The Danger of Playing Safe
A
sermon by Brent J. Eelman
Abington
Presbyterian Church
November
13, 2005
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.”
*
Are you comfortable with this story? Is this what you want to hear
from Jesus? The one who received one talent kept it safely until the
master returned, and then was punished for it. It seems grossly
unfair, and so it should not surprise us that there was another
version of the parable. It is found in the Gospel of the
Nazarenes. In that version there is a fourth servant who also
received one talent and he went out and wasted the money on parties
and good times. He was the one who was punished. That seems a lot
fairer and more to our liking.... except that was not the
original parable. It was not the one that Jesus told. What did Jesus
say in this story? First it is a story about money. Second, it
gives us two different views of reality: scarcity and abundance.
Last, it exhorts followers of Jesus to trust the abundance with which
we are blessed.
I
This is a story about money: a lot of money. A talent was worth
fifteen years of a laborer's wage. It was between sixty and one
hundred pounds of silver and gold. Today it would be more than one
half million dollars. Jesus was not talking about a paltry sum. His
parable was about three people who received a great deal of money;
much more than they would ever need or use. It is also the story of
three individuals who had good motivations. They wanted to do the
right thing. They wanted to please their master. What would you do
if you were one of three? What would you do if you were to receive
500 thousand dollars or more? It is an awesome responsibility.
Today we usually refer to the talents in this parable in terms of
God-given gifts like the ability to sing, play an instrument, teach,
run, dance or jump. The parable of the talents makes more sense to
us this way because we are supposed to use our talents to the glory
of God. But this parable is not about talents as we know them. It
is not about the abilities and gifts that we have. It is about
possessions and money, a lot of money.
The two who received five and two talents went out and invested the
money that they received. It was not their money, it was their
master's money, but they went out and invested it.... That is a bit
risky in my book. Can you imagine opening a brokerage account for a
couple of million dollars that wasn’t your money? Would you
put it in the commodities market? The stock market? What if you made
the wrong choices? What if you lost some, would the master punish
you? But the first two slaves didn’t respond to those fears.
They went ahead and invested the funds.
The third, who received one talent, responded to those fears. He was afraid of his master. He knew his master was a demanding person. He knew that he was also a stern person, not above punishing those who displeased him. The thought of losing those funds scared him. He probably stewed about it for weeks, wondering what to do. Finally he said to himself: “Better safe than sorry.” and found a safe place to bury the funds. He played it safe. He would not lose anything, and the master would be pleased that he could account for every penny. But we know that is not the case. His master was not pleased.
II
We need to understand this parable in terms of the entire Gospel of
Jesus. By itself it makes such little sense and is quite bothersome.
But in terms of the gospel it begins to makes a great deal of sense.
Remember the story of the loaves and the fishes (also known as the
story of the feeding of the five thousand)? What if you were the one
who possessed the few fish and loaves? Would you try and conserve?
Would you say: “This is for me and my family. If there is any
left over I will share it.” But that didn't happen. The small
amount of food was shared and it fed all. That example from the
gospel and the parable of the talents describe two different ways of
looking at the world and what we have. One view is scarcity and the
other is abundance. The slave who received one talent operated from
a scarcity world view, thus he wanted to play it safe. The
others had a view that celebrated the abundance of that which they
received. Like this parable the story of the loaves and fishes is a
story of abundance, when people only felt scarcity.
In the movie The Pianist there is a scene when a Jewish family
is in an internment camp, about to be sent to a concentration camp.
They are there with so little. The father had a caramel candy in his
pocket. He pulls it out, along with a knife and proceeds to divide
it into six pieces to share with the other members of his family.
This was a situation where one is overpowered by feelings of fear and
scarcity... and yet in the midst of this scarcity, we witness one who
sees the world in terms of abundance and shares what he has.
What is the cause of this attitude of scarcity? Scientists will tell us that it is part of our DNA. It is what enables us to live through and survive famines and other situations. But these same scientists tell us that it is also at the cause of a number of destructive impulses including over-eating and miserly, anti-social behavior. At the root of feelings of scarcity is fear. The third slave plays it safe with his money because he was afraid. He was afraid. So he played it safe... The judgment is the judgment on fear and fear is a powerful motivator. This is the fear that is negated by the gospel from the angel who tells Mary, (“Do not be afraid.”) to the sermon on the mount.. (“consider the birds of the air.. they do not fear.. they are not anxious about tomorrow”). Fear compels us to play it safe and the danger of that is that we never enjoy the abundance that we receive.
III
Do you play it safe? What is your attitude toward money and
possessions? How do you perceive the world? Is it filled with
abundance? Or is it threatening with scarcity? Next week the
communion table will have all types of produce coming from a horn of
plenty. Is that truly our view? Are we willing to share from our
abundance? Or are afraid that we won't have enough and so we protect
what we have and bury it in the soil?
I fear that we Christians often live with a scarcity world view. We
are constantly worried about what we don't have and about what we
need and quite frankly, we miss the joy of that which we have
received from God. This is a parable about money, plain and simple.
Money is a force that makes us nervous, and causes anxiety, anger and
arguments... In couples, in organizations and even in churches most
conflicts involve money in some way. It is a powerful force! The
parable of the Talents is not about how much we have. It is about how
we perceive it and how we use it. Jesus, seeing the pain and anxiety
it caused for his followers, offered a different view and a different
accountability. We may feel or say: “Better safe than sorry”
but the parable's message is “Safe is sorry”. Enjoy,
share and use the abundance with which you have been blessed to the
glory of God. This is the good news. Amen.
*The
New Revised Standard Version Bible, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers)
1989.