Talent on Loan from God

Jesu Juva

St. Matt. 25:14-30                                                        

November 15, 2020

Proper 28A                                             

 Dear saints of Our Savior~

          If it was only about the talents, then this parable would be a snap.  If it was only about getting a good return on your investment—about buying low and selling high or diversifying your portfolio—well then, we could all rise up with one voice and say, “Amen. So shall it be.”  But the more you wrestle with the parable of the talents, the more you will come to see that it’s really not about the talents.  It is, rather, about the difference between fear and faith—or, even more precisely, the difference between fear and courage.

          Jesus told this parable only a few days before His crucifixion.  In the parable, Jesus Himself is the Master about to embark on a long journey.  Jesus Himself is the Giver of the talents. Now, to be clear, a talent was a unit of money.  It was a huge chunk of change.  One single, solitary talent was worth at least six figures by today’s standards.  No servants in the history of servanthood ever had it as good as these three to whom the Master entrusted so much wealth.

          But there’s a problem:  The Master doesn’t give the same amount to each servant.  One gets five.  Another gets two.  And another gets but one.  That’s not fair!  That’s not equitable!  And that’s exactly right.  This Master knows His servants well.  He doesn’t give any more or any less than each one can handle.  He gives according to the ability of each. 

          It’s worth remembering that our Lord still doles out earthly blessings today in much the same way.  To some He gives more.  To others He gives less.  But to each one He gives what is exactly appropriate.  And He gives these blessings to us freely—with practically no stipulations, guidelines, or expectations.  No need to file a monthly status report.  Our Lord refuses to micromanage how we manage the gifts He entrusts to us.

          Can you handle a God like that—a God who doesn’t demand to review a copy of your tax return each year—a God who freely gives you a hefty, generous amount of blessings and talents, without forcing you to sign a 30-page contract?  What kind of a God is this who places so much wealth and so many blessings into the hands of fumbling, failure-prone sinners, and then just disappears with a promise:  Surely I am with you always to the very end of the age?

          Beloved in the Lord, that’s really the question on which everything hinges this morning:  What kind of God is this?  Is He gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love?  Or is He tight-fisted and unforgiving, rewarding the successful and punishing those who fail?  That first kind of God invites us to live large and be courageous in how we manage what God has entrusted to us.  That second kind of God makes us fearful and terrified of failure.

          This is also how it plays out in the parable.  The servant who was given five talents doubled his investment—as did the servant who was given two talents.  But the third servant played it safe.  He did absolutely nothing with his talent except dig a hole and bury it.  When the Master returns to settle accounts with His servants, the results are somewhat predictable:  The two who turned a profit are praised and rewarded and invited to enter into the joy of their Master.  But the third servant, with his dirty, unused talent, is condemned to the outer darkness where tears always flow and molars always grind.

          But don’t you think for a minute that this parable is about the glories of free-market capitalism.  It isn’t.  It is about the difference between fear and courage.  Why did that third servant screw up so badly?  Why did he do nothing with the talent entrusted to him?  He tells us exactly why:  He was afraid!  Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid and I hid your talent in the ground.  Tragically, he was wrong on all counts.  He didn’t know his Master as He wishes to be known—that is, by faith—and, therefore, fear became his guiding principle.

          Now, the opposite of fear is courage.  Although it’s not explicitly stated in the parable, the first two servants obviously regarded their Master as being kind and generous, forgiving and merciful. And knowing these things about their Master gave them courage—courage to get out there and get busy and make use of what the Master had entrusted to them—and this despite the very real risk and the possibility of failure.  That’s what courage is.  Courage is boldly using your God-given talents despite danger and risk. 

          Have you noticed that we don’t hear much about courage these days?  This year, especially, there has been a crisis of courage.  Courage used to be a virtue that was universally admired and esteemed.  But for much of this year, because of COVID, we’ve essentially been told to bury our talent and be afraid.  We’ve been told NOT to do the work which God has entrusted to us:  Don’t go to church.  Don’t go to work.  Don’t go to school. Don’t go to the store.  Keep far away from friends and family.  Just stay home and be afraid.  And as for those who are courageous—those who cautiously and carefully seek to do the work which God has entrusted to them despite the risk—our culture criticizes them and calls them irresponsible or worse.

          Now, remember what courage is: Courage is faithfully using your God-given talents despite danger and risk.  We have also seen notable examples of courage this year.  We’ve seen healthcare workers using their God-given talents, despite the risk.  Teachers teaching in-person, using their God-given talents, despite the risk.  Pastors serving the body of Christ with the gifts of Christ in-person, despite the risk.  And you, exercising your freedom and your courage to come here—to hear the words of eternal life and to receive the body and blood of your Lord and Savior, despite the risk.  That’s what courage looks like.

          Fear, on the other hand, is the great paralyzer that prevents us from using our talents—from doing the holy work that our Lord and Master has called us to do.  And fear comes in all sorts of varieties:  fear of failure, fear of punishment, fear of loss, fear of the future, fear that others won’t approve.  And this fear all flows from not knowing the Master as He wishes to be known.  If you think your profit margins and your success and your commandment-keeping are the only way you can deal with Him, then you’ll wind up like servant number three—cornered by fear, terrified of making a mistake, frightened and stuck inside your sinful self, on a path that eventually leads to darkness.

          But beloved in the Lord, you have what he lacked.  For what servant number three lacked was not profit, but faith—not cash, but courage.  He believed that his Master was unforgiving and cruel.  And he got what he believed.  Had he believed that his Master was forgiving and merciful, well then, that servant would have gone out and courageously done business, as one who had nothing to lose.

          That’s us, really.  We are among those who have nothing to lose and nothing to fear. Catching COVID is not the worst thing that can happen to you.  So take courage; fear not.  Salvation is yours.  Eternal life is yours.  The treasures of heaven are yours.  Why?  Because Jesus came to earth to do business for you—to risk everything, to courageously invest His very life on a gamble to save the whole God-forsaking world, including you.  Though Jesus was the good and faithful servant whose every deed was “well done,” He became for you the Suffering Servant, bearing the sin of our wickedness and faithlessness.  Upon His cross, Jesus became like faithless servant number three—was crucified and cast into the darkness of the tomb for us, but He now lives as our resurrected Lord and Savior.

          We now live by faith each day in anticipation of our own resurrection.  That means that our works matter here and now.  Yes, it matters how we use and invest our talents on loan from God. On the Last Day, when our Master returns, our works will be judged.  But we will not be judged by our works, but simply by faith in Jesus—who loved you and gave Himself for you—who defeated death to remove the fear that keeps you paralyzed.  Not even COVID can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

          Your greatest “talent on loan from God” is the very gospel itself—the good news that God has reconciled the world to Himself in Christ—that He doesn’t count our sins against us—that this life is just a shadow of the life of the world to come.  That talent—the gospel—is placed into your hands to be shared and not buried.  You know something the world doesn’t know:  God isn’t like Ebenezer Scrooge, greedy and unforgiving.  You know that the Lord is good, that His mercy endures forever.  He justifies the ungodly and forgives the sins of all who are penitent, for the sake of His dear Son.  The world doesn’t know this or believe it.  But you do.  That’s your talent on loan from God.  How will you invest it?

          The question today is whether we will use our talent freely or fearfully—in faith or unfaith—trusting that God is good or fearing that He is harsh and cruel.  Look to the cross of Jesus, and there you will see the God you have.  There you will find confidence, courage, and freedom to use your talent on loan from God, and so enter into the eternal joy of Jesus. 

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