Playing It Safe I As we begin to look at the Gospel lesson for today I would like to dispel what I believe is one of the most prominent misinterpretations of modern biblical studies. The misinterpretation hinges around the use of the word “Talents”. The word “Talents in the Gospel lesson has nothing to do with special skills such as music, or mathematics or dancing or the like. The word talents signify a measure of money, a large measure of money. While there was not a talent coin available to people there was the measure of money that helped us to see what a talent was. By the standard of the day a denarii was the measure of a day’s wage and a talent was the measure of 6000 days wages, which is roughly a million dollars. This means that the master was not being cheap when he gave to his servant’s one, two and five talents to use. The master was going to be gone for an undetermined length of time and he gave to his servants a sum of money to be invested during his absence. This is a story with a message a parable; it is a message that relates to each and every one of us. The story is that of Jesus telling his follower, which is telling you and me, that he is going to be gone for an undetermined length of time. During that time we will be in charge of God’s world. It will be up to us to care for God’s people and the plants and elements of the world. We will be given the necessary resources to do that. In a world where most people are struggling to get by we are talking about real wealth. The question is how carefully, and how fully will we develop it. This parable is talking to you and me, about caring for the world God created and the people and life that is a part of it. II: The God that we worship is not a cheap God. It is not a God that builds a relationship around the smallest of investments. In the movie “Armageddon” “Rockbound”, the character played by Steve Busemi, as he and the rest of the crew are strapped to a rocket that will blast them into space, asks how his fellow ventures feel about being shot into outer space on top of 4000000 parts all of which were provided by the lowest bidder. He is asking if they feel secure in this very risky adventure in which they will soon be engaging knowing that nothing they are depending on was the top of its line. As we rocket into space as the caretakers of God’s world during the absence of Jesus the Christ, what we need to know is that God did not seek the lowest bidder. This story of the talents is a story of an opulent God that has spared no cost in preparing us for this journey. Therefore we can step out in the simple and assured faith that we have been given all that we need to do the job. We do not need to wonder if we are well equipped, we do not need to wonder if we have the resources we truly need, what we can be assured of is that God has given us what we need to do the job we have been called to do. The message is that we are to “Go forth in Confidence”, knowing that God has given us the necessary equipment to do the job. We have not been given the resources of this world to bury them or to hoard them, but to use them for the wellbeing of all of God’s people. During the time I was a student at United Theological Seminary it had real financial problems. There were times that the faculty was being paid two weeks late, and the president of the seminary solicited the students to pay the electric bill. One day a friend of the seminary called and said that Butch Dayton, the head of the Dayton clan would be joining us for lunch and we should be very nice to him. He came and had a nice lunch that was prepared by as student and at the end he wrote a check as we all did and tossed it casually into the coffee can that sat in the center of the table. After he left the student that prepared the lunch had cleaned the tables and made a discovery. The check which he thought would be for a few bucks to cover lunch was for 1.25 million dollars. We later found out that the Dayton family was closing out their foundation and he was delivering the check to the organization to which they had decided to make their last commitment. Life at UTS changed from that point, faculty was paid promptly and well needed repairs were made to the building. The message of the parable is that God is not asking us to care for the world on the cheap. We have the backing of the creator of the world. III: But as God is opulent in God’s support of human life, God is asking us to be accountable with the gifts of this world that we have. God is not so much concerned that we use it up but that we use it to care for all of God’s people. But let us make sure that our accounting is using God’s value system. We live in a world where we can find disposable people, where the needs of people are over looked and the gifts of people are ignored. That is not a part of God’s accounting. There are no disposable people. I recently saw on Facebook a very telling message, it was a poster that read, “When we were threatened, out of fear we got mobilized and got after Ebola, the National Guard was mobilized, A question we need to ask is does poverty run rampant because it does not threaten rich people?” God expects us to joyfully use the many gifts we have been given, a “Talent’s” worth, for the good of God’s people. We are expected to make a real difference in their lives. We are talking about the economy of grace. An economy built on God’s abundance, and economy connected to God’s endless love and care. When you get down to it we are being held accountable to God’s love. In a world where old people live in boxes and children have to scavenger for food we need to get our priorities straight. For none of that is acceptable in the economy of grace. Each one of us is a player in God’s plan. We each bring something special to the table, IV: Our call as 21st century disciples is to step out in faith. The world does not need any more closet Christians. The message of the parable is that we need people that are willing to live the faith flamboyantly. It is not a time to hold back, we each have a talent’s worth of support. The question is not when Christ will return, we know that we do not have that answer; the question is what will we do in the interim. We are not making plans for eternity we are making plans for here and now. We are being given the opportunity to share God’s grace, to distribute God’s love freely and fully, to be the hand the helps and the spirit that supports. What an honor God has given to us. To be a part of God’s continuing recreation and renewal. Peg and “I served a church in Ohio in which the council met very late at night two times a year. One was after the Christmas Eve service when which in their case ended at midnight. The council met to check if all our responsibilities were covered, especially the ones that were benevolences and then came the really important question, how much do we have left in the benevolence fund. That figure seemed to range between 8 and 12 thousand, depending on the year. That was money give to the church to give away above and beyond the missions the congregation had. There would be some suggestions as to where the extra money could go and how much to each but then the council would simply say, “in the next week please give the extra away as you see fit”. What an honor. It was my job in the next week to give away some very significant donations. The council would meet after the watch night service, December 31st for an accounting. It could not have been any clearer. I always left that week with some wonderful experiences. So God says to us not just one week of the year but every day, “live the faith with gusto, embrace God’s vision, share God’s glory”. V: Let us be about the task of discipleship. That in partnership with the living Christ we might embrace the faith to which we are called.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 02:38:49 +0000
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