19 November 2023, Pentecost 25
Judges 4:1-10; Psalm 123; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11; Matthew 25:14-30
How often have you heard it said, or maybe said yourself, ‘God has blessed me’, when you see others or yourself benefit from ‘good fortune’ or unexpected things happen to you. Do we see ‘good fortune’ as reward from God for our ‘good behaviour’ or maybe that God sees how hard I am trying and ‘gives’ me this good fortune. This parable Jesus is telling, is about the ways we use the gifts and resources we have in our lives. On this Ministry Sunday, this message could not be more important. What resources do you have which you can offer to the parish, what time and abilities do you have which would benefit the running of our day to day ministries. In the parable, the Master congratulates and rewards the servants who ‘risk’ their gifts to enrich them and make them bigger, while the servant who is fearful of risk-taking is punished. Now acting prudently is not problematic, and many would see the punishment as undeserved, but this is about trusting God with the future and acting creatively and responsibly.
Growth and faithfulness, both personal and corporate, require risk-taking so that we avoid lapsing into oblivion and irrelevance. Adventure may be risky, but it is also rewarding and opens us to new gifts and horizons of possibility. Our readings invite us to be agents of our own destiny as individuals and congregations. They beg the questions: what prudent risks do I need to take personally, and as a member of this congregation; what is missing in our current setting; what would happen if we were awake to ‘chance moments’ and energies as they emerge. Dare I speak out on behalf of the marginalised, the vulnerable, even when that involves risk-taking. And we are cautioned against using this passage to enhance ‘prosperity gospel’ messages which perpetuate injustice, but to see our risk-taking, and God’s reward of it, as a way of faithfully supporting God’s path of justice, healing and reconciliation.
I do not deny risk taking can be frightening both on a personal level and at the congregational level, because it means change and possibly loss. But if we can boldly hold on to prudence then we can launch into deeper waters, trusting God as our companion and life-preserver, as well as our lure into the future. If we can use our gifts to multiply God’s healing realm in our world, who knows what greatness we may see.
Each of the servants receive shares of the master’s business, according to their ability. Although they receive differing amounts, they each receive a substantial sum of money. A talent is equal to about 6,000 denarii, and a common labourer’s daily wage was 1 denarii, so even the one who only received 1 talent effectively received the equivalent of 20 years wages for the average worker.
In the middle of this parable, we learn more about the master who, we are told he is a shrewd businessman who uses all means available to him to expand his estate and he takes whatever he can whenever it is available. And, interestingly, when reprimanding the unfaithful servant, he suggests that he should have at least invested his money with bankers where he could have at least earned some interest, even though this practice is forbidden in Scripture. But, for me, the master’s apparent willingness to make money ‘at any expense’ challenges any interpretation that sees the master in this parable as God.
The master goes away for a lengthy time period and the servants are expected to continue the master’s business in his absence. They are being asked to use everything the master has entrusted to them and make it work, use it, develop it, share it, let it grow. And when the master returns and sees what good choices the first two servants have made, he rewards them and gives them more. These servants do not get to ‘sit around’ and bask in their master’s praise, no, they are told to get back to it and, by the way, now you have more to work with. They are charged to ‘continue to live your life’. They have been given a life, each with different starting points, and they are charged with using that life and making something of it. Make it mean something, make it useful, live it so that what you make of it is more than sum of what you started with. That was the problem with the servant who buried his talent. He didn’t risk using his life to make it mean something. He failed to ‘live’ and he failed to show his life had meaning.
Jesus is nearing the end of his public ministry, and these parables he is giving to the disciples can be understood as preparing them for life without him. Jesus is trying to prepare them for those times when their faith will be tested, those times when life will not be a ‘bed of roses’ and they will face persecution, and violence. And he is trying to prepare them for living in the uncertainty of ‘waiting’ for Jesus’ return. So what about us. What does faithful waiting look like for us? Jesus has announced the arrival of God’s kingdom by feeding the hungry, curing the sick, blessing the meek and serving the least. And all who follow Jesus are to preach the good news of the kingdom to all they meet by doing the work God has called them to do. And this work includes visiting the sick and imprisoned, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry. So are we ready to ‘risk it' and live our lives so they have meaning, are we ready to live the life God has called us to by using the life God has given us to its fullest extent.