This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday November 16, 2008, the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time.
Judges 4:1-7
Psalm 123
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Matthew 25:14-30
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and redeemer. Amen
Last week, I promised you this would be the second of two stewardship sermons. As any faithful follower of November sermons is well aware, the stewardship sermon ends with the plea for faithfulness to the Lord through tithes and offerings throughout the year. I would say that the request is usually more subtle than that, but sometimes it isn’t. We all know it’s coming. We all know I will make the plea for increased offerings, so that part of the sermon is almost out of the way.
Let me now say thank you and praise God for your financial faithfulness. Many members of this part of the Body of Christ give very generously in their abundance. Many members of this part of the Body of Christ give as generously in their poverty. All members give generously as a faithful response to the glory of God by the grace they have received through Jesus Christ our Lord by the Holy Spirit. I rejoice and I give thanks that you are so very generous.
I have spoken of financial stewardship the past three Novembers, and this November is no different. I have written about stewardship and the financial needs of this part of the Body of Christ in the newsletter several times over the past three years. The last newsletter even had an emotional plea that could be titled “one nickel toward a million.” Just to add one more piece to the pie of asking, I am sure everyone has all ready found a copy of the “Estimate of Giving” form in the bulletin. You will be asked to fill it out and put it in the offering plate in about twenty minutes.
Let me also point out that we use “estimates” rather than “pledges” because it is more pastoral, especially after the way the economy has gone over the past twelve months.
So as I say this, I put these two thoughts together —you are very generous and the economy is tumultuous. I ask for more and if you can give more—then praise God, but I also know that many of you give all that you can, and even more than that. Many are like the widow from Mark 12[1] who gives her two pennies and can not afford to give that. Like her, you give in response not to my request but to God’s faithfulness. I could try to squeeze another penny out of you, but I know how hard you are squeezed.
As Forrest Gump often said, “That’s all I have to say about that.”
Matthew’s version of the Parable of the Talents is found every three years and always in the heart of Stewardship season. As I was thinking about the story, stewardship, and this part of the body of Christ; I have found five truths I want to share about this parable. Keeping with the parable’s common interpretation, God is represented by “the Master.”
First, each of the three servants received according to their ability. The Master goes on a journey and leaves behind eight talents in the care of three slaves. He doesn’t split them up so that each of them receives two-and-two-thirds talents apiece. He could have. There is no biblical reason why he could not have split them apart. So like the disciples hearing Jesus tell this story; we learn that there is meritocracy, people being rewarded according to their abilities. The Master trusts his slaves in proportion with what they have proven they can handle. Not everyone gets the same piece of the pie just because that’s the democratic way.
This doesn’t seem quite right to our sensibilities. We wonder how God gives to each of us differently especially since God loves us all equally. This passage does not change that at all. God loves us all equally and to a depth and breadth we will not begin to understand on this side of glory. God knows us and empowers us differently with the multitude of the spiritual gifts. So like the slaves in the parable we receive God’s gifts differently. Then we are called to serve the Lord uniquely.
The next thing that I want to share is that while it is true that the slaves received according to their ability, even the one who received least received an extravagant amount. Based on the price of silver on Wednesday morning, a single talent is worth just a little over $6,500.00.[2] While this is nothing to sneeze at, in the day of the parable this amount was even more valuable than it is today. This amount, one talent, $6,500.00, was the equivalent of twenty years wages to the average laborer.[3] (Inflation is a thing no matter how long ago you lived.) So while each of the slaves received different amounts, the amounts they received were more than they could ever imagine.
The lesson we take from this is that our God is just as extravagant with gifts. We are given more than we could ever hope or imagine. Our talents don’t always come in silver or gold, but they are given by the one who gives best, and they are wonderful and glorious.
So next, while what they receive is outrageously generous, in the words of the Master, what the slaves have received are “just a few things.” Based on twenty years of wages, the slave who received five talents was given well over $1.5 million. This amount is based on Berryville average wages. The national average would make the amount rise up to nearly $2.16 million.[4] This is an impressive sum. Give me the amount given the least capable slave, between $300,000 and $432,000, even I think I could pay off my student loans.
Yet, yet this is what the Master calls “just a few things.” From this piece of the parable we learn that as much as we think we have, to God this is just a start. What to us seems to be extravagant is a sample of the bounty of the Lord. We are often bound by our perceptions of what the Lord can do; limiting God by what we think God can or should do. This lesson is, trying as we might to put restrictions on God; the Lord blows through the limits of our expectations and experiences beyond what we can even dream.
We are told next that those slaves who made gains with the Master's assets were put in charge of many things and invited to enter into the joy of their Master. There is no telling what this meant, but if the Master’s idea of joy is anything like the master’s “few things” it would be outrageously extravagant.
In our Master’s world, we are given glimpses of the joy of God—shimmers of the bounty of God’s good gifts. These are a foretaste of the joy promised the faithful slaves of the sovereign Lord—the good and trustworthy servants. As God’s children, we are invited to come into the messianic banquet where in the presence of our Lord; we will rejoice and share fully in the Master’s joy.
Finally, in a strange sort of way, the servant's reactions to the Master reflect the Master's reactions to the servants; a form of self-fulfilling prophecy. While only the third slave said so, based on what the master said, I suspect he is a harsh man, reaping where he did not sow and gathering where he did not scatter seed; and all of them knew this to be the Master’s way.
Yet, in this fear, the first two responded to their master through diligent work, both of them doubling the amounts they were entrusted. The third was so afraid he simply chose to hide the assets, possibly hoping never to be bothered by them or the master ever again. Two worked and were rewarded with praise as good and trustworthy servants. The third, wicked and lazy, was punished; their prophecies fulfilled.
This portion of the parable is a walking, talking affirmation of the first Proverb, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”[5] All three feared the master as all of us should rightly fear the Lord. Yet the example we are to follow is that two responded beyond their fear while one cowered. The Lord is all powerful, and there is much we are called to do with what God gives us. We are to respect the Lord and fear the power. We are also to trust in the love, faithfully following where it leads us to work with what has been given us to increase the kingdom.
There is a wonder and glory in this parable along with deep shadows of darkness and despair. There is great joy and there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. There is judgment of how we work with the talents we receive. Yet as so much as knowledge begins with fear of the Lord, when we focus on the fear alone we become too frightened to move.
Yes, fear is one response, but at the traffic signal of life, fear is the yellow light, not the red. Caution is warranted, but focusing on the joy and plenty of God’s kingdom, instead of the harshness, we grow in faithfulness. We grow to be called good and trustworthy.
We receive all of these gifts and we are called to use them to increase them in the service of the Lord in God’s good creation. We all receive gifts and we are called to use them to increase them in the service of the Lord in God’s good creation.
While not a pun in ancient Greek, the cleverness of the English word talent is there for us. Whether the talent is financial or some kind of skill; we know that these talents are more than the gold and silver. They are also the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, and faith; the working of miracles, healing, and prophecy; discernment of spirits, and speaking and interpreting tongues.[6] These are the gifts of ministry, teaching in wisdom; exhortation, giving in generosity; leadership, and compassion in cheerfulness. [7]
Given the financial aspect of the parable of the talents, it is easy for us to slip into the possibility of seeing the gospel of prosperity, a “be faithful/get rich quick” scheme. This is not true. When they were judged, the slaves who used the Master’s talents and worked to increase them were welcome into the Master’s joy. Because we are gifted differently, this is true whether we begin with millions of dollars or two copper coins.
Looking at this parable through the glasses of stewardship, this parable tells us that stewardship isn’t so much about what we give—it’s about what we do with what we are given. It’s about taking the talents God gives us, English pun intended, and faithfully using them to the glory of the kingdom.
It is a call to us to look forward, see that we are given much, and see that the reward of faithful discipleship is more than we could ever hope or imagine. It is to recognize the gifts we receive and offer them to others. While we know that God’s judgment can be harsh, it is in trust that as the Master’s faithful disciples that we will be judged “good and trustworthy.”
Yes, this is where I ask you to fill out the “Estimate of Giving” sheets in your bulletin. If you haven’t done so yet, there is still time during the hymn. And as we discern what we are called to give, let us remember that what we are to give are from all of the talents our Lord endows upon us—not just silver and gold.
That’s all I have to say about that.
[1] Mark 12:41-44
[2] Actually $6,519.45. This figure presumes a mass of 20.4 kilograms of silver per talent (according to the New Interpreter’s Study Bible, page 382) and the kilogram has a mass of 655.88 ounces troy. The spot open for Silver in New York on November 12, 2008 is $9.94 according to http://www.thebulliondesk.com/ (retrieved November 11, 2008).
[3] Hare, Douglas R. A. “Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching.” Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1993, page 286.
[4] Computations taken from per capita income information for Berryville, Arkansas found at the US Census internet site, http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFFacts?_event=Search&geo_id=&_geoContext=&_street=&_county=72616&_cityTown=72616&_state=&_zip=72616&_lang=en&_sse=on&pctxt=fph&pgsl=010&show_2003_tab=&redirect=Y retrieved November 15, 2008.
[5] Proverb 1:7 (NRSV)
[6] 1Corinthians 12:7-10
[7] Romans 12:7-8
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