Since August 9, the Rev. F. Willis Johnson, a United Methodist pastor in Ferguson Missouri has devoted his ministry to fostering a peaceful response to the police shooting of an unarmed black teenager and the resulting violent turmoil that followed. The shooting of 18 year old Michael Brown led to four days of conflict between police in military-grade riot gear and angry protestors. Rev. Johnson, along with his parishioners, led prayer vigils, helped with clean up in the community, met with leaders in Ferguson, and comforted all who gathered. His church is located about a block from the police station in this St. Louis suburb and less than a mile from where most of the protests have taken place. In partnership with an association of psychologists in the town, the church has provided counseling to anyone in the community who requests it.
When the unrest led the schools to cancel classes, the church welcomed children with educational games and healthy food so their parents did not have to miss work. Other churches have also volunteered to help and offered financial support. Rev. Johnson has said about his work, “All life is sacred. In our tradition, that is enough to stand on.” In the weeks to come, Wellspring Church will be asked to continue to risk the gifts they have been given as children of God to care for those who need healing in a time of pain.
In the parable we read today in Matthew’s Gospel, we hear that Jesus expects us to risk what we have been given for the sake of the gospel. This parable follows a discussion between Jesus and his disciples on the Mount of Olives.
The disciples want Jesus to tell them signs of the end times and when it will come. But rather than offering a day or time of his return, Jesus emphasizes faithfulness while they wait. His intent is to strengthen his followers to remain close to him in difficult times by emphasizing the truth that they will not be abandoned—that he will indeed come and redeem them.
Jesus often taught in parables. As a great storyteller he offered his followers and those who gathered to hear, lessons wrapped in every day items and experiences, giving them the possibility of a glimpse of the kingdom of God. In this parable, a man about to go on a journey, gives to his three slaves “talents.”
In our modern ears we may hear the word “talents” and think “personal gifted ability.” In fact, the way we use that word today comes from this parable. But in the context of Matthew’s Gospel, a talent was an exorbitant monetary unit of measure — about 80 to 120 pounds of precious silver. A talent was valued at 6000 denarii, an amount that would take an ordinary laborer twenty years to earn (a denarius being a typical day’s wage). The master appeared to know the capabilities of the three slaves–he gave “each according to his ability.” To the first slave he gave 5 talents, to the second slave he gave 2 talents and to the third slave, he gave 1 talent. This master entrusts his slaves with an extraordinary amount of treasure. Even for the slave who received 1 talent—receiving close to $1 million in today’s currency is not an insignificant trust.
In the story, the first slave goes off immediately and doubles the amount he has been given by “trading with them”—implying his willingness to risk what he had been given to gain a large reward. So also the second slave. But the third slave buries the talent, and hides it for safety.
You can bet that those listening to this story, would have believed that the third slave was the most prudent and therefore the best steward. You see “a hole in the ground” was today’s equivalent of putting your money under your mattress. The Gospel of Matthew was written during a time of tremendous social upheaval. The Jews had been utterly defeated by the Romans. The emperor Titus had destroyed Jerusalem. Hiding treasure would have been seen as the response of a wise person. But as always happens in Jesus’ parables, what is expected is turned upside down.
The first two slaves recognized that they had been entrusted with a great gift. Their response was to go out and increase—indeed they doubled– that gift through their efforts. They see this gift as something with enormous possibility. They take risks with the gifts they have been given. They act with a great freedom, and through faith and diligence, their actions are rewarded. When the master returns, these two slaves produce the fruit of their efforts and the master responds by saying, “Well done, good and faithful slave; you have been faithful in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”
The master, already possessing the gift of the talents, invites his servants to share in his joy. The joy of the master is the joy of the feast that is self-giving, sharing, being distributed into the world.
In this sense, the interest gained on the talents is like the hundred-fold that the disciple receives when he or she gives everything away to follow Jesus. The obedience of faith is not a burden or an endeavor based on the fear of a judgmental and harsh master, but the joy of discipleship in which everything is given—both the gift and the interest.
In this parable of the talents, Jesus invites us as his disciples to live our lives as fully as possible by investing them, by risking, by expanding the horizons of our responsibilities. To be his disciple, he says, is not so much believing ideas about him as it is following him. It is to experience renewed responsibility for the use and investment of our precious lives. It is to be bold and brave, to reach high and care deeply. This parable is the invitation to the adventure of faith; the high risk venture of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Sitting here today in the comfort of Crissey Farm we may fail to see discipleship as a high risk venture. We are not in danger of losing our homes or our jobs or even our lives for our faith. We may read about our brothers and sisters in Syria, but we cannot truly connect with the danger they face as Christians. We often experience faith as being no more risky that believing ideas in our heads about God and Jesus and then living a good life by avoiding bad things. Faith as viewed from our vantage point, is a pretty timid non-risky venture. But in our comfort we can totally miss the audacious call the gospel places on all our lives.
Annie Dillard in her book, Teaching a Stone to Talk says, “On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of (the) conditions (of our faith). Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? … It is madness to wear straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.”
We who have been offered the kingdom of God, follow a radical God. A God who gives everything. A God who offers mercy to all. A God who embraces sinners and saints. A God who offers reconciling love to those who suffer and those who have caused pain. A God who calls us to join in this work of sharing, of offering reconciliation, of given from our abundance so that all may enter into the joy of our master.
And there is so much work we can do together. There are young people in need of mentors and someone who will smile and say a kind word. There are mothers and fathers who need support in raising their children in a challenging world. There are immigrants who are seeking a good life for their families who need advocates and a welcoming place in our communities. There are people who are suffering from health issues, difficult family conditions, underemployment or unemployment who need someone to reach out and offer them care. There are older persons who live a long way from family who are alone and in need of nutrition and attention. There are people who cannot get to doctor’s appointments or job interviews or the food pantry because they do not have transportation. There are people who are hungry for the gift of the gospel, who long for a loving community, who need the love that can only come from opening their lives to God.
And all of us have received talents from God. Each of us has been given what we need to welcome others into the community of Christ—to invite someone to church, to smile at someone we do not know, to listen to someone’s story. Each of us has been given what we need to listen carefully for what our world cries out for and to respond “each according to our ability.”
The man in this parable before going on his journey, gathers his three slaves and “delivers over” his possessions. The word used—paradidomai—is the same word that will later describe the “delivering over” of Jesus to the authorities in Jerusalem. This parable is told as Jesus tries to prepare his followers for his coming arrest and crucifixion.
The possessions that the man gives to his slaves go beyond monetary value— the word that is translated as “possessions” is huperxonta that carries the sense of possessions, but also one’s entire substance—even life. The man is giving everything, as Jesus would soon give everything. As soon as the man “delivers over” everything that is his, he leaves “immediately.”
We live in times that are disturbing. We stand along side the disciples when we ask, “What are the signs of your coming, O Lord?” We like the disciples, long for the time when Jesus will come again to usher in a new creation—a time when there will be no more hunger or poverty, where swords will be beaten into plowshares, and God will wipe away the tear from every eye.
But even now—or perhaps especially now, Christ calls us to live robustly in hope, to risk freely all that we are and all that we have for the Gospel. Whether we have received 5 talents or two talents or one talent—we have been given enough. The talents we have received are worthy, but only if we are willing to risk them, to trade with them, to offer them up in daring that God will put them to their full use in service to God and to all creation.
I believe that Jesus is telling those who hear this story, Step out! Risk all that you are and all that you have! Yes, all life is sacred. Live yours fully. Just as Rev. Johnson is doing in Ferguson, give your life over to God’s cause. Love and care for each other with his love. Don’t try to hide away your life so as to hang on to it at all costs. If you do, you will surely lose it.
Having risked yourself to follow Christ– risk yourself again and again as opportunities arise. That is the way to watch and wait for his coming. Life in the kingdom is filled with risk and growth and transformation. Only by risking extravagantly for the Gospel can we truly share in the rewards of God’s bounty. Only then will we hear “enter into the joy of your master.”