Matthew 25:14-30

November 16, 2008

SAM Sunday

 

                                  Jesus, what is it you want me to do for you?

 

This is an interactive sermon between college students and the minister. The college students ask the questions from wherever they sit in the congregation. At the conclusion of the sermon they each come up offering in a rapid-fire manner the idea of giving money to the congregation to invest in others. 

Ken: Look at this miserable excuse of a one-talent man in the parable today. He was lazy! 

Q. How lazy was he? 

Ken: Well, get ready for some fire and brimstone. He was so lazy that he sat on his one talent and did nothing. He buried it. God helps those who help themselves, right? Not only did he lose what he had, but also the wrath of God descended on him and threw him toward the gates of hell. If you don’t use your talent, you will lose it. Is this not what we think the parable means?  

Q. I’m confused. Is a talent a natural gift that we possess?  

Ken: No. A talent was a certain weight of metal – 34 kilograms. When applied to silver it was equal to 16.5 years of an average daily wage of a laborer. One talent is a huge sum of money. Today it would be worth over $275,000. Each servant was responsible for such a huge sum of money that it was unimaginable for his listeners to comprehend.  

Q. Hey, is Jesus teaching us about capitalism?  

Ken: Well, I’ve heard some sermons use this parable as a basis for a gospel of prosperity. To those who have, more will be given; and those who have nothing will get nothing more.  

Q. I thought Jesus taught about paying attention and caring for the poor. Isn’t it hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?

Ken: Yes, that’s what he taught, so we have to look a little deeper into the meaning of this parable. First, let us put it into the context of Matthew’s gospel. There are three parables in a row that Matthew relates, and they are the last teachings of Jesus to his disciples before his arrest and execution. So this is not some little cutesy teaching about accumulating material wealth. Jesus is teaching his disciples what to do and what to expect after he is gone. The previous parable explains that no one knows when the last days are to be so they should be prepared and be doing the will of God. The following parable about the sheep and the goats explains that until that time, God wants us to serve the poor and needy as Jesus does without thought of what we get in return.  

Secondly, look at the perception that the slaves held of the master. The third slave defended his non-action by focusing on the meanness of the master. Because he was afraid of the master, he tried to play it safe. The first two slaves’ perceptions of the master were not like the third one. The freedom and risk-taking of their actions gives rise to the assumption that they trusted and loved the master and knew that it was reciprocated.  

And in the third place, the first two slaves assume an economy of abundance and with thanksgiving can use and invest what is entrusted to them from their master knowing that their use can multiply. They are true stewards of the master.  But the one-talent slave assumes an economy of scarcity. He must hold on to what he has lest others find it and take it away from him. He is trapped in fear and hoards what he has. This hoarding instinct runs deep in all of us; and if we give in to it, we will not share what we have with others. If you give away your coat you might need it for a cold day. If you gave some money away, you might run out of money yourself and they might misuse it. If you give your love to another, they might abuse it and reject you and you will be more alone than ever.  

Let me now ask this of you. What does this enormous, wealthy talent represent to Jesus’ disciples? 

SHSU answer: What about his gospel? Could that not be what Jesus entrusted to his disciples?  

Ken: Good thinking. Matthew is firmly convinced that Jesus wants us to use the resources of His Father’s world for the good of others. God has entrusted us with the greatest treasure in our human life. We have in our hands the Pearl of Great Value. The question is what we do or not do with the gospel as we wait for the full realization of God’s kingdom.  

Q. OK, preacher, how do we overcome our fears and change?

Ken: Do we not bury our faith on Sundays and separate it from the rest of our lives? It becomes a religious activity that we do on Sunday morning, and we keep it safe there so we won’t lose it. It becomes useless and meaningless. 

Our relationship with God is the key to change. If we perceive him as the policeman in the sky reaping where he did not sow, then we will remain in our fear and hoard his gifts for a brief time until we die.  To overcome our fears, we must trust God’s love and generosity for us so that with abandon we use his resources to grow his kingdom among his people. God trusts us not only to grow in the likeness of his Son, Jesus, but also to build up the Church and God’s kingdom. God has put his kingdom in our hands and gives us an awesome responsibility. 

Q. Yeah, but the church always has its hands out to get $ to just keep itself going like a club.   

Ken: When the church looks inward upon itself, it does become like a club. Money is sought to keep the club alive, and there is always finger pointing at the sins of others. Cliques develop that encourage members to judge the motives and faith of others. But when it looks outward it becomes the Body of Christ.  

Where gratitude to God for his grace and forgiveness is the reality, the church responds with thanks for the privilege to serve others without thought of what is in it for us. People are not judged for their motives, and there is always enough money to do God’s work. The church is not a club; it is the Body of Christ in this world in which we live. God multiplies our efforts. There is no failure when we become the Body of Christ.  Faith based on trust and acted upon overflows, and fruit is produced in your life and the lives of others. Attending to the needs and sufferings of others produces this fruit. Letting them know why is the telling of God’s grace.  

We live our lives in both fear and gratitude in this real world. They live side by side. Don’t you feel it? So you have to choose and act upon your choice. God has given you that ability.  

Q. Well, I’d like an opportunity to choose and to trust. Can’t the church just once give us money to invest in others?  

Ken: What will you do with it? 

#1  We will produce fruit. God will multiply it.  

#2  Yeah. We can invest it and make it grow.  

#3  We can pool it with others’ money and we can buy a coat for someone, or we can take a hungry person to lunch. 

 #4  Let’s give everyone – adults and children – a special dollar to invest in someone else.

#5  And let’s give them a fruit-shaped card to post on our tree in the Fellowship Hall on how we each used this gift for bringing God’s love and mercy to others.  

Ken: OK, hand them out to everyone. 

You are entrusted with a small resource and are asked to take it out into the world in which you live and let it grow in the lives of others. It will produce fruit that is pleasing to God. He will not judge you for trying and failing – he will only judge you if you do not try.  This dollar just represents you. You are a gift from God. You are born from God’s generosity and given to and for the world to bear much fruit. Jesus, what is it you want me to do for you?