Entrusted

Matthew 25:14:30

November 19, 2023

 

            I am not an extreme sports kind of person or a thrill seeker. When I was younger, I used to love going on roller coasters, but now I look at them and think “that’s going to kill my neck.” But even though I have never been one to go looking for excitement-slash-terror, I have tried a few activities that might be considered more extreme or scarier than others. When I was in my early 20’s, I got the chance to try rappelling. I went with some longtime friends and their friend, who was a certified instructor, so he was big on safety. But I was still nervous-slash-terrified that I was about to go bouncing backwards down the side of a cliff. But the instructor and my friends helped me get harnessed and walked me through what would happen. Once the instructor was at the bottom of the cliff with the rope to belay me, he would give me the signal, then I would walk backwards to the edge of the cliff and then I would rappel my way down. No problem.

            All this took place. I took several deep breaths, then I started to walk that backwards walk. I reached the edge and had one foot in the air and one foot still on solid ground when I heard a “pop!” I stopped right where I was and called out, trying to sound calm,

“I just heard something pop.”

The others didn’t know what I was talking about, so I repeated myself.

“I just heard something pop. I don’t think I should hear a popping sound as I’m about to go backwards off a cliff.”

To my mind my friends didn’t seem to be responding fast enough or with the right sense of urgency, so I decided to speak a little louder.

“I. Just. Heard. Something. Pop! SOMETHING POPPED!”

By this time, the instructor and my friends were at my side trying to figure out what I’d heard. There were two carabiners, these little hooks things, that held all the ropes in place. One had a safety closure on it, and the other didn’t. The one that didn’t have the safety closure had come a little undone and that was the popping sound I heard. It turns out I was still very safely harnessed and would not have gotten hurt or, you know, tumbled to my death. So, the carabiner was refastened, and I went through those first backward steps again. And … I did it. I rappelled my way down. Midway, I got some confidence and started to have fun with it. I even went down the cliff a second time. It was an extraordinary experience and I’m glad that I overcame some of my fear and took the risk.

There is no rappelling in this morning’s passage from Matthew’s gospel. But there is risk, and I suspect that fear is closely associated with that risk. Often when we have heard this story, we hear it as part of a stewardship sermon. God, who must then be the man in this parable, has given us a significant number of talents. We must use them, or we risk disappointing God, and look what happened to the servant who did that.

Yet while we associate talents with special abilities that we have been given or skills that we have, for example Brent’s singing, Pamela Sue’s artistry, Kim’s photography, Charlie’s skill at medicine or gardening, in this parable a talent was a sum of money. A large sum of money! One talent was equivalent to what a daily wage earner might make in 15 to 20 years! That’s a lot of talent, and it is a lot of money. One commentator estimated that combined, the property owner entrusted his three servants with approximately 1.5 million dollars in today’s money! 1.5 million! Other scholars have suggested it was even more than that. That’s a lot of money to be entrust to someone. It's a risk to entrust and it is a risk to invest.  

This is the more traditional interpretation of this parable. A second that I have read in several sources this week has been slightly different. Rather than see this parable as allegorical, with God being the master who goes away leaving his slaves with a lot of money to watch over, perhaps the real hero in the story is the third slave. If we are reading this parable in economic terms, and it would make sense that the original hearers of this parable would have been well aware of the economics of it, then hearing about a master expecting his servants to make even more money for him hints in this of economic exploitation. The idea of trading or reinvesting goes directly against specific laws found in Leviticus. And the first two slaves, in doing that, would have been accessories to the breaking of that law. It was only the third slave who understood that what the master was doing was wrong, and in burying the treasure he was given, refused to participate in any economic exploitation. If there is an allegorical angle to this parable, then that third slave would be Jesus, who spoke truth to power just as the slave speaks truth to the master, and who, in a very short time, would also be buried.

I debated which way I should go with this, which interpretation I found the most compelling. But the truth is, I think there’s truth in both. This is a hard passage. This is a hard parable. The parables Jesus are telling are becoming increasingly challenging and dark. He knows that his time is limited. He knows that his arrest and crucifixion is not far away. He needs those who follow him, those who will hear him, to understand the urgency of his message.

The first five words of this passage are “For it is as if …” Seemingly innocuous little words. But they tell more than you would expect. Because this is a kingdom parable. For it is as if the kingdom of God is a man who goes on a journey. But before he leaves, he entrusts three people who are bound to him with talents.

So, is there a way to understand this parable as Jesus reminding his followers that he is entrusting them – not necessarily with money or skills but with mercy, with compassion and forgiveness and the gospel itself? I am entrusting you with God’s good news for the world. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. I am entrusting you, I am faithful to you, and this trust requires faith on your part. It requires you to take risks on your part. It requires you to overcome your fear and trust in God, trust in me.

And is there also a way to hear this parable as a call to be the one who goes against the culture? Just because there is temptation to live as the world lives, to measure success as the world measures success, that does not mean that you should give in. To do what is considered foolish, to refuse to participate in harming others, might just cause you to be banished and cast out and even lose your life. But those who lose their life for the sake of the gospel will save it, and those who save their life for the sake of the world will lose it. Being foolish is what the gospel is all about. We follow a foolish gospel – at least according to the standards of some. But don’t be so fearful of being foolish that you give into temptation. Following the gospel requires risk. And I am entrusting you to take that risk.

I think there is truth in both interpretations. I could find reasons to support either one, but I’m not sure that making a choice is what is important. It seems to me that the crux of the message that we need to take with us this morning, what we need to be reminded of – probably again and again – is that when it comes to the kingdom of God we are entrusted to live as though we believe that the kingdom is really in our midst. We are entrusted with mercy, so we need to be merciful. We are entrusted with grace, so we need to be gracious. We are entrusted with justice and righteousness, so we need to act with justice and live righteously. We are entrusted with peace, so we must be peacemakers. We are entrusted with hope, so we must be hopeful even in the face of what seems hopeless. We are entrusted with love, with love that risks, with love that acknowledges fear but does not let fear stop it or stand in its way. We are entrusted with love that puts its boots on and gets out in the world and works to make love real for others through everything that I just said and more.

We are entrusted with the gift and the call and the responsibility and the requirement of the gospel. We are entrusted to live out and share the good news. And that can be a scary thing, even scarier than walking backwards off a cliff. We are entrusted to take the risk of faith, and that can be more frightening than hearing the pop of a carabiner coming open.

We are entrusted with the gift and the call and the responsibility and the requirement of the gospel. There is no time to lose. There is no time to waste. The kingdom is in our midst. Are we ready to live and to give and to love with all which we have been entrusted? Are we ready to live out the risky business of faith?

Let all of God’s children say, “Alleluia.”

Amen.