First Lutheran Church
November 15, 2020 + The Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Matthew 25:14-30 (Jesus said to the disciples) 14 “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15 to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17 In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18 But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20 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.’ 21 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.’ 22 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.’ 23 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.’ 24 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; 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 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? 27 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. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29 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. 30 As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ”
Sermon “My Sibling’s Keeper”
Pr. Jasmine Waring
Matthew 25 has some of the most challenging parables in it. Last week, Pastor Greg preached on the parable of the 10 Bridesmaids, and this week I have the pleasure to speak on the parable of the Talents. Both of these stories are very frustrating to me. Like what Pastor Greg said last week, I am frustrated with the Bridegroom and Master’s cruel and judgmental response. I am equally frustrated with the other bridesmaids and servants who didn’t help their peer in need. This feels so antithetical to the gospel and Jesus’ message of love.
Where is the grace of God? What happened to loving your neighbor? God is inviting us to wrestle with the scriptures, like Jacob when he wrestled with an angel all night until he received a blessing. Sometimes we need to wrestle with scripture until it delivers a blessing to us.
If you have been participating in the Luke Bible study over the past few weeks you will know that when we look at parables, we need to read what is around the story in order to better understand the context and find a deeper meaning to the parables.
We have heard about the parable of the 10 Bridesmaids which came before, so now let’s look at what is said after the story. Jesus says, “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’
“Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’ “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’
“And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”
The first thing I notice here, is Jesus was talking about his return to us, and his final judgement. We know from the parables before, Jesus will come unexpectedly, and we will not know to day or the hour. What we know from the text here, is Jesus said he was going to judge the nations for how they treated people. He will separate people like how a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. It’s important to note that the Greek word for people here is peoples (plural), meaning these are groups of people.
I grew up learning a very individualized form of Christianity. Jesus was my personal Lord and savior, whom I had a personal relationship with, and it was my job to find out what God’s plan was for my life. Although there are some great benefits of knowing Christ for yourself and taking initiative, there is also a call to be in community with each other. Jesus is coming to judge us as a collective, because the community influences the individual, and an individual’s actions can have ripple effects on the community.
In this passage of scripture, he will judge the groups based on how they treat individuals who are thought to be the least among us. The hungry, thirsty, the stranger, naked, sick, and imprisoned. According to research performed by the United Nations and UN Women, the economic success of a country is greatly impacted by how women are treated. Countries which allow women to work outside of the home, be educated, paid equally, allowed to own property, and have other rights afforded to them, directly correlate with better economies and development. This is just one indicator of how the community benefits when all are taken care of.
Jesus said, whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done unto me. It is almost like he goes undercover, disguised as the people we leave out, so that he can truly make a judgement on the status of the nations and peoples.
Knowing all of this, I would like us to re-examine the parable of the Talents through the lens of Jesus’ words here. Instead of viewing this story through our traditional read of
the scripture where we assign God as the Master and who are the wise or wicked servants, let’s hold these character’s roles lightly and see where this takes us.
If Jesus was undercover in this story, who would he be? Would he be the Master, who reaps where he has not sown, having mass amounts of wealth, and taking money from the poor and giving it to the rich? Would Jesus be one of the wise servants who were able to churn a large profit for his Master? Or would Jesus be the servant who didn’t make a profit because he knew the Master was harsh and profited off of crops he did not work for. If you have always felt a little uneasy reading these parables with a harsh Master or Bridegroom, perhaps your instincts were right. God is always consistent in God’s position for the poor and oppressed, however Christian tradition has used stories like these to align God with power and justify slavery.
This parable has themes of individuality over community, which is contrary to Jesus’ words in the final judgement. I have heard many sermons and teachings about this parable, and they always talked about the individual’s responsibility to steward their gifts. This is true, and Jesus is calling us to look out for the wellbeing of those around us. Yes, you were able to make a profit or get into the wedding party and did the “wise” thing. But at what cost? When Jesus was afraid, did you comfort him? When he was out of oil, did you share yours? You may have done the wise thing, but did you do the right thing.
We have a responsibility to care for our community. This reminds me of the story of Cain and Abel. When the LORD approached Cain after he killed his brother and asked where Abel was, Cain said, “I don’t know, Am I my brother’s keeper?”. When we turn inward on ourselves, it is easy to say, “This is not my problem” and be concerned about our own needs. We hold onto our possessions out of fear of scarcity, and hold back our wisdom even when it’s free.
The good news here is by the grace of God, we all have the ability to be our brother’s, our sister’s, and our sibling’s keeper. Because we have received such great love and acceptance from God, we can respond in love for others. We serve a God who is not going to throw us out and lock the door when we make a mistake. Through the work of Christ, we are all included in the wedding party and we all inherit the Kingdom prepared for us from the creation of the world.
May you open your eyes and heart to the beloved community God has placed you in. May you recognize the undercover Christ in the most unlikely places. May you be your sibling’s keeper. And may you all find yourself dancing at the party and inherit the Kingdom which God has prepared for you from the creation of the world. Amen.