And the dollar bills start
falling from the ceiling and everyone goes nuts! Wow! Look at it all! Woo hoo!
Money!
Now you may be saying, hold on a
moment, the people in today’s parable didn’t get almost half a million dollars,
they got a measly talent. Why are you
blowing this out of proportion? After all, we know what this parable is
about. It’s about wise investing and not
just our money but our skills and aptitudes, right?
Well, yes and no. It’s easy to overlook this particular parable
because we’ve heard it so many times.
Same old same old. But we forget
that parables were told by Jesus to shock his listeners. The stories were like a defibrillator to
their souls, to surprise them and help them think of the world in a new
light. Jesus didn’t intend this story to
be boring or predictable!
So let’s put it into a bit of
context. First of all, remember that he
is talking about a master and his servants in the Roman empire. Chances are they are not servants, they are
slaves. They don’t have the right to go
on strike or switch jobs without permission.
They do what they are told and they don’t need resumes because they have
the job for life. No retirement plan
either unless they have a compassionate master.
But they get two square meals a day and a roof over their heads if they
are working hard. And it’s all about
pleasing the master because if you don’t, you could be out on your ear and
homeless at the snap of a finger without a severance package, a recommendation
or anything other than the clothes on your back.
The master decides to leave his
slaves in charge as he goes on a long journey.
He hands them some money. A
talent, which in the Greek is talanton which meant weight, probably the
equivalent of a ton of gold or as one commentator said, 15 year’s wages for an
average citizen. That’s what the third
slave gets, 15 years wages!
So at $15/hour, 40 hours a week,
50 weeks a year, over 15 years, a talent is about 450 thousand dollars! The other two slaves must have been even more
astonished. The first got two and a
quarter million dollars, the second got almost a million. No wonder they invested that money in some
kind of interest-bearing project.
The third slave got considerably
less, probably because the master knew he wouldn’t be able to wrap his mind
around such a huge sum of money. But
still, almost half a million dollars without any instructions is a pretty
impressive windfall for anyone.
How many of you would throw half
a million dollars into a clay pot and dig a hole in the back yard and bury it
there for safe keeping? Or would you
throw it in a checking account? I think
most people would figure out some way to earn interest, it’s a bit of a no
brainer. Back in the time of Jesus, burying
a few coins was not unusual, it was similar to putting money into a
mattress. Back then there were no bank
machines on every corner and no credit cards.
So, the third slave buried his
money to keep it safe. Then when the
master came back, the slave came up with a million excuses as to why he did
nothing with the money. He didn’t want
to take a risk with the money. He didn’t
trust the master’s judgement, he didn’t want to disappoint him, and he didn’t
want to take a chance. And he tried to
shift the blame to his master. It’s your
fault I don’t take risks. It’s your
fault I want to make sure to please you.
Except this cautious approach
didn’t please the master. The excuses
didn’t land well especially since the other two slaves did invest their
windfall. The third slave could have
simply asked the first two for advice on where to invest. Instead, he chose the easy way, the simple
way, the way that didn’t take him out of his comfort zone. He chose not to risk.
One of the six hallmarks of a
thriving church is the willingness to take risks. In fact one minister described their thriving
church as one that had a high risk appetite. He said “we're comfortable with
failure and excited to try different things to get different results.” Sounds like they take this parable to heart!
Taking risks might be as simple
as sharing our events on Facebook even though we get push back. Taking risks might be wearing a rainbow
pin. Taking risks might be challenging people
to not gossip about others. Taking risks
might be coming to our Trans day of remembrance
potluck tomorrow evening where we will commemorate people who risk their lives
just by leaving their homes to shop for groceries. Taking risks might be trying a new mission
idea to help our community become safer for others. Taking risks might be handing out sandwiches to our neighbors.
As Jesus said, a life with zero
risk is a terrible way to live because it means that fear drives every choice
we make. And as Paul wrote, we are
children of honesty, called to live lives of openness, trustworthiness and
compassion. We are called to live with
courage and with encouragement and with risk taking because God has trusted us
with abundance and sees us as talented and beloved. May we see ourselves as God sees us, capable
of risk and courage as we live into God’s vision of what the world could be
like if we loved and worked as Jesus did.
Let us be grateful risk takers for God’s vision! Amen.
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