Year A, Proper 28
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
North Andover, Massachusetts
The Rev. Stephanie Chase Wilson

As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, until he has mercy upon us. Amen.

My grandfather was a Baltic German. He was culturally a German, but was raised in Estonia. Actually, because his father was an employee of the Russian Czar, my grandfather was born in Baku, Azerbaijan and lived much of his childhood bouncing between Estonia and St. Petersburg. I remember him telling me about a dream he had when he was 15 years old. He was standing in front of a bakery window in St. Petersburg which was full of good things to eat. It was during the Russian revolution. He was desperately hungry in those days and he realized that it was a dream, so he broke the window and ate and ate. He still remembered that dream as an old man, it was such a good dream. My grandfather lived through the Russian Revolution, the First World War, and the Second World War. He and his family lost all their possessions on three different occasions in his life. By the time I knew my grandfather he was living a quiet retirement with my grandmother in Albany, New York.
On of his quirks was that Opa believed in the safety of gold. He collected gold coins and horded them at home. One year he bought a gold coin for each of his grandchildren as a gift, to encourage us to begin our own collection. As an adult I now see how his life story of loosing all he possessed on several occasions impacted his passion for collecting this gold. He had good reason not to trust markets or governments, all which fell with remarkable regularity during his lifetime.

Given the stock market today, many of us are also wondering whether investing in the markets are such a good idea. Maybe we should have bought gold or just buried our money in the ground. If we had, we’d have more of it right now.

Which is why our gospel story is especially striking today. That third slave looks pretty smart right now. Remember, Jesus is in Jerusalem just days before the crucifixion. He’s been telling parables for weeks, but now as he gets closer to the end, his parables are beginning to have more of an edge to them. They mostly are about the coming Kingdom of God. There are the stories of the wicked tenants, the wedding banquet, the ten bridesmaids, and others. At the end of these stories lots of people end up in the outer darkness, weeping and gnashing. Although we haven’t read it this fall, Jesus also spends a whole chapter talking about the end of the age and the second coming. In next week’s gospel Jesus will get very specific about what the day of judgment will be like. This is the setting of this week’s parable. Jesus has entered Jerusalem, has been preparing his followers for the end times, has described the Kingdom of God and what behavior allows one to enter it, and then culminates with a description of Judgment Day. From there the gospel of Matthew moves directly to the betrayal of Jesus and the passion narrative.

As his days are numbered, Jesus gets stronger and stronger about the message. Today’s gospel may at first glance look harsh, but we can see it is full of good news and a desire for his listeners to know the joy of the Kingdom.

The parable opens with a man giving each of his slaves some money. “Talents” are a unit of money, like a “dollar.” Except one talent is worth about 15 years wages. So this is a HUGE amount of money! Millions of dollars in our economy. So the first thing should notice is that although the master owns the people and he owns the property he gives them, what he gives them is outrageously generous. Even the man who is given only one talent is honored by being given enormous responsibility. Even those who have less ability are still given an overwhelming abundance. This is a master who has great faith and trust in his slaves.
When the man returns from his journey he is pleased with the first two slaves who have increased what was given them, but is very unhappy with the slave who merely buried his talent in the ground. This is usually an easy concept to preach to folks, but with this year’s economy we are all wondering whether this slave, like my grandfather’s gold, didn’t have the right idea!

But one thing to remember about parables is that they are allegorical. Just as the story of the five foolish virgins is not a warning to us in the 21st century to have oil on hand, so to today’s parable is not an economics lesson. This parable is not about how to invest money.

This parable IS, however, about the nature of our relationship with God and how to live a Christian life. This parable is both a warning and a promise about the end times.

We are the slaves in the story, and loosely speaking, Jesus is the man. We belong to him. He is going away for a while. Before he leaves he gives us unbelievable gifts, an overwhelming abundance, and he asks us to watch over his possessions for him. We are trusted.
All that we are and all that we have belongs to our master, not to us, and one day our master will return and will ask us to give an accounting of what we have done with what we have been given. This story is not about money, it is about everything. God has given us money, yes, and that is one thing we are responsible for, but so too we are given our health, our lives, our families, our earth, our love, our compassion, our home, our cars, our time, our country, our friends, our talents, even the gospel of Jesus Christ – everything is from God. This parable is asking us what we are doing with what God has given us. Have we cared for our bodies? Do we work out and eat right and try to lower our stress? Have we cared for the less fortunate? Have we lowered our carbon footprint? Have we offered our talent for sewing to make altar linens? Have we offered our talent for accounting to do the books at a homeless shelter? Have we respected the dignity of every human being, including ourselves? Do we share the good news of Jesus Christ with our friends? This parable is about stewardship, and stewardship is not simply about money, but about gratitude and how we respond as a result. Gratitude for resources we do not earn or own.

Not everyone has been given the same amount. Each slave is different. And in fact when the master returns he doesn’t care who earned more or who earned less. The slave who earned 5 talents and the slave who earned 2 talents each received the same reward. The only thing the master was unhappy with was the slave who didn’t even try. The slave who hid his light under a bushel. The slave who feared taking risks. The slave who was too lazy to do use what he was given. Apathy. Fear. Inertia. These are the enemies of stewardship. These are the enemies of love. Because love requires vulnerability. Love requires risk. My guess is that if the slave had invested his one talent and lost it all, the master would not have punished him. He would have praised him for his efforts and rewarded him the same as the other two slaves. The master is not expecting perfection, merely faithfulness. We are to take the loving gifts from God and spread them around our little corner of the kingdom and watch them flourish. The master is less interested in results than in effort. Like the famous Alfred Lord Tennyson quote, “Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”

Jesus will return one day and will ask for an accounting of what we have done with what we have been given. But this is not meant to be a day of fear, but of joy.
In fact, our reading from Thessalonians says “But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.” (1 Thes. 5:4-5). We are baptized into the Body of Christ. You are children of light. God loves and trusts you with many things. “For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thes. 5:9).

The point is not to be perfect or to fear judgment, but to put yourself out there. “To believe, take the risk against logic and all the odds. Invest every last bit of your spiritual resources into the world. Love unconditionally, trust totally, hope endlessly. Proclaim the unbounded riches of knowing Christ and watch to see the compound interest of lives transformed, love shared, faith deepened.”

Now, having said all this I would be remiss if I didn’t also point out that we are close to ending our annual pledge campaign. That money too is part of our lives of stewardship. Next week will be our ingathering and we are asking everyone to come to church with their pledge card to offer it at the altar during the service.

The Biblical norm is that we should give 10% of our income to God through the church. That is a big chunk of money. But it is helpful, I find, to think not in terms of giving 10% of our money to God, but of keeping 90% of God’s money for ourselves. Realistically, of course, few people can simply go from giving 2% annually to giving 10% in one year. So a 10% tithe is seen as a goal that we are aiming for. We ask for you to consider proportional giving. If you are giving 2% this year, consider 2.5 % for next year, and 3% for the year after, until you reach your goal of 10%.

For many people 10% is simply impossible. Perhaps you are on a fixed income, or you have some unexpected health expenses, or you have 2 kids in college, or other issues. Do not give so much to the church that it jeopardizes food, clothing, shelter, health care, or other necessities. Recognize that this is a season of life to give less, and resume increased giving at another time, if you are able.

I myself give 10% of my income to St. Paul’s. I have been tithing to the church for about 10 years. But when I lived as a missionary in Lithuania, I had to stop tithing because I was living on a shoestring. I gave what I could during those years. But as soon as I returned stateside and became employed, I resumed tithing. I do it because it is part of what I believe God is calling me to do with my talents, that I give generously and take risks for the Kingdom. I also do it because it gives me joy. It reminds me I belong to God and not to money.

I know the economy is awfully rocky right now and we don’t know what next year will bring. You may be unsure about pledging since circumstances may change. I request that you pledge anyway. That you pledge according to your current circumstances. But rest assured that if your circumstances DO change, you may change your pledge at any time during the year. You are a generous congregation and any pledge amount is gratefully received.

One final comment is - this is not about guilt! Do not give out of fear of judgment and do not give out of guilt. Give because you know that all you have is a gift. Give because you are grateful. Give because you want to steward your gifts and talents wisely. Give because you know yourself to be a child of the light. Give as a sign of love. Give because you want to joyfully share your blessings with this world to the glory of God. Amen.