Proper 28 year a RCL

November 16, 2008

Matthew 25:14-30

Jesus said, "For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, `Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.' His master said to him, `Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.' And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, `Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.' His master said to him, `Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.' Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, `Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' But his master replied, `You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' "

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. In the name of the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.

The slaves are given money to invest. The money came in the form of a big brick of gold called a talent. One talent was the equivalent of 15 years wages. The first slave gets 5 talents, the second gets 2, and the last slave only gets one measly talent.

Of course, the first two slaves put their talents to good use and double the master’s money, receiving all of the accolades that come with fortune and success. But the third slave was scared, saying, `Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.'

God is portrayed as a “harsh man” as an excuse for the slave’s fear. The master (God) replied that if you thought that I was harsh, then why didn’t you at least leave the money with the bankers? The slave’s fear was so over-powering that all he could think to do was go and hide, burying his talent in the ground.

I looked up the etymology of the word talent on a cool website that I found called etymonline.com. Etymology is the study of how words in our language originated. The meaning of the word talent as a "special natural ability, aptitude," was developed c.1430, from the parable of the talents in the Gospel according to Matthew. The word talent the way we use it today was derived from this Gospel lesson. So when we speak of someone as being talented, or ourselves as lacking talent, we are talking about the slave that turned 5 talents into 10 and the slave that buried his. At least 575 years ago this parable was so clearly understood to be about us squandering our special natural abilities and aptitudes that a Biblical unit of measure became synonymous with innate skill. I find that very interesting. Think of all the years that we have used the word talent and thought it merely coincidental to this parable.

So, the third slave role-modeled for us what we are not to do with our talent—bury it, hoard it, not use it to God’s good purpose. I see two things here. First is that our talents are like the spiritual gifts that St. Paul talks about: exhortation, teaching, leadership, mercy, and the gift of giving, etcetera. There are more gifts that are listed in Scripture. However, St. Paul did not mean for his various lists of gifts to be exhaustive. For instance, some people have the gift of singing. I know a guy that goes into Curry Good Sam and sings to the patients there. He uses his gift to bring joy to those people. And the songs are not necessarily hymns. Some of the songs are just songs from back in the day that bring a smile of nostalgia to a person. These kinds of gifts come naturally, easily to the people with these types of talents. The danger here is that, since they do come easy, they may be taken for granted. Sometimes when talents are taken for granted, they can go unused. That would be the same as burying our talent in the ground.

The other thing I think about is how our talents often times have to be cultivated. My daughters are talented piano players. They have a musical aptitude. But developing the talent to play the piano requires practice. I would guess that most talents have to be developed over the course of time—like a talented athlete, for instance.

Our parable today is about using our talents to the glory of God. Bach often put the abbreviation S.D.G. at the end of his original score. S.D.G. stands for Soli Deo Gloria, pronounced, Solee Day-o Gloria, and means, “to God alone be the glory.” Good stuff. But there is a big downside when we hide our talents out of fear. The point of the parable is really to let us know how displeasing it is to God when we are fearful. An extreme case is the woman that I met a few days ago that is so afraid of the current state of the world that she and her family have “packed it in” and now live in the National Forest in a big canvas tent. They listen to the radio and figure that Armageddon is near. When we become hermits we are not working toward the building of the Kingdom of God though the use of our God-given special abilities and aptitudes.

To use our talents requires courage, especially when I am the one-talent slave and I am comparing myself to the five-talent slave. I don’t match up. If I take my measly little talent out onto the basketball court to help raise money for Habitat for Humanity, I’ll look like a fool and be mocked. Surely there is someone with more talent than me that can play ball and I’ll just park it on the bench. But Pastor Rick Green and I went out there anyway. I just about keeled over from exhaustion from all of the running. And Rick put up an air ball that could have resulted in him doing an amount of pushups equal to the number on the back of his jersey. But, fortunately, Rick was number “00.” And, fortunately, my lay up at least hit the rim. So all was well. You know that I was scared, though, waiting for my summons to the court. My talent didn’t measure up. But God used it to his glory anyway…

==Amen==