Multiplying our talents

Proper 28 Year A

November 19, 2017

    Three years ago, when I preached on these texts I said that I was uninspired by them and that I really didn’t like the parable of the talents.   Well, in three years, guess what?   I still don’t like that parable.

    What I comfort myself with when I have trouble with scripture, and especially with parables, is that at least in a case like today, Jesus has a gift for going overboard with language so that he can make a point.  I am sure that some of his hearers might have not gotten the point or at least A point if he didn’t engage in a bit of exaggeration.  

    As I think about the parable this year, I find myself thinking about gifts and maybe even the Holy Spirit.  If we take the baptismal covenant seriously, and we truly believe that the Holy Spirit is Jesus’ gift to us to help us to continue his work in the world, then I think it makes sense to say that our gifts are meant to be used.  And, while the parable is talking about money, I think it can mean any gift.

    Realizing that we have gifts to give back to God can sometimes be a tough sell.  For some of us, the daily grind of work or just life in general can feel like it saps us of anything we might have had left to give, and if there is something, it’s likely that someone else is going to demand it from us, whether it’s our time, our skills or our money.

    And yet, look what happens to the servants in the parable who take what the master has given them and actually use it… the money multiplies.  The servants who use the money seem to do so without fear and without second guessing what they are doing.   They appear to trust that the money will somehow grow and become even more useful.  As I think about the servant that buried the money obviously didn’t do so well.  He seemed to forget or at least be afraid to take a risk; he was given a responsibility to use the money to make more and he chose not to.  As I contemplate his response to the master, I wonder if the servant somehow took credit for the sowing and scattering, and then criticizes the master who collects the fruits of the work that others have done.  What the servant is forgetting, is that the master is in charge; the servant scatters seed and does all of this work so that the master can benefit; that’s what it means to be the master; and, as we see with the other servants, when the master prospers by their work, they too prosper.  Those that brought back more than they were originally given, were trusted with even more responsibility because they had the master’s best interests in mind.  They realized, that they were not separate from the master, and that the money wasn’t theirs to waste.

    Maybe there are some good lessons here for us too.  It’s important for us to realize that we aren’t doing all this Christian stuff alone.  The kingdom doesn’t belong only to us and while we have been given all the freedoms that are possible, kingdom work is God’s work.  It’s work that isn’t self centered or self promoting, but rather has God’s ideals and intentions at heart.  For us, it also means that no gift is too small or unimportant.  Recently, some of my franciscan friends have been trying to engage our older community members, our “Older Saints” if you will.  The message that we are trying to get to them is that just because they are older, and for some of them not even living independently, doesn’t mean, that they cannot be contributing members of our community.  One member gathers and sends out a list of prayer requests each week; others are writing articles on aging for our newsletter; others are involved in telephone ministries of reaching out to others, some have taken the ministry of contemplative prayer seriously; and we are hoping not only to hear about more ministries, but also to encourage those who may have thought they didn’t matter to the community anymore, to find their rightful place as an older saint in our community.  The lesson here, is that it ALL matters.  No gift given in love is too small or insignificant because if WE all matter, then all that we DO matters, and not only does it matter, but it is needed.  God never refuses a gift that we give to God in love… because here’s a secret… the gift is God’s anyway.  It came from God and was given to us.  Each of us has the responsibility to use whatever God has given to us is such a way that we not only give the gift back, but we give it back in abundance without fear and without reservation.

    I think one of the things we learn from the parable of the talents, is that the servant who buried the master’s money was afraid, and he didn’t want to change or grow, he wanted things to be safe and stay the same.  The kingdom isn’t safe; it is full of risk, just like trying to make more money from what the master has given;  using the gifts we have been given, whether they are gifts of time, money or talent, are only ours to borrow, they are not ours to hide or to keep to ourselves, they are meant to be shared, they are meant to be used; they are meant to be used for the master’s pleasure and purposes… and that means we need to be open to the master, open to God’s desires for how our gifts are used… We are created by God, the master of all there is.  Everything, our time, talent and money belongs to God.  He is asking you to multiply your gifts;  what will you choose to do?