Sermon – Risky Business

Matthew 25:14-30
Panzer Liturgical Service
November 16, 2014

So here we are again, hearing about Jesus and his ministry from the words of Matthew. Last week Chaplain Gramm did a great job unpacking a big chuck of Jesus’ teachings. He focused a large portion of his sermon on the parable of the ten bridesmaids, but opened up the exegesis to include all four parables in these last chapters before Jesus’ arrest and death. This parable of the talents is the third in a series, all told by Jesus between Palm Sunday and the Last Supper. Each deals with behavior in light of an absent master, and ultimately asks the question, “What will you do until he returns?”

 Will you keep pushing to further your master’s intentions, or will you play it safe and try to keep the status quo? Will you be prepared for his coming, not caught up in the ways of the world? Will you have the supplies you need to get you through the journey, or will you have to interrupt to restock, maybe missing out on the most important time in your life? Will you use what has been given to you to make the most of the time between his going and coming? And finally, will you be found faithful or faithless at his return? In short, the Master asks his servants this ultimate question, “What are you willing to risk until I return?” (1)

In this parable in particular, we are faced with two portraits – those who keep pressing forward, in effect willing to go all in, and those who act out of fear, literally burying his opportunities like a cold, dead corpse and lucky to be able to even find it when the master returned. I’m willing to guess that in churches all over the US, preachers are using this text to encourage their members to be faithful in their giving and serving to the church. It’s the number one text used in connection with stewardship campaigns asking people to make commitments of money and service in the coming year.(2)

But I wonder, is that all this parable is really about?

In this story a wealthy man prepares for a journey by entrusting his estate to his servants. Each receives an amount according to his ability. Is the ability to make a wise investment or something else? We don’t really know. We wonder, what is wrong with the third servant that he only got one talent. And this is where the tale takes its first turn. Yes, the first is bestowed five times more than the last, but even so, one talent is a significant sum of money. Carla Work, NT scholar, tells us that “a talent is equal to about 6,000 denarii. Since one denarius is a common laborer's daily wage, a talent would be roughly equivalent to 20 years wages for the average worker. Five talents, the largest amount entrusted to any of the servants, is comparable to one hundred years’ worth of labor, an astronomical amount of money.” (3)

 WOW! What would you do if your boss came and gave you twenty years of wages in one sitting – maybe even tax-free? Would you buy a fast car, a new house, or new clothes? Would you quit your job, buy a fancy RV and hit the road? Either of those seems less responsible than what the third servant did… like a lottery winner who is collecting welfare after wasting his or her millions away.

How many of us would think enough of the generosity of the master by investing the money wisely? Maybe it would be in making the best financial return possible. Or maybe that money could be used to reach as many people as possible, making life better, making love real. I want to believe that I’m in that last group…but I don’t really know what I would do. I do hope that I wouldn’t go out in the backyard and dig a hole in the ground to bury it for safe keeping. As many times as we have moved around, there is nothing safe or wise about that.

This story fits into the gospel at this time and place for a particular reason. Jesus knows what’s coming. And to prepare the disciples, he tells stories about faith being tested. These parables depict how the disciples are to live out their faithfulness as they anticipate the return of the Lord. And while the disciples hear what he has to say, they think “SOMEDAY” when Jesus really means “TOMORROW.” Again and again between his ascension and the day of Pentecost, Jesus tells them the time is coming, but they didn’t understand at all what Jesus was trying to say.

What does faithfulness look like in a time of waiting? In Matthew's Gospel faithfulness is lived by emulating the ministry of Jesus. Jesus has announced the arrival of God's kingdom by feeding the hungry, curing the sick, blessing the meek, and serving the least. As Jesus commanded at his ascension, we are to preach and teach the gospel to the ends of the earth. We accomplish this by treating others as if they are Jesus, feeding the hungry, visiting the sick and imprisoned, clothing the naked, and welcoming the stranger. That is when we will be most likely to hear the Master’s voice say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’ (4)

 So knowing all of this, we ask the question again,”What does faithfulness look like in the in-between time?” How much are we willing to risk to make the Kingdom real, here and now? What kind of chances are we willing to take to prepare the world for Jesus to come again and claim what is rightfully his? Are we foolish or will be wise? And how will we know the difference?

I’ve been a pastor and teacher for 23 years. And sometimes I get the feeling when I talk to people that they are looking for the really grand gesture to show God how much they love him. Not this little thing or that, as if we are afraid that God won’t honor the little steps made in his direction or on his behalf. Somewhere inside us, we see a Mother Theresa or a Nelson Mandela or a Dietrich Bonhoeffer and we think, “I want to be like that, but I don’t think I have it in me.” And so we just putter along, or we give up, or we bury our talent (and our heads) in the sand. But I wonder how those people, and many more that we cannot name, got the courage to make the grand leap of faith. Did they just wake up one more and say, “Today, I’m all in.” Maybe, but it’s just as likly that they took it one step at a time. “Today, I’m going to walk one step close to God.” “Today, I’m going to put someone else’s needs before my own.” “Today, I’m going to be brave and foolish and believe it when I am told that God is with me, no matter what.”

On one hand, this is story about talents – riches – even opportunities used to serve a master. But it is also a story that asks us what we believe about God. Do we see God as generous or do we see God as harsh and someone to be feared? I remind people all the time that when we read the English word “fear” in the bible, we should really hear “revere” or “be in awe of” in God. Fear isn’t just about being afraid of God. It’s about seeing the awesomeness of God, and understanding our place in his world. (5)

 The first two servants were awed by the generosity of their master, and did everything they could to say, “Thanks for trusting us with the work of YOUR labor. We tried to do right by you.” But the third was only afraid of God, and therefore did whatever he could to just not screw it all up. I suspect that we all lie somewhere in between these two faithful servants and the one who utterly failed at the task given. It’s probably obvious what not to do to end up the like the third poor fellow, but how do we become more like the others?

The answer is in the parable immediately following… our gospel lesson for next week’s Christ the King celebration. I won’t go on to preach a second sermon today, but I will ask you to think about this series of parables as a whole and ask what opportunities God is providing to help mold you into the person God knows you can become.

In their book, Every Good Endeavor, authors Tim Keller and Katherine Leary Alsdorf have chronicles the ministry of The Center for Faith and Work in New York City. Through years of working with people in the congregation at Redeemer Presbyterian Church, they have come to see that people find the most fulfillment at church when their ministry has some intersection with the work they do on a day to day basis. In a recent interview, Alsdorf said, “The gospel story of work says that we’re made to work. And the reason we’re made to work is to do the work that God would have us do to help the world flourish. Apart from doing that kind of work, we’re not fully human; we’re not living the lives that God meant us to live.” (6)

Their question to their parishioners is one that is well worth as little of our time: What is our calling? How is God using us to further the Kingdom? And how can that play out in our work and our family and our life in the church? In this room we all have different jobs; Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine, Coast Guardsman, Civilian, Contractor, Teacher, Mother, Father, Child, Student, Friend… the list goes on and one. Are we living out our faith well in the midst of those jobs? Does our faith journey speak as loud and in harmony with our words about faith? And what about the life that comes after this one?

My husband and I are certainly thinking about what comes next, after life in the military. And the question we are wrestling with is this: How does God want us to use the rest of our lives to serve him? Answers to that question will impact everything – our jobs, where we live, and how we serve. And it’s scary knowing that someone else will help us make those choices. Being faithful to what the Master has entrusted us with sometimes means we fine-tune the lives that we are currently living… and other times, we get to start over, from scratch. And as one who keeps doing both, I’m not sure which is more frightening or exciting … what do you think?

Just remember, this is risky business. Will we be faithful or foolish before God?

Peace, Deb
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[1] Peter Woods, “Are You Ready to Risk?”, 2011, http://thelisteninghermit.com/2011/11/07/are-you-ready-to-risk-ordinary-33a/

[2] Carla Works, 2011, “Commentary on Matthew 25:14-30” http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1018

[3] Carla Works, 2011.

[4] Carla Works, 2011.

[5]  Linda Pepe,  http://www.theologicalstew.com/two-sides-to-every-story.html

[6] Interview with Katherine Leary Alsdorf, http://www.faithandleadership.com/qa/katherine-leary-alsdorf-were-made-work?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=headline&utm_campaign=NI_feature

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