Loving God, you call us to follow Jesus, to learn from him and to live in your love. Help us to continue to learn and to grow by the power of your Holy Spirit; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In the parable that we heard today (Mt. 25:14-30), how many of you have always assumed that we are the slaves in this parable, and God or Jesus is the master? How many have always assumed that we are the ones who have been entrusted with God’s “property,” and one day Jesus will return to demand an account? How many have always assumed that if we don’t make proper use of what God has given us, we will be thrown out where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth?

This is certainly the interpretation that I have most often heard for the parable of the talents. However, I’m not convinced. In fact, some serious study of both the parable and the culture in which it is set raises a lot of questions. For one thing, our assumption tends to be that the first two slaves did the right thing, and the third slave did the wrong thing. As it turns out, the people listening to Jesus tell this story would have assumed exactly the opposite.

You see, in their culture, rich people were generally assumed to be unjust. If somebody was turning a huge profit like the first two slaves in the parable, you can bet that it was at the expense of others. I should add that one talent was worth about 20 years’ worth of wages for a labourer, and so these are very large amounts of money that we are talking about here. And so the people listening to Jesus would have believed that there was extortion and fraud going on with these first two slaves. They would have believed that the behaviour of these slaves was despicable, and not commendable!

As for the third slave, who buried the talent in the ground, the people would have assumed that he did the right thing. For one thing, he kept his master’s money safe. To bury valuables in the ground was not unusual in those days. In fact, that was considered to be the safest place to hide something. And so, this slave did not risk losing his master’s money through trade. Rather, he kept it safe and did not harm or defraud others in the process. Had the master in the parable been good and honest, it is this slave who would have been commended for his actions.

However, the master in the parable is not good and honest. In fact, the people would have assumed that he was unjust and greedy simply because of how much money he had for these slaves to look after! And so, when the master commends the slaves who act just like him, is this really surprising? And is it really surprising that this master would condemn the one slave who speaks the truth about him and who refuses to take from others in order to give more to his master?

Of course, with any parable, the question is not just how it would have been understood in Jesus’ culture, but how it applies to us. When we look at the gospel of Matthew, this parable is in the middle of a section that is all about the coming of the Son of Man. Some people would call this the second coming of Christ. Others talk about Jesus’ final appearing. However we refer to it, this section of Matthew has to do with the end, which will happen for us in one of two ways: Either we will die and meet Jesus, or Jesus will appear during our lifetime. Either way, we will meet Jesus, who is both our Saviour and our Judge.

While I do not believe that Jesus is the master in the parable, Jesus is Lord and master of all those who believe in him. It seems to me that the key idea from the parable is that the servants who acted like the master are the ones who are commended. Are we not also called to act like our master?

Scripturally speaking, there are a number of passages that admonish us to become more and more Christ-like both in our thinking and in our actions. One of these passages is from Ephesians, which talks about growing up into Christ (4:1-16). This growth involves using the gifts that God has given in order to equip the saints for the work of ministry (that’s you and me, in case you were wondering). This growth involves building up the body of Christ – the church. This growth involves – above all else – growth in love. We are to speak the truth in love, and we are to build up the church in love. To grow up into Christ is to grow in Christ’s love.

Actually, that love would be at the center should not be surprising to us. After all, the commands of Jesus can pretty much be boiled down to one: “Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn. 15:12). This is our call to act like our master, particularly when it comes to loving and serving others. In fact, if we are to look at Jesus’ whole life and how he used what he had been given – he used it all for the glory of God through service to others.

Is this not what we are called to do as well? Each one of us has been given different gifts, different resources, different abilities, and different life situations. Yet, no matter how much or how little we have been given, our call is the same – to use what we have to the glory of God through service to others.

One of Jesus’ better known parables is usually referred to as the Good Samaritan. In this parable, of course, the Samaritan is the only person who stops to help the man who was beaten up, robbed, and left bleeding on the side of the road. The Samaritan uses whatever he has at his disposal in order to help the man in need. He rips up some cloth for bandages. He uses some oil and wine that he has with him in order to care for the wounds. He puts the man on his own donkey in order to carry him to the nearest town. And then he takes the injured man to an inn and leaves the innkeeper some money in order to take care of the man.

The Samaritan does not do this in the hopes of being repaid or in order to earn brownie points with somebody. Rather, he simply does it out of compassion for this man who is in need. He simply uses whatever he has in order to be of service to a fellow human being. This is glorifying God through service to others.

And so, what are we doing with what we have been given? Do we recognize that we do not belong to ourselves, but to God? Do we recognize that our time, our talents and our treasures do not belong to us, but to God? Have we answered God’s call to come and follow Jesus and to learn from him? Are we allowing God to mold us and fashion us, just like a potter with the clay, helping us through the Holy Spirit to grow up into Christ?

We will meet Jesus, and the good news is this: The one who will judge us is the same one who loves us and who gave his life for ours. Romans 8 asks the following questions: God justifies us, so who’s going to condemn us? If God is for us, who can be against us? Jesus is the judge, and is he going to condemn the same people for whom he prays day and night? Who can separate us from the love of Christ?

Yes – we will meet Jesus, and we will be asked what we have been doing with all that has been entrusted to us. May we be able to respond with love and compassion, just as our master has love and compassion for us. Amen.

Lectionary 33(A)     Matthew 25:14-30
November 16, 2008
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2008 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved