Thanksgiving of the Saints

Matthew 25:14-30 CEB

14 “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who was leaving on a trip. He called his servants and handed his possessions over to them. 15 To one he gave five valuable coins, and to another he gave two, and to another he gave one. He gave to each servant according to that servant’s ability. Then he left on his journey. 16 “After the man left, the servant who had five valuable coins took them and went to work doing business with them. He gained five more. 17 In the same way, the one who had two valuable coins gained two more. 18 But the servant who had received the one valuable coin dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money. 19 “Now after a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The one who had received five valuable coins came forward with five additional coins. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five valuable coins. Look, I’ve gained five more.’

21 “His master replied, ‘Excellent! You are a good and faithful servant! You’ve been faithful over a little. I’ll put you in charge of much. Come, celebrate with me.’22 “The second servant also came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two valuable coins. Look, I’ve gained two more.’ 23 “His master replied, ‘Well done! You are a good and faithful servant. You’ve been faithful over a little. I’ll put you in charge of much. Come, celebrate with me.’24 “Now the one who had received one valuable coin came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man. You harvest grain where you haven’t sown. You gather crops where you haven’t spread seed. 25 So I was afraid. And I hid my valuable coin in the ground. Here, you have what’s yours.’

26 “His master replied, ‘You evil and lazy servant! You knew that I harvest grain where I haven’t sown and that I gather crops where I haven’t spread seed? 27 In that case, you should have turned my money over to the bankers so that when I returned, you could give me what belonged to me with interest. 28 Therefore, take from him the valuable coin and give it to the one who has ten coins. 29 Those who have much will receive more, and they will have more than they need. But as for those who don’t have much, even the little bit they have will be taken away from them. 30 Now take the worthless servant and throw him out into the farthest darkness.’

“People there will be weeping and grinding their teeth.

INTRO

Life gives us many chances to live in fear. Our future is never certain. Couple this with hard times at work or at home, Global threats, the wars in Israel and Ukraine, and political instability in the federal government, and we quickly begin to feel helpless. Many people choose to let fear control them. For example, we won't get to know someone because the other person is different from us, and we choose to hate others or vilify that which we do not understand. Others use fear to exploit others to get what they want. Uncertainty can also be used to justify lavish and excessive lifestyles. I’ll take that expensive trip or eat too much because you never know what tomorrow will bring. For some, these times of uncertainty mean just holding on to what you have and never letting go.

Even in the local church, we encounter this mentality of fear. While nothing has changed in the Book of Discipline, thousands of United Methodist congregations across the denomination have disaffiliated out of fear of what the future MIGHT hold. Pastors have clung to the words “fear of the Lord” with endless talks of damnation as a way to frighten people into coming into church. The church has caused hate to be spewed towards LGBTQIA+, Muslims, and anyone who does not “follow” Christ the way they feel Christ ought to be followed. The church has failed to proclaim and live out God’s love for all of creation. More often than not, this failure comes out of a fear of the other. It is easier to speak hurt toward someone you don’t know or understand than it is to speak ill of someone you have a relationship with.

This kind of mentality has caused many people to be hurt by the church, as the church has taught people to live in fear of punishment rather than grateful praise; it has proclaimed damnation rather than love and the belovedness of which God views humanity. The truth is that God desires for all of creation to be saved. God’s prevenient grace is at work in every person we lay our eyes on. God never stops pursuing each and every person because God made us all. God love us all.

At first glance, our passage for this morning seems to play into the mentality of damnation: it seems to be a tale of an angry God waiting to punish the faithless. The servant in the parable even names this: “Master, I knew that you are a hard man.” Yet, a deeper look at the parable reveals a truer and far richer meaning than a sinner in the hands of an angry God.

This parable is placed in Matthew’s Gospel in the final week of Jesus’ life and ministry before he heads to the cross. The next chapter of Matthew will focus on Jesus’ betrayal arrest. Jesus is urgently sharing with his disciples what faithfulness will look like as they wait for the coming of Christ. How fitting is it that on the verge of advent, the season where we prepare for the coming of Christ, that we too are being reminded of the call to faithfulness. So what does faithfulness in these in-between times look like?

Before we dive in, we first have to start with the word “talent.” So often, we hear this word, and we struggle to understand its meaning. In Jesus’ time, it was an amount of currency. However, in our hearing this morning, the original intention of the gospel would be fully heard if we defined it as “gift and graces.” In defining talent as gifts and graces, we are reminded that God gives us different skills and abilities. We are to use these gifts and graces for the building up of the church. Our talents are gifts of the Spirit. They are a means of grace; therefore, “talent” is also defined as God’s grace. Our realization of God’s grace in our abilities or even inability means we are called to recognize the ways in which God’s grace empowers us for mission and ministry. We further acknowledge the sharing of God’s grace creates a further reverberation of grace, while burying God’s grace ultimately results in the diminishing of grace.

The parable, told in a fresh way, says that the Master gave out three different sums of talents according to each servant’s ability. The talents or gifts, and graces are not given out in a wasteful manner but with wisdom as the Master bestows gifts abundantly on the receiver. The master carefully calibrates the gifts on the basis of the receiver’s ability and gives the receiver the gift of freedom to respond with loving responsibility and joyful obedience. The master then rejoices at the fidelity, not their success.

The third servant, however, is driven by fear because his “master is a hard man.” Instead of using the gifts given by the master, he clings to his own understanding of who the master is. Acting out of fear of losing the talents, the third servant buries it. However, the third servant is wrong in his understanding of the master’s desires for them. One commentary notes, “Descriptions of the Master by the 3rd servant is not justified by the actions of the master - The Master is very generous (places great wealth at their disposal) and very rewarding (invited them into his joy, presumably changing the relationship to one of equals.”

With this understanding of God’s gifts, we must recognize the abundant gifts that God gives us. As we receive God’s gifts graciously bestowed on our lives, we must ask ourselves how we will receive them. Will it come from a place of faith or a place of fear? You see, God desires for us to faithfully respond to God. God wants us to take risks, trusting that God will provide for us. If we tried and failed, God rejoices with us in the lessons we learn. If we never step out in faith and bury our heads in the sand, God calls us to make a different choice. Faith is a more powerful choice than any other choice we could make.

Some may think that the church is the master, but the church makes up the servants of today. As one theologian reminds us, “The church and its leaders stand in this world as the ones who will give their lives to tell the master’s story. The church inspires faith and trust in God by reminding people of all the trust that God shows, from the giving of God’s only Son to the gifts given to each of God’s children. In doing so, the church empowers people to share what they have been given—indeed, even themselves—for the good of all. Master and servant become bonded, each to the other. What from the outset appeared to be a mere contractual arrangement becomes true relationship.”

What is the point here? Faithful living is not static. Our faith is not only passed down to us by the Saints who have gone on, but their thanksgiving echoes throughout the ages. The Thanksgiving of the Saints is that they chose to trust God. They gave thanks to God for the gifts that God gave them, and they did something about it.

Our communion liturgy takes its root in an ancient temple practice. Gifts were brought to the temple, where they were blessed, broken, and shared. In our communion practice, we take simple elements of bread and juice; we bless them, divide them up, and share them so that all might have and take part in the holy meal. This forms a pattern that shapes the ministries of so many saints: Take. Bless. Break. Share. Sometimes, this was risky. Sometimes, it involved people sacrificing so that others might have something. Sometimes, it involved trusting God that funding would come so a building could be built so that Christ’s light might shine into the community.

Our lesson from the gospel account is to take risks and trust God like the first two servants because the truth is, as one theologian puts it. “The greatest risk of all, it turns out, is not to risk anything, not to care deeply and profoundly enough about anything to invest deeply, to give your heart away and in the process risk everything. The greatest risk of all, it turns out, is to play it safe, to live cautiously and prudently. Orthodox, conventional theology identifies sin as pride and egotism. However, there is an entire other lens through which to view the human condition. It is called sloth, one of the ancient church’s seven deadly sins. Sloth means not caring, not loving, not rejoicing, not living up to the full potential of our humanity, playing it safe, investing nothing, being cautious and prudent, digging a hole and burying the money in the ground.”

Church, we like being comfortable. We like routine, and we create excuses by for not taking risks by protesting that our spiritual gifts are too modest and insignificant. Yet, our parable makes it known that all our gifts and graces are precious and to be used to their fullest ability. Our gifts of time, service, witness, prayers, and presence are the means by which we use our gifts and graces. We are to use our abilities to build one another up, take risks, and invite those outside these four walls to join us.

You see, when we take our gifts, bless the work, divide them, and go out to do God’s work in the world, we can take part in the thanksgiving of the saints. We begin the hard work of truly offering ourselves to the other in love. And when our master comes to check in on us, we will have worked to increase God’s kingdom here on earth as we invite others to join us in this work.

So the question becomes: how often are we motivated by fear instead of love? What are we willing to risk for the sake of love, grace, and forgiveness? We have received so much love, grace, and forgiveness from Christ…now we have the responsibility to take it and multiply it so that we and others might experience grace upon grace.

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