November 16, 2008

When you heard the gospel read this morning, how many of you thought, “Oh no, this is going to be a stewardship sermon?”  I understand the reaction.  After all, ‘tis the season in every Episcopal church in the land.  “Coincidentally,” the lectionary folk have been quite accommodating, including this rather explicit passage from the mouth of Jesus himself, emphasizing the expectation to return financial resources back to the Father.  Yes, the timing and the theme are church-giving appropriate, but that is not what we’re about today.  Instead, we will take a broader view of this lesson and think about its long term influence on your lives.  We will focus on what Jesus wanted the disciples to understand about the nature of God long before vestries and dioceses mandated annual budgets. 

When the passage opens, Jesus and his disciples have just left the temple in Jerusalem.  Jesus knows his time with his favored followers is growing short.  Tensions in the central city are rising.  He is becoming more and more a target of anger and irritation.  As he sees his days for teaching slipping away, he accelerates the process.  Jesus builds one lesson on top of another in rapid succession.  God is like this.  The kingdom of heaven is like that.  The final judgment will look like what happens in this story.  Here is an example of foolish and wise bridesmaids.  These folk who are ready for the Messiah’s coming, those people who are clueless when he arrives.  The disciples try hard to keep up and take in all their leader is saying.  And then, Jesus adds “the Parable of the Talents” to the discourse. 

Whenever Jesus instructs the crowd or his future missionaries with a parable, he is about one of two intentions.  He either wants to present a general central truth about God or he wants his listeners to find themselves in the story.  He wants them to recognize where they are meeting the Father’s expectations and where they are falling short and need to modify their efforts.  In the parable of the talents, both intentions are possible, but today as we review the story, we will take the more personal view and determine which character most closely resembles our own life experience. 

As the passage opens, Jesus says there was a man with three slaves.  Before leaving them to their own devices, the master calls them together and passes out an abundance, a great abundance of resources.  In that day, a single talent was worth more than 15 years income for a laborer.  So, when the man gives one slave 5 talents, one slave 2 talents and one slave 1 talent, he is bestowing all they will need for a good life.  He gives them plenty and sends them out into the world to represent him and his interests.  The slave with the greatest resources returns with the greatest yield.  The slave with fewer resources returns with an impressive yield.  The slave with the least, but absolutely sufficient resources, returns with no increase at all.  The master is amply satisfied with the first two slaves, and mightily disappointed in the third.  The first two servants have taken the trust, the confidence, the good will and all the support of their benefactor into their lives.  They’ve accepted his grace and blessings and they’ve thought about his generosity and character.  They’ve considered how to honor his trust and how to use the resources he’s given them to expand his influence.  They are his representatives in the world.  According to their skills, they move through their time and culture as the master’s emissaries.  They invest their time, their energy, and their talents in ways that will reflect well on their master.  They say yes to this good endeavor and no to this dubious enterprise.  They don’t lie.  They don’t cheat.  They don’t steal.  They don’t involve themselves in insider trading or inflate the value of their commodities.  They don’t devise a pyramid scheme or gamble with people’s pensions.  They don’t create a get rich scheme from the privacy of their home working 10 hours a week scenario.  The two slaves take stock, not Wall Street stock, but internal inventory.  They reflect on who their master is, his reputation, character and deepest desires.  They reflect on their own abilities.  Where are they likely to be most successful in representing his interests?  What skills and resources has he given them to use in his service?  They consider, decide, plan, and then enact.  They move out with loyalty and purpose.  All that they need, they have been given.  They’ll do the best they can for their master and all will be well.  Their best will be sufficient and pleasing.  They have no fear.  They have been entrusted!  This is empowering.  This shows affection and care.  The master has prepared them to succeed and believes that they will.  And so they do.  And all is well, for them. 

But, what about the third slave, the one also supported, empowered, set loose on the world?  What was his problem?  He had everything, everything he needed to succeed.  He had gifts and resources and the trust and confidence of his master.  Why didn’t he go out into the world and represent his patron?  Why didn’t he use that 15 years’ worth of income to expand the influence of the master?  Why did he instead go off, dig a hole and hide?  He refused to set the master’s resources loose in the world.  He refused to be a vibrant force for the master’s will.  He reneged on the relationship.  He hunkered down, broke faith and waited for disaster.  He forgot the master’s sustaining power and deep, deep desire to be invested, active and productive in the world.  The third slave made a huge miscalculation.

Many times when we read this parable we make the same mistake.  We believe the story is about producing profits for the Lord, and we may even sympathize with the poor third slave who got less to begin with.  He was worried about losing what he had been given.  The world is a dicey place and nothing is guaranteed.  He didn’t want to be reckless.  That’s what he says, but that’s not the truth!  He had plenty of resources.  He had plenty of talents.  What he lacked was devotion.  He didn’t love his benefactor, not enough.  He didn’t care enough to represent him well in the world.  He was selfish and small and pessimistic.  He didn’t trust in the goodness and perseverance of the master.  He went off, dug a hole and hid.  Later, his reward matched his efforts.  Not pretty, but just.

So, dear friends, who are we in this parable?  How many of you feel like the master?  Remembering that in the parables, Jesus uses the kings, the landowners, the masters to represent God Almighty, I urge caution..  Who feels like the first, the second or the third slave?  Personally, I find the gifting of the first slave too intimidating.  All those abilities, all those “talents” from the master means a great yield is anticipated in return.  The proverb “to whom much has been given, much is expected” comes to mind.  I think of the most gifted examples in human history and how they represent their giftor, how they used their God-given abilities to reflect the character and influence of their maker.  I think about Einstein, and Shakespeare, Lincoln, Barnhardt, Jordan, Curie and Wesley, men and women who had world-wide impact, who made the world safer, smarter, more just, more healthy, more spiritual, more dazzled by what the hand of God can unleash on the world.  When God bestows genius, there is an expectation and obligation to use it well and expansively for the benefit of many, many.

When I think of the second slave, I recall people of renown in our own time, people who move us today, who inspire and shape global response to justice and mercy.  Billy Graham, Desmond Tutu, Peter Gnomes, the founder of Habitat for Humanity, the UN secretary for the Millenium Development Goals and Michael Curry, come to mind.  Clearly, these folk have been touched by God and they’ve been given compelling voice, expansive hearts and prodigious intellect.  Talents, skills, supporting structures have been poured out over them and they have responded by representing God and God’s interests quite well in the world.

When I reflect on the third slave, I think of me and most people I know. God’s given me a good mind, a pleasant disposition, a kind heart.  He’s provided me an environment where I can learn, work, support myself and my family.  I want for nothing.  I am blessed, truly blessed.  The parable teaches, my response to my blessings, the “talents’ God has given me is to take them and use them well and as widely as my sphere of influence allows.  My role on the world stage is small, but, wherever I find myself, at St. Mark’s, at the Harris Teeter, at the Blumenthal, at Ranson PTA, at the gas station, in Costa Rica, watching movies with my kids, I am to represent my master and his interests to the very best of my ability.

Jesus is very clear in the telling of “the Parable of talents.”  God gives us all that we need.  God gifts us abundantly, lavishly, generously.  We have skills, abilities, talents.  We have powers!  We can persuade and encourage.  We can lift up and problem solve.  We can make people feel better.  We can create better structures for the care of the world.  God has blessed all of us so well.  And he sends us out to invest those blessings, those skills and talents.  He says be my emissaries, be my hands and feet, head and heart in the world. 

Our charge is to locate our God-given talents, to see them for what they are and to use them in the best possible ways.  We are to be about investing God’s talent in transforming, world-changing action.  Claiming our talents, seeing where and how to use them for God’s glory is no simple endeavor, but it is our clear charge.  We may not dig a hole and hide!  What we really and truly want to hear is… “Well done!”  “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

So, let us be about our charge.  Let us recognize the talents God has given us.  Let us use them in the world as he desires. 

Amen.