Matt 25:14-30

"Risky Behavior"
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Upon first reading of the text today, I thought to myself, golly, this sounds just like something the stewardship committee might use. My second thought was that these are good examples of how to invest our money. The third thought was that whoever this master was, he was extremely demanding and I am not sure that I would want him as a boss. However upon a closer reading and rereading of the text I realized that although a case could be made for each thought, none of these scenarios really fits. This story, this parable, is about three men who decide what risk they will take when entrusted with the master’s wealth.

Before we jump into this let’s take a quick review of where we are. This is the last of “The kingdom of heaven is like...” texts in the book of Matthew. Jesus used this phrase in connection with the graphic illustrations of his time to try to describe to his audience what the kingdom of heaven would be like. A couple of weeks ago I gave this definition: The Kingdom of Heaven is “the rule of heaven is being brought to bear in this time and place as the unveiling of God’s plan for redemption of the world through Jesus”. So when Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which is small but grows to be a large bush, or that the kingdom of heaven is like yeast that is mixed with flour until it is entirely leavened, he means that the kingdom of heaven is not limited to size or quantity. When he says that the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field or it is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, or it is like a net thrown into the sea, which captures fish of every kind he is referring to God’s coming to us because we are of infinite value to the creator and that the kingdom of heaven is not limited to one particular group but open to all. When Jesus says that the rich cannot enter kingdom of heaven but on the other hand it is the little children that can enter, it means that it is through faith and not our own doing that we are able to enter the kingdom. When Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like the landowner who pays all of his laborers the same wage he means (and this is to paraphrase the apostle Paul) that although the wage of sin is death, the free gift, the wage of God is eternal life. And finally, as we learned three weeks ago, the kingdom of heaven is like a wedding banquet and that those who are chosen to attend the banquet are given the robe of righteousness through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Now that we are up to date we see that today’s text begins with this: “For it (that is the kingdom of heaven) is as if a man going on a journey summons his slaves and entrusted his property to them.” Looking at this first sentence, I was right in thinking that this would be a good text for the stewardship committee. The definition of stewardship is: “personal responsibility for taking care of another person's property or financial affairs.” The slaves were asked to be stewards of some of the master’s talents, that is, his assets, while he was gone. But notice that in the text that there is no mention of the master instructing his slaves about what to do with assets they were given. If we are to follow the definition then wouldn’t each of the slaves have been proper stewards of the talents? Even the third slave who buried the money would have been following the custom of the time by burying the assets until such time when the assets would be needed.

Ok so maybe this is a text about how to invest our money. Again notice that there isn’t anything said about how the talents are to be used. They are freely given to be used at the slave’s discretion. So the first two slaves run off at once and used the talents to gain a 100% return on investment. Wow, if we could only do that today. But how did they do it? There is no record of the kind of deals they made other than the obscure reference that “they traded with them (that is the talents).” Did they take the assets and invest in junk bonds? Did they become venture capitalists? Maybe they flipped houses during a housing boom. Or maybe they became involved with credit swap default loans. Who knows? Are these examples we should follow? If the current economy were any indication, I would think not. I know that there is some sentiment right now of taking money out of whatever investment portfolios we have, or removing it from our local financial institution, or shutting down our 401Ks and stuffing all of our assets in a mattress. Or burying it like the third slave did. Shades of the great depression! After all, who wants to take the risk of losing any more of our assets? Our natural inclination is to pull back and protect whatever resources we have.

Which leads us to the third thought I had when reading this text. The last slave had it right when he said to his master, “I knew you were a harsh man [reaping where you did not sow and gathering were you did not gather], so I was afraid”. Fear does strange things to people. Fear takes rationality and makes it irrational. Barbara Brown Taylor, the noted preacher and teacher says this: “Fear is a small cell with no air in it and no light. It is suffocating inside and dark. There is no room to turn around inside it. You can only face in one direction, but it hardly matters since you cannot see anyhow. There is no future in the dark. Everything is over. Everything is past. When you are locked up like that, tomorrow is as far away as the moon”. For the third slave, his view of the master was one of being locked up in the cell. Who knows why his view of the master was colored like this. Had he had some run in with the master in the past? Had the slave done something that may have provoked the master’s ire? Maybe the slave only thought that the master was harsh, never having gotten close enough to fully understand what the master truly was like. Whatever the reason, the third slave’s fears were ultimately realized.

If we step back and look at this one more time, remember that Jesus uses this parable to give us a glimpse of what the Kingdom of God is like. It is not just about stewardship, investments, or fear. It is about risk. Look at what the third slave says about the master: “you reaped where you did not sow, you gathered where you did not gather”. This is risk taking. Last week we learned about Heifer International and how the assets or money we give to them are multiplied many times over. There was a certain amount of risk that was involved in getting this organization up and running. And yet they have made a huge return on their investment risk. However this risk was not for self-profit, but for the betterment of a greater community. The Kingdom of God is like that. Risk means stepping out in faith, not knowing what is going to happen, but trusting that something will happen. The early disciples took a risk by leaving all that they had to follow Jesus. They could have stayed where they were, fearful of what might happen, but instead they trusted in Jesus. The same holds true for the apostles. What would have happened if Paul stayed in Damascus rather than go out through the entire known world? Those risks, that faith has brought us to this place today.

Like the three slaves of the parable, we have been given and entrusted with something wonderful. We have been given the gift of eternal life through the death and resurrection of Jesus. We have been entrusted with the gift of this gospel, this good news, to pass along to others. Just as importantly, we have been given and entrusted with assets of various abilities, to communicate that gospel. In God’s economy, if we trust and believe, that is if we have faith in God’s faithfulness and promises, what we have been entrusted with will be multiplied 2 times, 5 times, multiple times over. We are given not only the opportunity but also the mandate to risk using God’s assets for something greater. The first two slaves took the risk. The third slave did not. We can bury these gifts, these talents, and these assets bringing joy to no one, or we can go and attempt to multiply these gifts, these talents, and these assets for the greater kingdom. Which leads to this final question: Are we, you and I, willing to step out in faith and risk all that which we have been entrusted with? The choice is yours.