ACCOUNTABLE SERVANTS
With a generous birthday check from his parents,
a young man arrived at a fine restaurant a half hour before the kitchen
was to
close. He had mixed feelings about spending the sum, even though
an attached note said, “Please use this present for dinner at a good restaurant.” He
had been carrying the check around for four months and really enjoyed knowing
it was there. Somewhat reluctantly, he went to the restaurant. The menu
was huge! What to order! Decisions, decisions! “If I order the ravioli,
I'll miss the lasagna. If I order the steak, I'll forego the fish.” Repeatedly,
the waiter urged the customer to make the selection. “I'm not ready
yet” was the recurring reply. The minutes ticked by, and still no
decision was reached. “I just want what's really best today,” the
customer thought quietly. Finally, the waiter announced, “I'm sorry:
it's too late; the kitchen is closing.” Somewhat disappointed, the
young man was also relieved: his unused gift was still safe
and secure!
In tonight’s reading from the Gospel three servants, equally honest and
trustworthy, were given varying amounts of “talents” by a master
leaving on a journey. (By way of clarification, a talent was usually the largest
of a people’s financial symbols. For the servants, each talent represented
an economic gain of about fifteen years of work. Eventually, “talent” came
to mean the valuable natural abilities individuals have, and biblically, God-given
capacities.) Two of the servants, given five and two talents respectively, made
good investments; the third hid his money safely in the ground. On the master's
return, he rewarded the first two, because they had been prudent in the use of
what they had been given. Setting aside total security, they risked making reasonable
choices, thereby exercising their stewardship responsibly.
The third servant was punished, because he had made no effort to utilize his
gift; he had been concerned only with his own security and with the least expenditure
of energy. Afraid to take a chance or too lazy to capitalize on his talent,
he simply buried it in the ground. In his master's eyes, neither laziness nor
the
fear of failure were excuses for doing nothing. This servant sought total security
and would not see beyond himself and his immediate situation; he was of little
significance to himself or anyone else. Having produced nothing, he got nothing.
The two wise servants experienced a day of joy: the third a day of wrath from
his master. Is the Gospel giving us a basic lesson in indecision versus decisiveness?
Or, perhaps in fundamental economics? No, the meaning goes deeper.
Jesus'
allegory teaches us about the stewardship of the talented life each of us
has been given. However, if we habitually
live with paralyzing caution,
we
forfeit possibilities for fuller living. The assets given to all three
servants is a symbol of the gift of New Life from God...new
life in the sense of being
really free, authentic, and whole; an awakened life to be the person God
created; a life that includes ever-growing reverence toward of God, equal
regard for
one’s
neighbor, and self-regard as well. (Herein is authentic “spirituality.”)
For us today, it is within the Good News of Christ that
each of us has been given various abilities, whether by God’s nature or the Lord’s inspiration.
With even one talent, one “bag of gold,” you and I are richly
blessed - for which we should be thankful. However, each of us is expected
to make use
of our talents to promote life at its fullest, among both the joys and
the sorrows of our unique situations.
Specifically, each time we lend a helping hand or comfort
a grieving heart, we are affirming and using a God-given gift within
us. Each
risk taken;
every investment
in the well-being of another; whenever we paint, sing, clean, visit
the sick, teach, or stuff envelopes; all offerings of time, talent
and treasure;
every
moment we are genuinely present to each other; each decision to grow
a bit more in our relationship with God: all of these contributions yield
dividends
of even
greater freedom, authenticity, and wholeness for ourselves and for
those lives we touch.
The sad news is that some people
bury their talents, and others are actually unaware of the capabilities
they possess! As
a former teacher,
I am astounded
at the undeveloped, unknown abilities in so many capable individuals
of all ages. As a pastor, I have been saddened by the self-imposed,
often
devastating,
limitations
with which some people live. In a way, many of us are not as truly
alive or awake as we could be.
On the other hand, all too frequently when individuals
offer their genuine talents, they discover that they seem unmarketable.
Some
of our offers
are met with indifference,
some are rudely rebuffed, and some are just not timely or suitable
where they are put forward. How many churches and other charitable
associations
have rejected
offers of individuals’ talents, not for good reason, but because they threaten
some leader’s control needs, limited vision, or desperate need to preserve
the comfortable status quo? Perhaps, another implication of this Gospel allegory
is that we are accountable to God whenever we disallow someone’s
offering of talents thoughtlessly! Everyone loses.
First and foremost, tonight’s Gospel challenges
you and me to audit the stewardship of our lives, because any of our
fine gifts held back is, simply
put, poor management. A deliberately withheld talent betrays
God’s purposes
for us. We might ask ourselves whether we are, individually
or as a congregation, more like the two servants who used their gold
well and consequently experience
the joys and responsibilities of Christian discipleship. Or,
are we more like the third servant - stagnant, self-centered, asleep,
and missing opportunities?
Are we missing the mark by underliving life? What's more, when
you and I have leadership positions, are we unfairly overlooking the
participation offered by
genuinely able people? We need to take to heart St. Paul’s
reminder to “encourage
one another and build up each other.”
Make no mistake; we are not called to frenzied busyness!
Rather, the story nudges us to consider whether there is room in our
lives for
risk over
security, for
spiritual growth over religious complacency, and for a fuller
use of our God-given talents. In case we wonder what significance
one
person
may have
in any “big
picture,” may we remember that as a “drop in the bucket,” each
of us can cause ripples in our homes, among friends, within a congregation, and
in the secular community. Whether we are five-talent, two-talent or one-talent
children of God, we all have golden assets - sometimes used well, but many times
used partially, now and then buried, and here and there undiscovered. As we press
forward on our pilgrimage in the New Life in Christ, the Gospel inspires us to
choose risk over security, and to expect our eventual
accountability to God for the proper use of our talents, with the hope that we, too, may eventually hear “Well
done, my good and faithful servant.”
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and
sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. For you
yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they
say, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come
upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!
But
you, beloved,
are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a
thief; for you are all children of light and children of
the day; we are not of the night
or
of darkness.
So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep
awake and be sober; for those who sleep, sleep at night,
and those who are drunk
get drunk
at night.
But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put
on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the
hope of salvation. For God has
destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through
our Lord Jesus Christ,
who
died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may
live with him. Therefore, encourage one another and build
up each other, as indeed you
are doing.
Matthew 25:14-30
Jesus said, "For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his
slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents,
to another two,
to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The
one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with
them, and
made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents
made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went
off and dug
a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. After a long time the
master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one
who had
received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying,
`Master, you
handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.' His
master said to him, `Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been
trustworthy
in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the
joy of your master.' And the one with the two talents also came forward,
saying,
`Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.'
His master said to him, `Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have
been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things;
enter into
the joy of your master.' Then the one who had received the one talent also
came forward, saying, `Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping
where you
did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid,
and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.'
But his
master replied, `You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap
where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought
to have invested
my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what
was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the
one
with the
ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will
have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have
will be taken
away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' "