"Buried Talent"

Matthew 25:14-30

Pastor Tom Johnson, November 16, 2014

A talent in the Bible is the largest weight or measure. It is about 75 lbs. of silver coins. It is the equivalent of 6,000 denarii—or 6,000 days’ wages. Today that would be about $500,000. A talent is a half million dollars. Without any direction, the master gives 2.5 million dollars to one person, 1 million dollars to another, and a half million to the other. He already had their ability to invest in mind when he gave them this ridiculous amount of money into their care. This is reckless generosity and trust that he puts into these three slaves and then just goes away on a long journey. When he returns, one slave increases his 2.5 to $5 million, the other 1 to 2 million, and the last one literally buried his talent. The two that invested the money are called good and trustworthy and are further rewarded. They are entrusted with more of his resources, and invited into the joy of their master. The one that buried his talent loses his place of privilege.

The heart of this parable is the fear and unbelief of the talent-burying slave. His whole concept of his master is wrong. He calls him “a harsh man, reaping where [he does] not sow, and gathering where [he does] not scatter seed.” And it is because he is afraid that he went and hid his talent into the ground. A false view of his master leads to fear; and fear leads to irrational, ridiculous behavior. Consider the slave’s accusation: he accuses the master of harvesting crops he did not plant—benefitting from investments he did not invest in.

I am not trained in business but isn’t that exactly what the master did when he invested the millions of dollars into his three slaves? He planted financial seed-money into the lives and care of his servants. It is the servant who does something completely bizarre; he buries 75 lbs of silver into the ground so that no one can find it. Does he think that the silver will sprout out of the ground and produce more silver? “Money does not grow on trees” as my parents would like to remind me. Neither does it multiply like seed in the soil. And so, when the master says, “You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter?” it should be said with the sarcastic tone that it is intended. It does not describe who this master is at all. “So, you believe that I am harsh and basically a thief of my own possessions, do you? You could have at least invested your talent conservatively in an IRA—or even at a low interest rate in a savings account at your bank. But what can I do with someone who accuses his generous master of callousness and robbery? How can I trust someone whose irrational fear leads to erratic behavior. How can that servant be trusted?” He can’t. He must go—even if it is in tears and grinding his teeth in resentment and anger.

It is this servant’s own unbelief and fear that put him outside of the work of the Kingdom. It is his own faithlessness that led him away from the generosity and joy of his master. He believed a lie about his master. And it paralyzed him in fear. And this, I think, is why this parable of Jesus is relevant to us. The judgment that awaits us is already upon us now. When Jesus comes back, he will simply unmask the lies and uncover what has always been there but hidden away out of fear, unbelief, and our irrational behavior.

This is a tough parable. But it answers the prayer we prayed at the beginning of the service—to “keep in mind the end of all things and the day of judgment so that we may be stirred up to holiness of life here and may live with God forever.” God wants to stir up our faithfulness and godly living by letting go of the lies about God and letting go of the fear that can paralyze us. This parable is about how a wrong view of God will bankrupt us spiritually. It is intended to keep us from burying our own talent.

It is a lie that God is harsh, unfeeling, uncaring, or spiteful. God is “good, and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (Exod 34:6). He loved the world by sending us his Son Jesus to draw us tenderly and lovingly to himself. It is a lie that God exploits his creation—that he is looking for ways that he can rob us of our stuff, our joy, our health, or bring us harm. It is this lie that will cause us to bury our talent. God is the source of all goodness and everything that sustains us. God blesses individuals, families, churches, and peoples with different amounts of talents—though apparently he is not egalitarian. Some people and some groups would break the bank with all their talents. As Jesus says elsewhere, “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded” (Luke 12:48).

Let’s be clear: the one talent is a huge gift—a magnificent and colossal amount of resources. That is the true nature of our Master. He is generous to everyone. He sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous alike (Matt 5:45). We can be our worst enemy when we are not good students of the Master—when we don’t cultivate a view of God who is. God has sown a ridiculous amount of talents into the lives of his creation.  And it is faith in a good and gracious God—not fear of a supreme being lording it over his creation—that will propel us forward into God’s rich economy of grace. It is the promise of entering the joy of the master that will fuel our faith and action. God plants us into the soil of the earth. He gives us life, family, friends, talent, abilities, and spiritual gifts. God, the Lord of the Harvest,  calls us to go out and plant the seed of these resources into the world around us. Together we share the work of the Kingdom. And when he comes back from what seems like a very long journey, he will call us into the eternal joy of the master.