Grace, mercy, and peace to you in the name of Christ our Saviour. Amen.
Over
the last few weeks, we have been reading through Paul’s letter to the
Thessalonians. I’ve mentioned that it’s believed to be the first of Paul’s
pastoral letters to one of the earliest Christian communities. And we’ve talked
about how two pastoral issues that have come up so far are the beginning of being
persecuted, and the death of followers before the second coming of the Messiah.
The letter continues into more encouragement of building each other up and
supporting each other in life. He encourages them to stand firm during times of
intense opposition and to maintain love for each other.
In
fact, according to the Pulpit Fiction podcast, the entirety of this letter can
be summed up like this, “You all are suffering. It is getting difficult to
remain a follower of Christ. Society makes it difficult. Our own expectations
have made it difficult. We all thought that Jesus would be back by now. So now
what? What should we do? Hold on strong. We’re all going to be okay. God is
still with us, even if God isn’t here like we thought, God is still here. In
the meantime, build each other up. Support each other. Be the Church together.
Don’t worry about how long you have to do it. As long we do it together, we’ll
be fine. You’re all so worried about when Christ will come again. Let’s just
act as if he is here now!”
Paul
is trying to tell this community of Christians in Thessalonica that they need
to stop sitting around waiting for something to happen. Earlier in the letter
he tells them to not quit their day jobs even though the end of the world is
just around the corner. Paul is telling them that as disciples of Christ, they
need to be active during this period of waiting, not idle. To not let their
gifts be wasted. Especially when it is fear that is freezing them up from being
an active community.
A
similar statement is being made in today’s gospel reading.
A
man who is going away on a journey leaves his servants with a certain amount of
money, each according to his ability. To the first he gave 5 talents, to the
second, 2 talents and to the third servant, 1 talent. The servants are entrusted
with something special and they each need to decide what to do with what they
have been given.
The
first servant takes his talent, his portion, his gift, and invests it; and
through smart management, sees the talent start to grow. In fact, he is able to
double the master’s original amount. The second servant does the same thing. He
takes his two talents, and is able to double what he has been given.
Now
the interesting thing about both of these servants, is that they were able to
take what the master had given them, and they were able to recognize that what
they had been given by the master was meant to be used. Only in that conscious decision to risk using
what they had been entrusted with, were they able to multiply that gift.
For
both of these servants, it was a leap of faith, to risk perhaps losing the
money, or if we are talking about a real talent, or spiritual gift, to risk
making some mistakes. But they did it, and because of that ability to take real
chances, to step out in faith, they were able to do mighty things and to give a
wonderful report to the master when he returned.
The
third servant, however, wasn’t able to take the same risk. He took his portion
of the money, and he buried it in the ground. On some level, we could say that
maybe he was protecting the master’s money.
Maybe he was keeping it safe. But
this servant wasn’t able to take that leap of faith to try to use what he had
been given. He was afraid of being punished.
Sometimes
we find ourselves in similar situations – where we are given opportunities to
use our talents, our time, our energy, our spiritual gifts – we see an
opportunity, but are afraid that we might mess up, or we might use them in the
wrong way. We might see a chance to do
something special, something that we know we have the ability to do, and we
have the resources, but we lack the courage to step out in faith and use what
God has given us.
Maybe
we are like the third servant, and we see God as an angry and harsh God,
waiting to hit us over the head with a lightning bolt when we mess up. If that’s
the case, then there is no way we can risk anything – there’s no way we will
ever be able to step out in faith to use what God has given us. If we are
afraid of consequences, if we are motivated by fear, then we’ll never be able
to do great things and our gifts will never grow.
Would
God punish us if we don’t use our gifts to our fullest extent?
I
don’t think that’s the case at all. But sometimes it’s hard to get outside our
head, cast aside our fear, and feel fully blessed. Sometimes we feel God’s
distance. There are even times God may feel like the enemy. We enjoy times of
intimacy as graced moments, but we fail to realize that even in times of
distance and estrangement God offers us God’s life.
We
serve a God who has blessed us with gifts beyond our wildest imagination and the
only risk involved is in not using those gifts at all. Over and over, Jesus
emphasizes that faithful Christian discipleship expresses itself through active
and ready engagement. As disciples of Christ, we possess an influence that
makes us capable of ensuring the well-being of the meek, the merciful, the
peacemakers, and those who long to experience the refreshment of a full dose of
righteousness.
The
parable of the talents – whether money or actual talents – tells us that the
stakes are high and our involvement is essential. It’s up to each of us to
recognize the specific occasions we have to shape communities in accordance
with the good news. The parable urges us to regard our work and the witness of
the whole church as nothing less than rising to the moment when
good-news-centered leadership is absolutely needed.
All
of this is hard work, especially when we are tired, burdened, and lonely. Fortunately,
none of us labors alone. None of us influences others all on our own. It is our
talent to announce and embody a society brought together in Jesus Christ. It is
our talent to hold leaders accountable for just policies and to advocate for
those who have been silenced. It is our talent to fight for doctors, nurses,
and teachers who are struggling and on the edge of burn-out.
When
we act out of fear, we hide, maintain, and are reluctant to risk anything. Following
Christ, doing Kingdom work, takes some risk. It means taking some chances, and
not just hoarding the resources we cling to. All of our resources are a gift.
As
disciples of Christ, knowing that God’s faith, trust, and love for us will
never waver whether or not we use our talents, knowing that all we have to do is
take that first step, that the only risk is to sit idly by and do nothing…what
have you got to lose?
Amen.
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