Pentecost 25A, 2023

25th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

“A farmer who went into the house one day to tell his wife and family some good news. ‘The cow just gave birth to twin calves, one red and one white,’ he said.

He continued, ‘We must dedicate one of these calves to the Lord. We will bring them up together, and when the time comes, we will sell one and keep the proceeds and we will sell the other and give the proceeds to the Lord’s work.’ His wife asked him which he was going to dedicate to the Lord. ‘There's no need to bother about that now,’ he replied, ‘we'll treat them both in the same way and when the time comes, we'll do as I say.’

A few days later, he entered the kitchen looking unhappy. ‘What happened?’ his wife asked. ‘I have bad news,’ he replied, ‘The Lord’s calf is dead.’ ‘Wait,’ said his wife, ‘you didn't decide which calf was the Lord’s.’ ‘Yes’ he said, ‘I decided it was the white one, and the white one died. The Lord’s calf is dead.’” (from Martin Lloyd-Jones)

I read this week that in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, 1 out of every 6 verses deals with money. Of the 29 parables Christ told, 16 of them deal with a person and his money. And if you haven’t figured out yet that we’re in “Stewardship Season”… here’s another lesson on that subject in today’s Gospel.

Last week’s Gospel lesson came from the verses right before this passage: the parable of the 10 Bridesmaids, with their lamps. Remember that the lesson was to be ready (have extra oil available) and keep watching - we don’t know when the bridegroom will return. Christ is the bridegroom, and the bride is his church - us. So today’s Gospel lesson picks up right there and tells us *how* we are to be watching “for our Lord’s coming: by faithfully using his talents in his service.” [Lenski, 971] As we do that, the grace that ignites faith and new life - which in turn permits us to enter the heavenly marriage - is supposed to be followed by the fruits of grace and faith and a new life in good works.” [Ibid.] In other words, God’s grace *to* us is intended to result in grace coming *from* us. The Parable of the Talents explains this in more detail.

There’s one word in here that deserves a little closer attention: talent. As a monetary unit, this could have been made from either silver or gold. If it was a silver talent, each one was worth 20 years of income. If it was made of gold, it was more like 600 years of income. Needless to say, even the last servant was entrusted with a considerable amount of money. Keep that in mind as we go through this passage.

There are definitely some good lessons to be learned in this parable. The first is that God doesn’t bless everyone equally. Notice that the first action to take place here is that God calls His servants. Not because of what they can or cannot do. He calls them because they’re His servants. God *does* give to them “according to their ability”. It seems that God does not give anyone more than they can handle. But, as we will see, some are given very little but make poor choices with what little they have.

I think most of us have heard this lesson plenty of times. I hope that as you’ve read this passage and heard it read, you’ve come to realize that this is not just about money. This is about all that God blesses us with: yes - wealth & possessions, but also time, talents, family, even our very lives are a blessing from God… and for all of them, we should give Him thanks. Remember: the first thing faith says is “thank you.”

This parable is being spoken to the Twelve - the innermost group of Jesus’ followers. His closest students and friends. The master in this parable is Jesus himself, who is about to leave them when he ascends to be with the Father, and he expects to be gone a long time. But eventually he *will* return. So the “slaves” (servant is a watered-down translation) that he calls belong to him. They are not employees. They are not co-workers. They are slaves - meaning they have been bought and paid for. Paid for by the master. But these are trusted slaves: look at how much he is entrusting them with! He’s telling them his plans, and he’s letting them know just how much he trusts them. And by showing this trust, it appeals to their hearts - or it should - and help them understand that they are worthy of his great trust. This trust then had a corresponding responsibility on their part, as well as a sense that they should measure up to that responsibility.

Does it seem odd that each of the 3 servants is given different levels of responsibility? “According to his ability” is all the explanation we need. “The point stressed here is the diversity [between the level of responsibility], one getting more, while another gets fewer talents. This very diversity helps us to explain the talents. They are our abilities and gifts, of which each of us has his personal and different share. We may think of the spiritual gifts, but we must include the natural faculties of mind and of body, position, influence, money, education, and every earthly advantage and blessing (sanctified as they ought to be by grace). They come to us from the same Lord as a sacred trust to be employed in his service.” [Lenski, 973]. It is a testament both to God’s wisdom and His love for us that we are treated differently - according to our abilities. To entrust too much to a person who can only handle a little is tragedy in the making. On the other handdn, to entrust to little to someone who can handle a great deal is a waste of talent. God’s perfect wisdom ensures that each of us is entrusted with exactly what we can manage.

Jesus’ parable gives us 2 positive examples in the first 2 slaves. While they did not produce a return on investment that is equal in value, it was equal in percentage: both made one hundred percent profit. They went about their work right away and in doing so, demonstrated their faithfulness and loyalty to their master. These “The [profits] represent what the Lord requires of us, namely that we shall return back to the Lord according to what we have received. The talents gained are the graces and the gifts found in others whom we win for the church and whom we help forward in their Christian life. There is a constant extension and multiplication of gifts in the church, talent producing talent. But the point of the parable is the faithfulness of the slaves.” [Lenski, 975].

Then we are told about the 3rd slave’s unfaithful behavior. Jesus’ point is not that those who have the fewest gifts will be unfaithful. In this example, “Jesus takes the one whose responsibilities were the lightest; he had no more than he could easily handle. If he had been burdened with more talents he would have had an excuse; but as it is he has none. Nor could he claim that, if he had received five talents, he would have proved faithful; his unfaithfulness would have been only greater… So this slave who was burdened with only one talent since his ability was no greater, had no more required of him than was required of any of the others, no more than he could and should easily have done.” [Lenski, 976].

Jesus could have used a different example of unfaithfulness; instead, he chose to illustrate the lightest type of guilt: to be idle and unproductive. It is the actual nature of our God-given gifts that they should be productive. This man could have squandered the money - and that would have been much worse. As Jesus portrays this slave, it’s clear that the gift his master gave him is something he really didn’t want. It didn’t arouse any kind of response in his heart at all. He had no choice but to take the gift, but he kept it in a manner which revealed his real attitude toward both the gift and the Giver: he buried it. In this way, he was like someone who had no gift at all; but it was he the slave who made himself this way. In this he is a picture of all those in the church who for any reason refuse to use the gifts of Christ in his service. By such non-use the gifts are buried, and those who have God’s gifts but bury them put themselves into the same state as those who are without those gifts. [Ibid.]

The master is gone for a long time. In the parable, the sense is that this takes a matter of years. How many years is unclear, but it’s not a short absence. This means 2 things: the delay in his return tests the faithful; at the same time it gives the unfaithful plenty of time to repent and do right by the master. But it is not a delay without end. Judgment does come eventually.

Notice that the unfaithful servant still comes. He had to. Every unfaithful servant will have to show up. And for this one, as we hear him speak, we learn that he really has a false or at least corrupted understanding of who his master is. The whole parable contradicts his “knowledge” of the master. He sees the great and generous lord as being as envious and self-serving as he himself. And he is driven by fear of the master he sees. He thought he would be punished if he lost the talent or a part of it if he risked trading with it, so he hid it instead. Interestingly, he’s afraid of that, but he’s not afraid to call his good master bad names? He’s not afraid to bring back the talent without putting in even a little effort to make it produce something (like the bank)? And when he gives it back, he says “here, you have what is yours.” He never made the talent his own in any sense of the word. He never felt like it was his at all. Put another way: he never *received* it. No, he didn’t squander it or gamble it away, so he thinks he will escape any blame. He just had done nothing at all. Here’s what Dr. Lenski has to say: “He was not guilty of the world’s abuse of God’s gifts; he remains in the outward church but remains idle as a drone. He has his faculties, his life, his health, his abilities and his influence, but that is all. No fruit gained by these was returned to the Lord. Faith without works is dead. And thus shall be his judgment.” [Lenski, 982].

The master takes the one talent from him and gives it to the slave with the 10 talents. What this means is that the Lord doesn’t let any of His gifts be lost. He takes care of them, for they are valuable to him both here on earth and in the highest heaven. He who neglects his gifts only enriches others and defeats himself twice. [Ibid]

There is an old word my grandparents used to use: “miser” - someone who kept their money locked away or hidden in a mattress. Ebenezer Scrooge, right? Such people are rich in all the wrong ways. Large bank accounts, but poor lives. Someone who has gifts but doesn’t use them might as well not have them. The comparison here for us is this: it’s like a Christian who confesses our faith outwardly, but doesn’t internalize it… doesn’t take the Gospel to heart and live it every day - only on Sunday mornings from 10:00 am to 11:34 am. The crown that Christ has set aside to put on your head will be passed on to another.

God’s grace and love are seen in the treatment of the faithful servants. The first thing each of them said was “you gave me 5 talents” - in other words, the slave recognizes that without the gift from the master, he could accomplish nothing. And second, since he is the master’s slave, he and all his labor and skill and profit all belong to the master anyway. The slave acknowledges that. And the master responds generously: “well done, good and faithful servant.” My favorite scholar says this: “No higher commendation can come to any believer from the lips of Jesus. This significant praise outranks all the flattery and the honor the world may bestow. Jesus holds up this commendation to us in advance in order that we may ever keep it before our eyes and allow it to make us always faithful.” [Lenski, 979].

And if that wasn’t enough - the highest praise from Christ himself… he then extends an invitation to an even greater gift: “You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.” You did so well that I will entrust you with even more. But here’s the best part: “Enter into the joy of your master.” I don’t think we can possibly wrap our heads around what that means. The heavenly joy of Christ! That’s what we hear in Revelation “he will wipe away every tear from their eyes” - eternal joy. I like this description: “‘It is but little we can receive here, some drops of joy that enter into us; but there we shall enter into joy as vessels put into a sea of happiness.’ Leighton.” [Lenski, 979–980].

This parable is hard for Lutherans. It sounds like works righteousness, doesn’t it? I think that’s because we confuse salvation with sanctification. Christ earned our eternal salvation. Nothing we do can earn that. Knowing that, what do we do with this gift? Do we embrace it, appreciate it, learn from it, let it change us…let it sanctify us?

What do we do with it? That is a question that must be answered individually. Prayer is your first step in seeking an answer. Scripture is next. God will let you know what He wants you to do. All you need to do is ask. When you walk that path that God is calling you to, good things *will* happen around us and in us, for us and for our neighbor.

Let’s all pray that God will show each of us how to use our gifts not only for the good of our church family, but for our neighbors and our community. Let’s not keep our gifts buried, but instead let’s risk putting them out in the world and see how God will multiply them.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.