Readings: 1 Thess. 5: 1-11; Matthew 25:14-30.
Introduction
These parables of the Kingdom of God (or in Matthew “Kingdom of Heaven”) are really fascinating.
- There’s the wedding banquet for the King’s son where invited people won’t come – (Matt 22 – where the servants are sent out to get a kind of rent a crowd from all over the place – remember it? It ends with one man being told off and thrown out for not having the appropriate wedding clothes).
- And then another wedding banquet where half the bridesmaids don’t have oil for their lamps) and they’re waiting for the bridegroom to come…
- And then there’s today’s parable involving a master and servants again, the so-called parable of the talents – where again people are given responsibilities and held to account.
What do all three of these stories have in common?
Three things:
- Resources – for banquets, week-long wedding celebrations, or investments aka “talents”.
- Accountability – there’s always some kind of audit – someone with status or authority comes back after some delay and people have to do what they’re supposed to do with those resources.
- A time frame of some sort – a delay or a deadline – but no actual certainty about the day or hour.
In the middle of all of this are these verses in Matthew 24 we haven’t looked at this time:
Mat 24:42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
Mat 24:44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Mat 24:50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of.
ARE WE READY FOR THE END?
The whole section in Matthew’s gospel from the time of Jesus’ coming into Jerusalem and through this teaching period is placed in a framework of the end coming – signs of the times – no one knowing the day or the hour – and are you ready? It’s that “coming ready or not” kids used when they used to play hide and seek.
SO WHAT IS A TALENT?
You’ve probably realised by now that the word “talent” as we use it is a bit different from the bible talents here. It’s basically a sack of metal – gold, silver or copper back then – weighing about 30 kgs.
Most commonly it was silver, although some translations now use the term “bag of gold” to distinguish these talents from our abilities to sing and dance or do something entertaining at a talent show – or on a bigger stage like “Britain’s Got Talent” where the golden buzzer is the big ticket to future success on the stage.
SOME PARABLES TEACH US MORE THAN ONE THING.
So, what do we take home today from this parable?
1. THE PARABLE TEACHES US THAT GOD GIVES US GIFTS TO BE USED.
God gives us gifts to be used.
Let’s look at these servants.
The first two do the same thing and say the same thing. They’ve doubled their master’s money 5 bags of silver becomes 10, and 2 bags of silver becomes 4. They are commended and invited to share in their master’s blessings.
The third servant is different though.
He’s got issues – with master and how he sees him – and with the risks involved. He is fearful of what might happen (like many of our phobias – we get paralyzed and freeze). He seems relieved to give the master his bag of silver back. The third servant is a reminder of what not to be – fearful and mistrusting.
The parable is a reminder to use our gifts and not bury them in a hole. It’s a bit like putting your light under a bushel rather than on a lamp stand. Using our gifts It’s a valid teaching, but I don’t think that’s the main point.
2. THE PARABLE TEACHES US ABOUT HOW TO LIVE FULL LIVES USING GOD’S PROVISION.
It’s not really about investments and profit. It’s about using the gifts, living energetically, taking risks, in Kingdom matters. It’s more than not being afraid. It involves high risk things.
This whole section of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew is about what he expected his followers to do after he left. About their courage and faithfulness to him as the King. And it wasn’t going to be easy.
The greatest risk of all today turns out to be not risking anything at all. Playing it safe. Living too cautiously and prudently like servant number 3.
Take giving for example. We probably don’t give too much when we are afraid of running out. God calls us to surrender every part of our lives boldly. As was once said, we need a conversion of the heart, the mind, and the wallet. (Luther)
We’ve been talking about this for a long time.
- Loving God with all your heart. With reckless abandon. Breaking open our jars of beauty and value, pouring out our best for Jesus.
- Loving neighbours as recklessly and passionately as we love ourselves.
- Loving strangers and opening our hearts and homes to them so that they won’t be strangers anymore.
- Extending our table in our community as we open our lives and our place here to others.
- Seek first the kingdom of God – and all the things you need will be added unto you – says Jesus. (Matthew 6:33)
3. THE PARABLE TEACHES US GENEROSITY AS GOD GENEROUSLY BLESSES US.
The parable of the talents is a crazy story. A talent was a weight of 30 kg of metal, usually silver. One talent was equal to roughly 6000 days’ wages at the time, worth at least 20 years’ worth of pay. It’s a lot!
This is not about human ability, (those talent shows!). It’s not just about who is gifted and who isn’t. Yes, in verse 15 it does say that he gave them talents of gold each “according to his ability.”
But it didn’t stop the 2-talent man from getting on with things. He didn’t say – it’s not fair you’ve got 5 talents – or to the 1-talent man – why have you only got one?
I think it’s about the Father’s generosity to give us the things and resources we need to establish his Kingdom. We should get involved in his purpose with passion. After all, he gives out the resources in the parable and then leaves them to get on with his work. He takes the risk too.
And the parable also asks us questions about what we devote our lives to. What we hang our hearts and hopes on. Are we really seeking first the Kingdom of God?
4. THE PARABLE (LIKE THE OTHERS IN THIS PART OF MATTHEW) TEACHES US ALERTNESS.
The phrase “long time” here, and in the case of the delayed bridegroom and the master of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18, doesn’t allow us be complacent. Jesus’ parousia (his second coming) is always soon and yet not immediate, just as Jesus taught that the kingdom was “at hand” or “near”, or “within us” (if we read Luke 17). It’s still nearer than we think or imagine, and within us, and yet we pray for its daily coming and future full manifestation in the Lord’s prayer.
- It’s one thing being ready for Christmas.
- It’s another thing having a Kingdom focus every moment and every day we are alive – being alert to signs of the Kingdom, and how God wants us to pray and pay it into reality in peoples’ lives. And built into this is our focus verse from 1 Peter: Our Mission: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks us to give the reason for the hope that we have.” (1 Peter 3:15). (They will ask this when they see the kingdom life in us. In our second reading today in 1 Thess 5:8 Paul talks encourages his readers to stay sober and alert, and to take faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet).
Isn’t it the will of God in heaven that people on earth live with that kind of Kingdom flourishing? Experiencing God’s amazing grace and generosity through us. We should take risks using God’s gifts and resources (the 30kg bags of silver or gold and all the other gifts we receive) as He leads us.
If this is about the Kingdom, then the treasure or gold we begin with is
- the gift of knowing Jesus the King and
- sharing the good news of the Kingdom of God which came in Jesus and his ministry, comes through us, and will come completely.
And we are always expected to be faithful.
If we are alert then we will be ready to respond faithfully with the gifts and treasure we to share. You may remember Psalm 19 speaking about God’s laws, precepts, commands, his word basically: Psa 19:10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; Included in our bags of gold are these treasures: the good news of the kingdom, the hope that we can offer, and the teachings of Jesus the King.
We always quote James who says we should hear the word and then put it into practice. Being a faithful servant and witness means being totally immersed in God’s word, his truth, his kingdom, his good news, his abundant life we have to share.
We’re unlikely to ever hear “well done good and occasionally reliable servant”. As you have probably heard me say before- you wouldn’t call your fridge faithful if it only worked on selected days of the week. Or your car. 😊
Here’s the challenge – that we faithfully consider what risks we could take as God’s servants in our corner of the vineyard. And be encouraged. God is at work– in all we do, in and through our leadership, and every member of His body, every one of us who has an open ear to heaven and an open heart too.
Amen.
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