Sermon 08.25.2024: Disturbing Parables: Investing For a Good Return

In the final of our series of three sermons on Jesus disturbing parables, Matthew’s gospel challenges us on what we are investing in our lives of faith, and what motivates us in our lives together. Given the generosity of God to us, are we investing that generous love in others, and in our communities?


Scripture

Matthew 25:14–30 

The Parable of the Bags of Gold 

14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,[a] each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 

19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ 

21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ 

22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’ 

23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ 

24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ 

26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. 

28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 

Sermon Text

First of all, can I thank you for these wonderful four weeks that David and I have enjoyed in your company. It has been a pleasure to get to know you a little, spend time in your company, and to worship with you. 

I chose these disturbing parables for these three Sundays because I hoped they would stretch us, provoke us, and most of all help us think about what it is to be Jesus’ people in today’s world. 

If you went home and said, ‘I need to think more about that,’ or even ‘I really disagree with that awful preacher from Scotland’—good, the parable made you think! Job done! 

As well as taking comfort from scripture we need to be disrupted from our usual assumptions and learned ways of seeing things, so we can re-evaluate who the gospel is calling us to be in our own time. 

The Parable of the Talents can at one and the same time be an encouragement to us, and yet it has a particularly disturbing ending, focused on judgement. 

We may not usually think of God in these stark mythological terms—as someone who would throw us into eternal darkness and turmoil—but in this typically Matthean story of judgment, with all its startling hyperbole, there remains a clear message: that we need to urgently consider how we live in this world. 

How we live, and the choices we make about how we use what we have, affect the people and world around us. It really does matter. 

If in some more conservative circles this parable is read as us having to give an account for how we live at an end time, I want to say this: why wait? 

Why don’t we all think about how we live this very day, and how that plays with our neighbors, together, now? 

An allegorical reading of this parable frames God as a slave owner, something we understandably will feel extremely uncomfortable about, but which would have made sense the Greco Roman context of Jesus time. In the story the owner, remarkably, goes on to entrust his great treasure to his slaves. And it is an unbelievably generous amount that he entrusts them with. 

Thomas Long [1], reminds us that even the third slave who only receives one talent, receives a lavish amount of treasure—fifteen years of income for an average worker. Can you imagine? 

Obviously then, this story is full of exaggerated hyperbole, but to make a very important and serious point. 

The first slave receives five talents, and the second three. These are unbelievable amounts of treasure to be entrusted with. Ridiculous amounts. 

But then the last two weeks’ parables have taught us, haven’t they, about the breathless generosity of God toward us: in love, forgiveness and acceptance? A God whose grace and goodness is beyond all measure. A God whose generosity stretches beyond our notions of justice? 

Well, here we are again, with a description of the God we meet in Jesus Christ, the One who is generous beyond measure. 

The first two slaves are bold and courageous, they get out there into the world and they trade with the treasure that they are given. They invest the abundance they have received, out there in the messy world we all know, and it comes back to them - five talents into ten talents, two into four. The abundance has grown and flourished in God’s good world. 

But the third slave in the story, not so much. 

His problem is that he fundamentally misunderstands the character of the One who has generously given him his one talent. Even despite all the generosity he has been entrusted with—fifteen years wages! 

In reply to this generosity he says, “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.” 

For those of us who grew up fearing God (and I really mean in the sense of fearing as opposed to revering) it’s difficult not to have a modicum of sympathy for the third guy in the parable who along with a hyperbolic abundance received a hyperbolic fate. 

Look, he was afraid, he thought he’d better play safe than be sorry. 

What if he had traded his treasure and got less in return – made a loss, help us? 

What might have happened then? 

It’s an open question that explicitly at least, remains unanswered in this story? 

Any of us who grew up both revering God, but also actually fearing God—we can understand his anxiety, can’t we?! 

Fear is a terrible thing. 

Sure, it keeps us safe at times, stops us getting into dangerous situations, but when it overtakes us, dominates us – overwhelms us – fear can be damaging beyond measure. It can warp the way we see the world and other people in it. 

Overblown fear of the other can have terrible and damaging consequences. It distorts the way we see others, makes us suspicious of them, and suspecting of their motives and character. It blows up the differences between us and others and twists them into a source of fear and worry. 

Our imagination begins to run wild. We make all kinds of terrible assumptions about those other people. It’s the oldest human disease in history, and no good has ever come of it. 

Friends, whatever faith is about, I have learned on my walk with Jesus that faith is not about fearing God. 

Respecting the One who gives us life, yes absolutely. 

Revering the One who comes to us in Jesus Christ, and whose Spirit strengthens and encourages to live our gospel values in the world—yes, absolutely. 

But fear as in terror of, or frightened of, no. 

Don’t take my word for it—the writer of the First letter of John reminds us: 7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 

God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. [2] 

Then he goes on: “17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgement, because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 19 We love[b] because God first loved us.” [3] 

Fear only paralyses us and curtails our ability to live in the freedom of the gospel. Love, on the other hand, sets us free to be brave and courageous in sharing in the abundance we have been given. 

For sure, there’s always a work of discernment to be done in how we live, what we do, how we live with our neighbor, of course. And that’s what community is for, to give us the discipline and benefit of figuring things out together, in the wisdom of God’s Spirit. 

But never forget: We love, because God first loved us. 

That’s all you need to know. 

Let that knowledge in the year ahead in your church work, ministry and mission here in your community set you free to live out the gospel wherever life’s road takes you. 

Friends we have been given by God an abundance beyond measure: the good news of Jesus Christ and his love for the world. Don’t be like the last guy filled with fear, but instead like the first two who took the gospel and invested it with abandon in the world. 

Don’t worry about how it will turn out. 

Don’t worry if you make some mistakes along the way. 

Trust in the abundance of the One who has given you all good things. 

As Maya Angelou once said, “Difficult is a far cry from impossible. The distance between these two lies hope. Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Invite one to stay.” [4]

Friends, this parable is not a gentle tale about what Christians do with their individual gifts and talents, as helpful as that may be, but a disturbing story about what we as Christians do or do not do with the gospel, while we wait for the fullness of God’s reign in the world. 

And to be sure, this time requires bravery and courage. In a world marred by mistrust and suspicion, fear and demonizing of the other, it’s difficult to be the one who refuses to join in the sometimes all too casual xenophobia of our time, or to be the one who refuses to stay silent when discriminatory words or inflammatory language is used about others. 

It’s a rough world we’re all living in right now. Whichever side of the Atlantic we’re on. 

It’s also difficult to be the person who refuses to give up on hope, and in the midst of despondency about the future keeps getting up every day hoping for better and working for better. It’s hard to be that person at work or church that keeps bringing the lens of hope to what can feel like a challenging world. 

It’s hard in the face of hate and fear to stay on the course of love, reconciliation and forgiveness. These gospel values can seem naïve frankly, in a sometimes-brutal world. 

Jesus came under the same accusation. His family thought he was mad at first, whilst others recognized the transformation his love could bring to the world—and didn’t want that change! 

But still Jesus persevered. 

He met with outcasts and lepers and had dinners with Roman collaborators and sex workers. Why? Because… 

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear… We love because God first loved us.” 

Friends, never forget all of this, it matters, and it matters here with you. The gospel is not for the staff to do, the church to do, the pastors to do. No, it’s for all of us, to do, together. 

Here’s the disturbing part of this parable that there’s no running away from: This good news, this love really matters, and it has been entrusted to you and me. 

It matters to God, and it can transform our world. 

This love we meet in Jesus Christ, this abundance which we have been given by God is an abundance beyond measure. 

This love can change and transform the world. Home by home, family by family, friendship by friendship, community by community. 

Never underestimate the difference your love and care, your hope and healing can bring to other people. You may never know how the abundance you have to give, may play out for good in the lives of others. 

But it will! Five will become ten, two will become four. 

Even if we only have one talent of this perfect love, friends, this love can double, and treble and quadruple and so on. 

Perfect love has cast out all our fear. 

Let us go then, now from this place, and live out the good news. 

We love, because God first loved us. 

Amen. 

[1] Thomas Long, Matthew- a Westminster Bible Companion (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press) 1997 

[2] 1 John 4: 7-9 NRSV 

[3] 1 John 4: 17-19 NRSV 

[4] These words are commonly attributed to Maya Angelou if not easily traced.