Pentecost 13 (NL2) John B. Valentine
Matthew 25:14-30 August 18, 2024

“ACCOUNTABILITY”

Ah ... the ol’ “Parable of the Talents”!

That story which Jesus told ... that odd and a-bit-unsettling story ... about the one-talent fella and the two-talent fella and the five-talent fella.

I take it that most of you have heard that story before?

Now I guess I’m a bit curious ... actually more than ‘a bit’ curious ... when you hear that story ... how it is that YOU hear it

And ... specifically ... I wonder about two things.

The first of which is this ...

“Which part of that ‘Parable of the Talents’ is it that catches your attention?”

Which part of the story is it that your mind gravitates toward?

∙ Is it the beginning part ... about where the master distributes some particular sums of money to three of his worker-bees?

∙ Is it the middle part ... wherein we hear about the different investment strategies that each of those three servants utilized to deal with the treasure that they’d been given?

∙ Or is it perchance the ending ... and that nasty turn that story takes at the end?

+ + + + +

Now ... let’s be clear ... NONE of those approaches ... none of those ways of looking at that story ... is ‘wrong’ per se ... and each of them ... in a certain way ... is ‘right’ ...

But each of those ways of looking at that memorable little story that Jesus tells may lead us to a different conclusion.

I mean ... if we focus on the first part ...

We may be tempted to think that this is a story about the inequitable distribution of gifts ... maybe like the inequitable distribution of gifts,, talents and abilities that in many ways defines life as we know it.

• Like how some people ... without any particular reason ... through no merit of their own ... are born into affluent, democratic, relatively-peaceful societies ... and others are born into abject poverty and/or war-torn and/or authoritarian/autocratic states..

So I think ... for instance ... of how ... right now ... if one is born on the Korean Peninsula north of the 38th Parallel ... your life is probably going to be filled with hunger and hardship and oppression ...

Whereas if you’re born south of that same arbitrary 38th Parallel ... you’ve got an actual crack at life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

• Or like how some people are born into wealthy families ... and graced with unimaginable opportunities ... while others are not.

• Or maybe how some people’s gifts and giftedness mesh particularly well with our culture’s current priorities ... or what we call ‘productivity’ or whatever ... while other’s gifts and giftedness just don’t.

If we focus on this first part of the parable ... we may think that Jesus is primarily about the particular gifts that are entrusted to you.

+ + + + +

Then again ... if we focus on the second part of the story ... the “investment strategies” part of the story ... it takes on an entirely different light ... does it not??

• We hear about how the five-talent-fella who “At once ... went off and traded with them and made five more talents.”

This guy jumped at the opportunity to take what was entrusted to him and put it to work ... and apparently generated a pretty good rate of return on investment.

• And we hear about the two talent fella who basically did the same.

• But when we get to the one-talent-fella .... things change ... do they not?

This fella is apparently scared to death of his Master ... and he’s paralyzed by fear.

And ... on account of it ... he just goes and buries what the Master has entrusted to him in the back yard ... because he doesn’t want anyone to steal it.

If our focus is on this middle party of the parable ... then it is a classic story about stewardship ... hence it’s the reason why we’re reading it in conjunction with a series of sermons about stewardship ...

For stewardship is ... as we’ve noted for the past couple three weeks now ... what it is that we DO with that which God has entrusted to us.

+ + + + +

But then again ... if our focus is on the end of the story ... so-called “the Day of Reckoning” as it were ... wherein the Master speaks:

• words of affirmation to the five-talent-fella and the two-talent fella ... and

• words of condemnation to the one-talent-guy ...

That story takes on a different light yet again.

Read with an emphasis on the end of the story ...

Those words ‘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' become the focus of it all ...

Of course ... along with that brutal diatribe that begins “You wicked and lazy slave!”

If the focus in on the end of the story ... then this parable can easily become a tale about how it is that you are in control of your eternal destiny ...

Whether you’re going to end up in the good place or the bad place ...

And that it is solely by your own choice of investment strategies ... that the verdict on your life will ultimately be rendered.

+ + + + +

Now ... as I’ve reminded you countless times before ... there’s no one ‘right’ way to read ANY of Jesus’ parables.

They are all like multi-faceted gemstones that reflect differently when held at a certain angle or held under a certain light.

And each of those ways of seeing that story has something important to teach us ...

But that leads me to my second big question of the day

Which of the three servants in the story do you most readily identify with?

• The five-talent one ...
• Or the two-talent one ...
• Or the one-talent one?

So let’s dare to do a little honest self-assessment here and have a show of hands:

In the big picture ...

• How many of you would put yourselves on a par with the slave who was entrusted with five talents?

• And how many of you would rather say that maybe you’re more like the two-talent fella?

• And ... now ... how many of you would say ... realistically ... that you find a lot more affinity with the servant who was entrusted with just one?

I thought so.

After all ... you really are a bunch of humble and self-effacing Lutherans!

You’re exactly of the sort of folks that the national press has been trying to wrap their heads around for the past couple of weeks ... ever since Minnesota Governor Tim Walz ... Kamala Harris’ running mate ... introduced himself to the nation as a “Minnesota Lutheran dad”.

Our denomination’s long-standing cultural bias tells us that we can all identify with that fella on that old Monopoly card that said ‘Pay Poor Tax” ... you know ... palms up and pockets out.

We resonate with that old saying ... referencing particularly this text ... that “I’m just a one-talent-gal” or a “one-talent-guy”.

Even though we may know that most folks in our country whom statistics would identify as “wealthy” self-identify as “middle-class’.

+ + + + +

But ... you know ... there’s something about this story that Jesus tells that gets me every time.

I mean ... think back on how that story begins:

The master ... out of the blue ... calls his slaves into the office ... and doles out to each of them a particular sum of money.

Now how much does he entrust to them

∙ To the one fella he entrusts five talents ...
∙ To the next two ...
∙ To the last one.

Right?

But there’s a catch here. A little unforeseen twist. One of those quirky sorts of twists the makes Jesus’ parables so powerful.

Anyone want to guess how much one of these ‘talent’ things IS that the master doled out?

If you follow the logic of the New Testament ... a talent was a particular sum of money related to a ‘day’s wage’.

The average “Joe” ... or Josiah or Joshua or Mary for that matter ... in Jesus’ day ... made what was called a ‘denarius’ for a full day of honest work.

Now ... assuming that our average “Joe” could find a steady job and work six days a week ... he could earn ... more or less ... in the course of a year ... three hundred denarii.

And ... seeing as there were 6000 denarii in a talent of copper ... it would take him about just about two decades to earn that much in income.

Have I lost you yet????

But now ... if we were to translate that into Bay Area wages in the 21st century ... the going rate for most honest-day’s-work wages around here is say thirty bucks an hour ... or two-hundred-and-fifty bucks a day.

So ... if one of these ‘talent’ things is the equivalent of six-thousand days’ wages ... then a talent is worth about one-point-five million dollars!

Even the poor fella with just the one measly talent is entrusted with one-point-five million bucks!

And that kind of puts a different twist on the meaning of the story ... does it not???

No more feeling sorry for the one-talent-fella ... because he ‘only’ was entrusted with a million bucks.

Which may actually mean that the real shock of this story isn’t so much at the end as it is at the beginning!

Where the Boss doles out these huge sums of money to those different servants in the first place.

This parable isn’t so much a story about scarcity as it is one about abundance ...

About how God has abundantly gifted ALL of us with riches and goodness beyond our comprehension ...

And how it is that we are called to be accountable for our management of God’s abundant gifts.

+ + + + +

Now ... if you want to think about that abundance with which you are entrusted ... maybe a good place to start your accounting would be to take out Martin Luther’s Small Catechism and look at the way Luther defines ‘daily bread’ in the Lord’s Prayer:

What is daily bread?” ... Luther asks. And then he launches into a litany that includes:

• Food and clothing ... home and property ... work and income ...
• Our families ... our community ... and our government ...
• The environment in which we live ... and the particular beauty of it
• Our lives and our health and our relationships ...
• And the list goes on and on.

Every good and needful thing in life ... everything ... both the tangible and the intangible ... is a gift from God.

• Even when we earn it ... it's a gift from God.
• Even when we ‘own’ it ... it's a gift from God.
• Even when we don't appreciate it ... it's a gift from God.

It's ALL a gift from God ... an abundant gift from God ... a gift entrusted to us ... a gift for which we are accountable.

Think about these things.