Grace to you from God our Father and
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for this
meditation is written in the 25th Chapter of the Gospel according to
St Matthew: Verses 14 – 30:
14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 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 answered him, ‘You and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 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 answered him, ‘You and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
The Gospel readings for last week, today, and next week are all part of
the private instruction that Jesus gave to His disciples on the Mount of Olives
just a few days before He died on the cross.
Last week, we heard the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. Next week, we will hear about the sheep and
the goats. Today, we hear the parable of
the talents. Jesus used each of these
readings to help us learn what we need to know about the Last Day … the Day of
Judgment … the day when each of us must appear before the Lord and give an
account.
Today’s parable tells of a man who left on a long trip and returned at a
later time. While he was away, he
entrusted his wealth to three servants.
When he returned, he called these servants before him to give an account
of what they had done with his wealth.
The man in the parable represents Jesus who was about to leave on that
long trip. In a few days, He would be
hanging from a cross and paying for the sins of all humanity. After He paid for all our sins, He would rise
from the dead and then ascend into heaven.
The parable in the Gospel illustrates our lives during this time of
waiting for Him to return. It also
illustrates the judgment that will come to each of us at the end of our time on
this earth.
Note that the man entrusts his wealth to servants. He does not entrust his wealth to two
servants and a stranger. The fact that
he entrusts his wealth to servants indicates that Jesus is talking about people
who consider themselves members of Christ’s Church on earth; that includes us,
members of a congregation. Even as Judas
was still a member of Jesus’ congregation, so also we need to understand that
not all who claim membership are really members. As Jesus said, [Matthew 7:21] “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father
who is in heaven.” Just as not all
three servants were faithful, Jesus teaches that not all members are faithful.
Now … It would be very easy to get hung up on the amounts … the five,
two, and one talent that the man gave to each of his servants. Instead, when we understand that even one
talent is a lot of money, we can realize that the man put each of his servants
in charge of a fortune … even one talent is worth approximately $1.25 million
dollars in today’s value. The
stewardship this man entrusted to his servants was huge.
The first part of this parable illustrates the incredible wealth God
gives to us. He has created us and the
entire world. The different amounts
indicate that God gives a unique set of gifts to each person. He gives these gifts so that each of us can
care for himself and for others. Most
importantly, He has given Jesus who earned salvation with His suffering and
death on the cross. That salvation is
not just for a few, but the salvation Jesus earned is for the entire
world. It is as Jesus said, [Matthew 5:45b] “[Our Father in
Heaven] makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the
just and on the unjust.” God’s gifts
to us are beyond anything we could measure or even imagine and He gives those
gifts to all people.
We need to understand that the wealth in the parable is symbolic. There are many ways God’s gifts can be a
blessing to us. Just as God gives out
different gifts, so also there are different returns when we invest those
gifts. On occasion, the Lord may
bless with a financial return. Most of
the time, the return is more valuable than mere earthly wealth.
As the parable continued, two of the servants put their stewardship to
work. They invested and made a
return. The third servant dug a hole and
buried the entire talent. He hid his
master’s money.
Jesus told this parable along with other parables to illustrate the final
judgment on the Last Day. On the Last
Day, some will stand before the Lord and rejoice like the two faithful
servants. They will praise the Lord for
the things they were able to do because of the Lord’s gifts. Others will stand in terror. Some of those who stand in terror will have
their names on the rolls of the local congregation.
When we entered the world all of us were like the servant who stood
before the master in terror. It is as
David says, [Psalm 51:5]
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me.” The Apostle Paul writes, [Ephesians 2:1] “You were dead in
the trespasses and sins,” and again, [Romans
8:7] “The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does
not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.”
By nature, we, like the unfaithful servant, imagine a master who is not
generous, loving, and kind. Our
imagination prevents us from seeing the true master who pours out generous
salvation and all the other gifts without calculation or measurement. We imagine the master to be “a hard man, reaping where [he] did not sow,
and gathering where [he] scattered no seed.” This belief causes fear instead of joy. It paralyses us so that the gifts of God
terrify us and we despise them.
Fortunately, the Father of all mercy and grace has sent His Son Jesus
Christ, who atoned for the sin of the whole world, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish but have eternal life.
God does NOT desire our
terror. Instead, He loves us with the
Holy, precious blood of His Son poured out in innocent suffering and death on a
cross. Jesus brought into this world a
love that was priceless, a love that would not balk at the cost of sin, a love
that would suffer death and eternal damnation so that the debt of all humanity
would be paid and every sin would be forgiven before God. God offers this love to us with a generosity
that Jesus described as [Luke 6:38]
good measure, pressed down, shaken together, [and] running over.
When the Holy Spirit creates faith in us, He brings this generous love
and forgiveness to us. The terror is
gone. Instead, we become like the two
faithful servants who rejoiced in the presence of their master. Like the two faithful servants, we will
rejoice in the presence of the master as we celebrate the return we will have
made with the wealth the master gives to us.
We will hear those wonderful words, “Well
done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will
set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”
The terrified servant heard different words, “You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not
sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my
money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own
with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten
talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an
abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
This parable shows that there are two judgments on the Last Day … the
joy of the master and the outer
darkness. The other readings for this
day also inform us of the terror of the Day of the Lord. The Old Testament reading (Judges 4)
speaks of wailing, punishment, plundering, waste, bitterness, ruin,
devastation, darkness and gloom. The
epistle (1 Thessalonians 5) speaks of destruction and the labour
pains of childbirth. These readings make
it very clear that there will be a very real day of judgment, and that day will
terrify many. It will even terrify some
who claim membership in a local congregation.
At the same time, there are some who look forward to that day with
joy. These are the ones whom God has
brought into His household of salvation.
By God’s grace they celebrate and confess the gift of forgiveness, life,
and salvation that God has given to them.
God’s love for us delights in the different gifts He gives to each of
us. He rejoices in the various ways he
has created us for service. As Paul writes to the saints in Corinth, [1 Corinthians 12:17] “If the
whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body
were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?”
Our service to God does not earn us a place in his kingdom. God has freely given us that in Christ. Instead, God gives us a variety of gifts at
the same time that He gives us our place in God’s kingdom. Those who rejoice in the coming Day of the
Lord will readily use these gifts to confess their faith to their friends and
acquaintances. Who knows but that the
Holy Spirit may use your confession to bring salvation to another so that they
too will one day hear, “Well done, good
and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over
much. Enter into the joy of your master.”
Amen
The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human
understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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