Ordinary Time Week 23

Psalm: Psalm 123 or Psalm 90:1-8, 9-11, 12 

Old Testament: Judges 4:1-7
  or Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18 

Gospel: Matthew 25:14-30 

Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

We have all heard the Parable of the Talents about a man who goes on a journey and gives to three servants 5 talents, 2 talents and 1 talent, respectively. The two servants who received 5 and 2 talents are both able to double their master’s investment, while the servant who received 1 buries it in the ground and has only the 1 talent to return when the master comes back. The first two servants are rewarded, called “good and faithful” and “enter into the joy of [their] master.” The final servant however is called a wicked and lazy slave who is thrown into the outer darkness.

Initially, when I heard this story, I thought the master was a little bit harsh. The last servant didn’t do anything unreasonable. Maybe he was a bad business person and so he just wanted to ensure the master got at least the 1 talent back. The servant also claimed that the master reaped where he didn’t sow and gathered where he scattered no seed. He didn’t have a very good opinion of the master and it was interesting to me that the master didn’t refute those claims. However, at least in Matthew, the master didn’t repeat the words that he was a “hard man” like he repeated all the other words. It seems like he may be dishonest, reaping where he didn’t sow, but the master didn’t think of himself as a hard man. This makes me think about what Jesus is trying to say about God here, since clearly the master represents God. The only way I can think of how to put this in a good light is to say that God reaps where he doesn’t sow in bringing people into his Kingdom. God sows in the sense that his Spirit is always calling people to himself through God’s prevenient grace. But there is not a visual or personable representation of God. God is able to reach and save people groups in remote areas of the world even when a missionary or Christian has never been there to speak the name of Jesus to them. (Perhaps not everyone believes this, but in understanding God’s mercy and love, I don’t see how people can be condemned to hell because of where they were born.) In this sense then, God does reap where we cannot tell that he has sown.

Let us move back to the last servant who buried the 1 talent he received. What was so wrong with what he did? The other servants put their talents to work and created more wealth for the master. The last servant actually returned less money than he was given. We don’t know how long the master was gone but long enough for the others to double their investments, so enough time for inflation to be a factor. Depending on the rate of inflation that 1 talent buried in the ground may have only been worth 3/4 of a talent. That is why the master said he should have at least put it in the bank where he could have earned interest. The master had the expectation that his investments given to the servants would create wealth for him. It is no different than investors today; we expect that our wealth when invested will create more wealth for us.

So when we move this into the context of the Kingdom of God and how we are to act, which is what parables are supposed to do, what does this say to us? Everyone has been given a talent. Some of us have received 5 and others 1, but we have all received something from God that we are to invest and create “wealth” for God. The application here is not hard to understand and we have all heard it before. All of our gifts, wealth, time, whatever is a gift from God and he expects us to use it for his glory.  We all have neighbors and coworkers, and our “talent” in that case may just be friendship which can draw people to God. We are called to honor God with our tithes and offerings. Whatever the case, and there are endless examples, God does not expect us to just receive his love and grace and then never invest it in the lives of others. In the Kingdom of God, wealth is not measured in dollars, but in lives changed and transformed by the power of God. We have received much from God, and have much to give. Let us be faithful in our service to Christ, in the power of the Spirit, and to glory of God the Father.

Grace and Peace.