Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Hiding Your Talents? Sermon, November 15, 2017


Zephaniah1:7, 12-18Psalm 90:1-8 [9-11] 12Matthew 25:14-30


I have this memory of standing in a circle in prayer with peers from a youth group, I think perhaps right before some type of performance or at the end of a meeting, and sharing favorite bible verses.  I remember people were reaching for some of the most recite-able verses but I was having trouble coming up with anything – probably because I grew up UCC and we don’t pour over our bible quite as often as some other denominations.  But ah!  Then I got a lightbulb. I had been studying theology and reading a book on the Historical Jesus for a recent class, and that book, written by John Dominic Crossan, was all about unpacking the parables into their real historical time and language based on the culture and practices of the time.  And so when the circle came around to me, I quoted this modern translation of the interpretation to the leader; “You buried your heart where you hid your treasure.”  The leader looked at me quizzically and said, “I’m not familiar with that one.” But I just kind of shrugged and acted nonchalant, as if that was her problem  (and it worked.) (and I breathed a sigh of relief that they weren’t going to test me on more biblical language)

At the time, if she had pressed, I would have come up empty because the reference was in the book I had read and used in a paper, and the book wasn’t even mine – it had been returned to the library – so I really had no tangible way to prove my point.  But now I know where that snippet came from; this verse, Matthew 25:1-30.

How did I get from talents to burying one’s heart?  Well, it’s all here in this scripture.

First of all, what is a talent?  Todays’ connotation for having a talent or skill or ability is completely separate from this passage (although some historians think the modern use of the word came from this scripture.)  A talent in Christ’s time, or a talanton, was a measurement.  A talent was not a coin but rather a weight - about 75 lbs - used as the basis of monetary exchange. So when we say the master gave one talent to the third slave, that means he gave a talent-weight of silver, thought to be the equivalent of 6000 denarii, the Roman money, or 3000 in Jewish shekels.

How much was that then?  Well, we already talked how, at least before his ministry began, Jesus was likely a day-laborer, a person who worked all day to get one day’s wage – and that wage likely being one denarii.  A talent of silver, or 6000 denarii, works out to be the equivalent of 16 years of work for people like Jesus who make one denarii a day.  Most historians would say it’s 15-20 years of work in the average laborer in the ancient world. 

Just to make this more personal, let’s look at that in real world numbers. According to Nebraska Works (NE Works), the average wage for a Construction laborer in Grand Island is a little over $17 dollars an hour.  Put together with 40 hours a week, at 52 weeks a year, it calculates as a little over $35,000, going on $36,000 a year.  (The national median for Construction work is $33,500, so Nebraska is a little ahead.)  Sixteen years of labor compensated at $35,000 a year comes to about $560,000. After 20 years it’s 700,000. 

So – in case I lost you with that math – the sum of money this Master gives away, the one talent, would, in our modern world, be least a half a million dollars! And that’s just to the slave he liked the least.  The first one received 10 talents, the second one 5.

That is an outrageous amount of money for the master to put in the hands of a servant, and then walk away.  It shows an immense amount of respect for the servant, or slave, and an incredible bond of trust between them. Doesn’t it?  For me, it completely changes the parable.  I always had a tendency to focus on the slave’s accusations against the master – that he is harsh, and reaps what he does not sew, and gathering where he did not scatter - as most significant.  But within this context, they seem a bit like slander.  

Would a harsh man surrender 500,000, 2.5 million or 5 million dollars to an underling for safe-keeping?  Would those underlings have been so motivated to double his money if he was cruel? If the master was interested in reaping what he did not sow, would he give the sum back to the servant and promise him more responsibility? And finally, what kind of master would invite the servant to ‘enter into his joy’?  The master gives each slave a huge amount of money, and then invites the trustworthy slaves to enter into that wealth with him.  It is almost as if he said, come and be rise up to be on my level as an equal.

So actually, this is a parable in which the kingdom of heaven begins in an act of divine generosity, as if a man has extravagantly entrusted extraordinary wealth, power, freedom, and responsibility to others.  Like creation itself, it is a gift freely and generously given.  They were all given unimaginable amounts of wealth from God. And then, the master then goes away, as if to avoid micromanaging his fund.  He provides the distance and room needed for others to lead, grow, take chances, and flourish.  This is what God wants from us, and what God wants for us.  God wants us to take the lead, grow, take chances, and flourish.  He wants us to enter into his joy with him.  

Contrast this with the focus of the parable: the third slave.  The third slave has limited himself and limited his options – by fear.  He has succumbed to paralysis out of fear of the future.  Rather than embracing hope, trusting the master and stepping into the future with courage, he has chosen to stay exactly the same.  He received this incredibly generous gift, and a charge to make something of it, and he did less than the least he could do.  He didn’t even give it to a banker.  He closed himself off to the possibilities and hid it in the ground.  He buried his heart. 

This seems like a parable about greed – greed of the master to have return on his investment – but in reality it’s a parable about hoarding; hoarding one’s heart. It’ s a parable about not opening yourself up to the rewards that come with taking a risk.  It’s a parable about throwing away your potential, about throwing away your future if you are too afraid to try.

Jesus told this story in the midst of his high-risk venture, during the last few days of his life.  He had chosen to leave the safety of rural Galilee for Jerusalem. He chose to go into the temple and challenge the religious authorities.  He chose to admit people into his inner circle who would betray him.  Matthew’s gospel, more than any other gospel, argues that following Jesus, and being faithful to him, requires that we translate words into deeds and professions of belief into demonstrations of belief through action. 

Sharon Field took that risk.  I’ve heard the story of years ago, when First Congregational United Church of Christ was facing another financial shortfall.  I heard how the congregation was unsure what the future held; until out of the blue, and incredible gift was given to the church.  Without virtually no warning, the Hargleroads established a trust that would see our church through good times and bad.  And that trust is still helping us today, and will continue to compliment our stewardship efforts for years to come. 

But to those whom much is given, much is required.  Sharon Field recognized this amazing gift was not something we could keep to ourselves. After such a financial struggle, the congregation was eager to breath a sigh of relief and relax into the financial security of the Trust.  But Sharon was unswerving in the belief that, as followers of Jesus, that we are not permitted to hoard our blessings but required to spread them to an ever widening bank of people.  It was she who proposed that we dedicate 10% of every disbursement to helping those in need - both locally, nationally and internationally.  She believed in the power of taking a risk on God’s behalf.  She believed God wanted a return on that investment, and return on that incredible, generous gift.  It was an uphill climb for sure – people have confessed openly that they thought it was crazy to give so much money away that we might need in the future.  But she pushed, and pushed, and preached, and preached, and proclaimed the Good News; that what blessings God has bestowed, we must make greater.  And because of her vision, we have prevented countless people from becoming homeless because of back rent, jobless because of a car repair, or left in the cold because of unpaid utilities.  And we have the potential to craft partnerships with groups like Community Action Partnership and Salvation Army, to help provide not just gas money for those job searching, but connect them with needed wrap-around services to get them back on their feet.  The blessings this program has bestowed throughout the years cannot be summed up in any single sermon, but it continues to be a defining characteristic of our congregation.  We have real choices and power, with genuine consequences resulting from the ways we use our freedom.  What we do or fail to do shapes this world and our lives, and the lives of those around us. 

I have just one last story to share with you, and then I’ll wrap up.  Both the commentaries I listen to when researching a sermon advised against preaching this as a Stewardship sermon however, I’ve seen this verse inspire beautiful things so I thought I’d take the risk.

A few years ago, my parents’ church did a Time and Talents fundraising project where they really embraced this scripture and the modern idea of ‘talent’.  Following this parable, they offered $20 to anyone who wanted to use it as an investment that might generate a return for the church.  They encouraged people to get creative, dream big, and take risks. 

95 people signed up with 95 different ideas.  There were, of course, pies, jams, toffee, soup, and all manner of yummy food creations to be purchased – including 4 guys who started brewing beer. But there were also classes, introductory classes and lessons of all kinds; in real estate, golfing, drama classes and voice lessons for kids, self-defense and soccer clinics, electrical repair, and knitting.  There were offers of rides to the airport, babysitting and pet-sitting, with the payment made to the church. One woman, a soloist in the choir, had always dreamed of making her own CD.  She used the sound guys and recording equipment of the church, enlisted another member who is an artist, and produced a CD with 15 songs.  The experiment cost the church $4000 but returned $9000, and it was all based on taking a risk and trusting the people in the church.  And it had the impact of awakening long dormant potential and using it –the spirit, the talent, the energy - for extravagant Thanksgiving for the gifts, talents, and blessings they had been given.

What risk could you be taking with your great blessing?  What dream has God placed in you that you are keeping buried?  Burying one’s heart and hoarding one’s gifts thwarts God’s intention for our lives. Because in this one great life, the greatest risk to is not to risk anything; not to care deeply and profoundly enough about anything to invest deeply, to miss the opportunity to give your heart away and in the process risk everything.  The greatest risk of all, it turns out, is to play it safe, to live cautiously and prudently. God wants us to take chances for the full kingdom of God, to live into our full humanity and use all our gifts to widen the kingdom of God. Amen.

No comments:

Post a Comment