Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his servants 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. 16 The one who had received the five talents went off at once 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 servants 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 servant; 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 servant; 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 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 replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! 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.’
‘For IT will be like a man going on a journey.’
What will? What is ‘it’?
On Wednesday of Holy Week, as Jesus left the Temple, His disciples marvelled at the beauty of the Temple and it’s impressive architecture. Jesus answered them, (Mat.24:1-2) ‘You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.’ After that, they went to the Mount of Olives, privately. And they asked Him, (Mat.24:3-4) ‘Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and the close of the age’? And Jesus answered them…’.
As to the question of ‘WHEN these things will be,’ Jesus says, (Mat.24:4-8) ‘concerning the day or the hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven or the Son, but the Father only.’ As to the question of ‘what SIGNS to look for,’ Jesus says, politically, ‘You will hear of wars and rumours of wars. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.’ Religiously, ‘many false Christ’s and false prophets will appear, and many will be led astray. And those who are not led astray, will be subject to great tribulation and hatred and even death.’ And these ‘signs’ signal just the ‘beginning of birth pangs.’
“When you see these signs, then you will know that the ‘close of the age’ is coming, and the ‘new age’ will begin when I come again to judge between those who will be a part of the new age and those who will not”.
We cannot properly understand the meaning of the parable before us this morning, unless we understand in the proper context. Jesus speaks this parable to His disciples on the Mount of Olives in answer to their question. Having answered the ‘when’ and the ‘what,’ He now answers the even more important, ‘how.’ How should the disciple of Jesus live in these last days at the close of the age, when these signs are clearly taking place all around?
That’s what ‘it’ is. ‘It’ is the life of the believer during these last days. ‘It will be like a man going on a journey. He called His servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.’
The ‘man’ is Jesus. He is the master and it’s His property. The ‘servants’ are specifically, His servants. You know, everyone is a servant to one master or another. Some serve master mammon; the god of greed and wealth. Some serve master Jesus. But (Matthew 6:24) “no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.’
This parable is only about those who serve master Jesus. They were at one time, slaves of master mammon. But Jesus called them out of darkness and into His marvellous light and they live under His good and gracious rule.
A ‘talent’ is a huge sum of money. In modern currency, one gold talent weighs 33kg and is valued at $1.3 Million; so you do the maths.
‘To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one.’ It’s the ultimate economic stimulus package.
Our Lord is not a Socialist here. There is no theoretical equality in the distribution of wealth. He ‘entrusts’ to each ‘according to his ability.’ Some are entrusted with more, some with less. And it’s not based on ‘favouritism’ or ‘party politics,’ but on ‘ability.’ All may be equally willing and equally faithful, but not all are equally able. Some grew up in the church, some are brand new to the faith. Some had great Sunday School teachers and influential pastors, some carry the scars of bad examples and unfaithful teachers. Some have more ‘ability’ than others.
‘And then He went away.’ No contracts, no guidelines, no threats. He just distributes His property and goes away.
In the world of corporate finance, this would be called ‘negligence,’ or ‘bad management.’ But Jesus calls it ‘trust.’ ‘He entrusted’ it to them. ‘Trust’ is a risky thing. ‘Trust’ can be broken. ‘Trust’ can be betrayed. No guarantees, no insurance in case of failure. The one who ‘trusts’ is completely vulnerable. ‘Trust’ simply ‘trusts.’ Your financial advisor will tell you it’s always much safer to ‘not trust.’
I was talking to a mother of a girl who only this year went off to university. She told me that of all the girls on her daughter’s accommodation floor, she was the only mother who had not insisted that, before leaving, her daughter must go on contraception. The daughter wrote a beautiful letter to her mother, ‘thanks for trusting me Mum.’ There is something very special going on between that mother and daughter.
‘The master entrusted to them His property. Then He went away.’ There’s something very special going on between this master and His servants.
How do we handle a ‘trust’ like that? That’s what ‘it,’ the life of faith in ‘these last days,’ is all about. How do we handle the master’s trust in us?
The one entrusted with five talents put them to work as did the one entrusted with two. They ‘traded with them.’ Today we’d probably say, ‘they helped stimulate the economy.’ Which is just what the master intended them to do. Only the economy that He had in mind is not the ‘economy of the nation,’ but the ‘economy of the Kingdom of Heaven.’
And don’t you just get the feeling that both of these servants had a lot of fun ‘trading’ with what the master entrusted to them? And much to their joy, they discovered that the more they traded with the master’s ‘talents,’ the more they produced. Each one ended up with twice as much as the amount with which he started.
And who do you think was more pleased and excited about that, the servants or the Master? The servants can’t wait until the master returns. ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I made five talents more.’ And the other is just as excited to hand over all that the master’s property has produced under his stewardship. They are so grateful for the trust that He has bestowed upon them. ‘Thanks for trusting me, Master.’
And in His joy, the Master says, ‘well done, good and FAITHFUL servant. You have been FAITHFUL with LITTLE.’ Notice, the master does not commend them for their profitability or success, but for their faithfulness. Faith simply takes hold of, embraces that with which it is entrusted.
And notice too, that He calls what He had entrusted to them ‘a little.’ We thought it was a huge and extravagant amount. But He calls it a ‘little.’ ‘I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ ‘You thought that was fun. Wait until you see the joy I have in store for you.’ His joy is their joy.
But there still one more servant to consider. What about the one who was entrusted with one talent? Maybe he wasn’t as ‘able’ as the other two. But he was just as ‘trusted’ as the other two. And the joy set before him was the same.
‘He went and dug in the ground and hid his masters’ money.’
Here is a man who knows nothing of that ‘special relationship between servant and master’ that we have been talking about. For him, everything that the master entrusts to him becomes a stifling limitation and a burden that he feels obligated to drag around with him where ever he goes. He wishes that the master had never entrusted him with a thing. Then he would be free to serve master mammon without the hang-ups and the sense of obligation to the master that nags at him. He would gladly squander the whole ‘talent’ on reckless living, but deep down inside, there is that nagging fear that on his return the Master will demand an accounting of his stewardship. His` was a relationship of guilt.
‘I know what I’ll do’, he says. ‘I won’t disavow my baptism or my confirmation or all of those sermons and Communion suppers that were entrusted to me. No, I’ll just ignore them. I’ll wrap them up in a handkerchief and bury them in a safe place. That way, if I ever actually have to give an account of what was entrusted to me, I can dig up the past and present my baptismal certificate and confirmation certificate to the master. I’ll say, ‘here, you have what is yours.’
Sure enough, the day came for this servant just as it did for the others. And the man dug up his ‘talent’ and presented it to the Master just as he planned. ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid.’
Dr Martin Luther in his explanation of the 1st Commandment, explains in regard to the sinful nature of humankind: “your God is whoever you believe Him to be”. ‘To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in him from the heart. You see, it is the trust and faith of the heart that makes both God and idol.’ This man believed that God is a ‘hard man to be feared.’ And so that’s the God he got.
The Master uses the servant’s own words to condemn him. ‘You say that you believe that I am a hard man reaping where I do not sow and gathering where I have not scattered seed. No you don’t. If you really believed that, ‘then you would have invested my money with bankers, that at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.’ The truth is, ‘you are a wicked and slothful servant.’
So, there could be an easy outcome to this address – “Make up your mind” – Choose your God – Loving and trusting or mean and fearful – It’s all up to you. You know at the time of creation God did basically say “Here is a perfect life, obey just one command and you live in paradise forever” It was all up to us. We blew it then, and we have not stopped blowing it ever since; as sinners we don’t have the privilege of choice; we just don’t have the ability.
Because of our sinful nature, it was with divine joy that Jesus came into this world to trade with what was entrusted to Him by the Father. And the Father entrusted the Son with ‘much,’ in fact, with everything, ‘according to His ability.’ For His ability is ‘able’ to redeem the whole world.
Jesus traded with all of the divine attributes that are rightfully His, healing the sick, casting out the demons, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, and absolving repentant sinners. Ultimately this true ‘servant of the Lord’ traded everything the Father has given to Him, even His body and blood. In His joy, the Father called His Son up from the grave and says, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’ And we, who are raised with Christ as a result of His faithful stewardship, ‘share in the joy of our master’; forgiveness of sins; eternal life; the promise of eternal peace.
How loving and forgiving is our Lord and Saviour; in spite of all the times we have failed Him, this very day, here in this place, He is again trusting us with things of great value – The absolution of our sins; His Word of truth; His Body given for us; His blood shed for us; His blessing as we go out into the world. But this time He gives us direction; By the power of the Holy Spirit that He placed within us at our Holy Baptism, we can hear Jesus telling us to (Matthew 28: 19–20) “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Imagine our joy, as trusted servants, when we stand before Jesus on that day and he reaches out His hand and says ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
You know there really is something special going on between us and our 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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