Karen Hollis | Oct 1, 2023
MM Launch
Matthew 25:14-30 ‘For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, “Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, “Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.” But his master replied, “You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be reflections of your word to us today, in Christ’s name we pray. Amen
I feel like I need to start a sermon series called: things we didn’t know about the Bible. It seems like every week I stand up here with information that is surprising or comes out of left field and sheds new light on these scripture texts. I hope it’s interesting and useful to you all. I don’t know if this is true for you, but there are stories of scripture I’ve been hearing for so long that I kind of stop paying attention. I have even simply read a heading and thought, oh I know what that story is about . . . then later on I read the text and a detail I’ve never seen before will pop out at me. I’ll read a few commentaries on the passage and learn that details that I hardly noticed, were crucial to the story OR I assume the detail means one thing, when in first Century Palestine, the detail means something else entirely. It turns out that putting Jesus in his own context makes a difference to how we hear his stories and how we interpret his message.
I’m sure you can tell that I’m leading us into some new information about the parable of the Talents. As we consider this parable again, I invite you to set to the side for a few minutes what you’ve always understood about this parable – you can bring it all back later – but for the moment, maybe find an open posture within you to hear something new. I wonder – is there anything about this parable that has ever bothered you? Like with many of the parables, were you taught to read God into the character with power? In this case, God would be the landowner. How does your image of God compare with the landowner in the parable? Does your loving God call people lazy and take away what little people have? This aspect of the parable has always bugged me. Maybe Jesus wasn’t trying to imply that the landowner is God . . . if so, what else could Jesus be trying to say? Let’s remember that parables use settings of everyday life to help the hearer notice something about themselves. So we can assume the setting is everyday life.
Let’s dig into it a little bit and ask, what is a Talent, exactly? It’s a unit of weight and currency . . . by weight it’s about 80 pounds and worth a lot of money, about 6,000 denari. In first century Palestine, a denarius was equivalent to a day’s wage for a labourer. One Talent was worth 6,000 days’ wages, which is more than 16 years’ pay for a labourer.1 This leads us to more questions, like how did the landowner even accumulate this kind of wealth? And what will the enslaved men do to invest this amount of money?
Theologian Debie Thomas (and others) tell us that in those days, the elite “lent money to the farming poor at exorbitant interest, and systematically stripped those debtors of their land. Often the people who took such loans — at rates between 60 and 200% — did so out of desperation, putting their fields up as collateral in last-ditch efforts to save their livelihoods. Inevitably, their efforts would fail. Drought would hit, or a debtor would grow ill, or a crop would yield too little. At that point, the staggering interest rates a farmer agreed to would kick in and force foreclosure, and the poor man would have no choice but to surrender his ancestral land . . . and join the multitudes of landless day laborers who couldn't know from day to day where their bread would come from.”2 With each foreclosure, resources and possibilities were taken from communities and the wealthy landowner’s fortune increased.
In today’s parable, two of the enslaved men participate in this system by taking Talents and lending them to desperate farmers. When they come back with a profit, they are invited into the “joy” of their Master: “the joy of further wealth, further profit, further exploitation.”3
Here’s the twist in the story - one man is not willing to participate in this corrupt system. He takes the money and buries it safely in the ground and when the landowner returns, gives it back to him, saying: “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.”4 He’s kind of calling out the landowner . . . basically saying, you’ve done nothing to invest in this community or support the common good, and yet you profit . . . you profit, leaving this community poorer. You do injustice to this region and I won’t participate. I like this guy – he tells the truth and doesn’t participate in corrupt systems, even when he is scared. He sounds like this Jesus guy I know – whether or not that was intended – perhaps Jesus is using this parable to call out the widespread exploitation he sees in community after community.
Jesus, lifts up a bigger and broader vision for community . . . a vision where instead of resources being stripped from them, people invest in their communities, they come together, are real, emotionally vulnerable, and generous with each other, uphold the dignity of all creation, nurture relationships, inspire, empower, collaborate, and grow communities with strong bonds and resilience.
I always get this expansive feeling in my heart when I think about the Kindom of God. It’s so different from the picture painted in today’s parable. I mean, what if instead of a wealthy man exploiting the vulnerable, a whole community came together with their collective resources – divided equally – to invest in each other, in their collective thriving, and their ability to contribute to the greater good? Can you imagine it? What if a community inspired and empowered people to draw on their gifts, skills, their creativity, and they collaborated to generate connection, beauty, and abundance? I mean, we wouldn’t actually do it, but think about the potential (Elaine interrupts) to bring people together.
Questions:
- So, what is your idea, exactly?
We’ll call it The Matthew Mystery Project where each of us will have the opportunity to participate in a scripture inspired and community building fundraising initiative. It’s a project that will be a lot of fun, and it will build connections and dialogue both in and outside of our own church community. We’ll utilize our own individual talents to create something wonderful and beneficial to the greater good. We know we have a congregation full of amazing people with terrific gifts.
- How would it work?
We will give everyone money, lots of ideas and support, and give them seven months to multiply their seed money in unique and creative ways.
- This sounds like kind of a leap of faith. You’re suggesting we just give everyone money and let them decide what to do with it?
Exactly! Jesus was a risk taker, and the gospel is full of examples of him encouraging his flock to take leaps of faith to put faith into action. So, we take a risk and hand out $20 seed money to everyone and see how they can multiply that $20. You will be astonished at what people will do. It’s radical, requires openness, is based on spirituality, and will help us care for the common good; so, it fits our core values.
- It seems like the project has potential to generate more than money, is that right?
Absolutely. The project will include special opportunities for our congregation to come together to support each other’s ideas, possibly pool their money and work together, and enjoy seeing what unfolds. Plus, because it’s not the sort of thing commonly done at churches, we’ll be talking about it to our friends and colleagues. And through word-of-mouth and publicity, The Matthew Mystery Project has the potential to raise the profile of Comox United in the wider community.
- Seems like you’ve put a lot of thought into this – have other communities ever done something like this?
Yes. I created The Matthew Mystery Project for Tansley United in Burlington Ontario, and it was very successful financially and on several other fronts. People had a good time, and it helped our church grow.
- I find this super energizing – I love the whole idea, especially since, as my friend Josh says, parables were “designed to spark the imagination, inspire curiosity, and challenge our assumptions about what is possible”5 . . . and here you’ve done just that! I change my mind. I think we should do this . . . let’s take the risk and see what we can create together!
I’m glad you agree. (Elaine opens box with envelopes) In these envelopes is the seed money to start the project plus information explaining exactly how it will work. I know a few people may think they can’t help but please read the information. I think you will see it’s pretty easy and I’ll be available in the hall during coffee time to answer questions. (Elaine starts handing out envelopes to the choir and Alan helps hand them out to the congregation).
1 Scott. Bible Stories for Grown-Ups. p. 60.
2 Debie Thomas, https://www.journeywithjesus.net/essays/2814-the-good-kind-of-worthless Sept 30, 2023
3 Thomas, ibid.
4 Matthew 25 nrsv
5 Scott, Bible Stories for Grown-Ups, 57.