of money, and a sign that what the slaves have been entrusted with is very
precious and very valuable. All three are being given considerable
responsibility. All three are trusted by their master. This is a theme
that runs through this part of Matthew’s Gospel in which he has been focusing
on expectations and readiness in that long waiting period before the Messiah
comes, or in our case returns. We read of many negative examples: the wicked
tenants in the vineyard who do not want to give the owner what is his due; the
guests who ignore an invitation to a wedding banquet; the foolish bridesmaids
who are not ready when the wedding starts; the wicked slave who, when asked to
look after his fellow slaves, instead mistreats them until he is surprised by
his master’s return. Then in today’s story we heard about three slaves: two
know just what to do with the fortune they have been given, one of them
disappoints and just hides it away. These are all stories about people who have
not lived up to expectations, who have betrayed the trust put in them, and who were
not ready when asked to give account of themselves.
Now when Jesus tells stories
like these, it is not for entertainment, but for instruction – so what are our
instructions? What is the fortune we have been entrusted with? And what
are we supposed to do with it?
It is the knowledge and experience of God’s love that we have been given through Jesus Christ. It is the good news to the poor, the proclamation of release to the captives, the recovery of sight to the blind, freedom for the oppressed, as Jesus preached in the synagogue at the beginning of his ministry[1]. It is the Good News of forgiveness and release from sin. Now that really is the most valuable thing God could entrust us with; that is why God sent God’s own son to bring it to us, despite the consequences. But being entrusted with this Good News comes with very clear expectations. Keeping this knowledge and this message to ourselves is not an option, making it something for private devotion or something hidden in our hearts is not what it is for, nor are we supposed to keep it inside the church building. As Jesus said elsewhere, you don’t hide a light under a bushel[2]. We are all called to spread the Good News, to ensure more and more people hear it, to put the Word to work, to be vehicles of this divine love by living it out in the world.
It is the knowledge and experience of God’s love that we have been given through Jesus Christ. It is the good news to the poor, the proclamation of release to the captives, the recovery of sight to the blind, freedom for the oppressed, as Jesus preached in the synagogue at the beginning of his ministry[1]. It is the Good News of forgiveness and release from sin. Now that really is the most valuable thing God could entrust us with; that is why God sent God’s own son to bring it to us, despite the consequences. But being entrusted with this Good News comes with very clear expectations. Keeping this knowledge and this message to ourselves is not an option, making it something for private devotion or something hidden in our hearts is not what it is for, nor are we supposed to keep it inside the church building. As Jesus said elsewhere, you don’t hide a light under a bushel[2]. We are all called to spread the Good News, to ensure more and more people hear it, to put the Word to work, to be vehicles of this divine love by living it out in the world.
That is what this church is doing when it supports outreach
ministries like those for the aged and homeless here in DC, the street children
in Africa and the poor in Honduras. Though we can always do more, both as individuals
and as a church. For only through word and deed will it be the good news
Jesus promised to all, especially to the poor, meek, and hungry. Sure there are
risks involved in doing so but that’s part of the mutual trust – God trusts us
with this task and we trust God that we are up to it. And we are up to it.
We do not get asked to do more than we can do, only what is according to our
ability! For that’s the big difference between the three slaves in today’s
story. Each was given a different amount of money, a different task we might
say. God knows we are not the same, God created us that way, but God also knows
that we can all do something. Unfortunately the third slave didn’t trust his
master, and he didn’t really trust himself either, he hid what he had been
given, he didn’t really understand what he had been given and what it was for.
God is not harsh, as the 3rd slave calls his master, but God is certainly
demanding, which is another and perhaps better way of translating the Greek
word (okleros) that Matthew uses. And
my clever commentaries also tell me that the word (oknere) we heard translated as idle or lazy, as in “you wicked and
lazy slave”, can also mean “hesitating to engage in something worthwhile”. And that
is really what the 3rd slave is being criticized for: for not acting
and for not trusting his master.
That is what stands out
for me in this parable: TRUST. God trusts us (again and again), God trusts us
to not only hear the Word, but to pass it on and to live it out. God calls us to
trust, to have faith, in God’s care and love and knowledge. If we trust God we
are free to act, free to take risks, free to make mistakes, free to act without
fear. For God will not ask us to do more than God knows we can do. Our creator
and sustainer knows very well what we are capable of. It is just that we
sometimes feel that it is so much more than we think we can do. What if
we fall short? What if we fail? Will we be punished, which slave from the story
will we then be? Well the great thing is, there is a third way between
the first two slaves and the third one. There is a third choice between getting
it right and just not trying at all. That 3rd choice is always trying
to do what God wants us to do, knowing that if we get it wrong, we can go back
to God. God does judge us, as the master judged the slave in the story, but
what God judges is not failure, it is failing to even try. By not trusting in
God, by not believing in the message of love the 3rd slave really
punished himself. He did not believe that there was any joy to be had from this
master. That is why he found himself in the outer darkness, where there will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth. The story does not record him repenting and
asking his master for forgiveness. We know on the other hand that we can always
ask for and always obtain forgiveness for things ‘done and left undone’, as we did earlier in
the Confession.
Then we can go out into
the world and try all over again to do what God calls us to do. I think that is
Good News indeed!
Amen
Amen
