Scripture/Sermon of the Day. November 19, 2023
Matthew 25:14-30
The Parable of the Talents
14 “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted
his property to them; 15 to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another
one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. At once 16 the one who
had received the five talents went off and traded with them and made five more
talents. 17 In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more
talents. 18 But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole
in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 After a long time the master of
those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20 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.’ 21 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.’ 22 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.’ 23 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.’ 24 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, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here
you have what is yours.’ 26 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? 27 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. 28 So take the
talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29 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. 30 As for this
worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth.’
Reflection/Sermon:
I. The 19th century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard said: “God has
given each of us our ‘marching orders.’ Our purpose here on earth is to find
those orders nd carry them out. Those orders acknowledge our special gifts.”
II. Kierkegaard may have been influenced in writing this by the parable we
just heard about the three slaves who were each given a large sum of money by
their master who — interestingly — didn’t tell them what to do with it. The
money was “entrusted” to them — so — it wasn’t theirs to keep. They held the
money in “trust” — it still belonged to the master.
III. So “talent” is a word that has two meanings in this story — it’s a big
sum of money and it can also refer to “talents” each of us was born with. Gifts
that God gave us, which — as was the case with the three slaves in the parable —
we didn’t ask for. We didn’t earn our talents — and it seems we’re supposed use
them.
IV. When we explored this in Bible Study, someone said, “Sometimes gifts are
hard to see. Maybe we don’t see anything. Maybe some of us don’t have any
talent, at least, nothing noteworthy.”
But in Jesus’ story — even the least gift is valuable — and everyone was given
something! MAYBE our definition of gift or talent is TOO SMALL OR NARROW. For
example — do you see your sexual orientation as a gift? Our denomination, the
United Church of Christ, says it is — heterosexual, homosexual, lesbian, trans —
LGBTQ. It’s a gift. We didn’t ask for it — it was given to us at birth, with
love.
Look how everyone interprets the Bible differently. The speaker of the House,
who reads the Bible and calls himself a Christian, is certain that any sexual
orientation other than heterosexual is NOT A GIFT BUT A CRIME! And that God is
punishing America because we allow people in this country to be gay and even
give them rights.
V. THERE’S A GIFT THAT IS BADLY NEEDED NOW — a talent for peacemaking.
Hate crimes are on the rise. Antisemitism and Islamophobia are increasing
sharply. The terrorist attack of Hamas against Israel, and the longstanding and
far-right oppressive policy of the ruling party in Israel toward the
Palestinians have caused people around the world to take a side and react, many
people reacting hatefully. There are people on each side saying the other side
must be “exterminated.”
VI. Exterminated? That’s a term we use when we talk about rats and
cockroaches and other VERMIN. Who would call another person vermin? Who would
use a term like that on human beings who are made in the image of God? I’m sure
nobody we would follow or support.
There are also people who profane the image of God in those people who are
labeled “immigrants.” That to mix our blood with theirs is to “poison” the
blood of non-immigrants. Which is crazy because most of us in this country — if
we’re not African-Americns or Native Americans — are from immigrants. But if
every human being is the image of God — how can we say their blood is “poison?”
VII. I wish more people would read the Bible and think about what they are
reading. People talk like they don’t understand THAT EVERY ONE OF US IS
SACRED.
Someone brought up a good point about this parable. Why would God punish the
one slave who didn’t increase the value of his talent — but who also didn’t lose
anything. Because we see in another of Jesus’ stories that the Prodigal Son —
who was more irresponsible than the slave with one talent — actually got a
reward after he lost everything — just because he came home.
Jesus teaches us that God is a lover, not a punisher. And that using our gifts
MEANS WE MUST TAKE RISKS.
We take risks when we use the gifts God has given us — especially the greatest
gift, which is love. Jesus promises that the more we use our God-given gifts,
the more they increase.