In today’s church, especially when dealing with the topic of stewardship, this phrase rolls off our tongue like water: “Time, talents, and treasure.” When we say that, we think that a talent is an ability we have, or an ability we’ve cultivated.
But that’s not a talent in the Bible. A talent was the amount of gold worth 6,000 denarii. Now, a denarius was what someone earned in a day. So, one talent was what someone earned in 6,000 days of labor. That’s more than 19 years–that’s if he worked six days a week with no vacation or sick days!
So, now that we’ve got that down, we can now hear the parable Jesus tells us with uncluttered ears. Jesus is talking about the money that He entrusts to His servants, for some, more than they could earn in a lifetime. The master gives, to his servants, ridiculous amounts of money.
So, let’s look at the servants’ reactions, how they handled such large sums of money. Think about the one-talent man. The master gave him 19-years’ worth of wages. And that one-talent man was no fool. He knew how to smell a threat. And that’s what his master gave him, a threat–or so he believed! So, he took the threat of possibly losing the talent and does what he can to make sure that he doesn’t. He takes what the master gives him, seeing a big, bad, bear market and a mean bear of a boss.
But the multi-talent men are different. Where the one-talent man sees a threat, they see hope and promise. They’re eager to use the gift that the master has given them! While the one-talent man is burying the talent, the other servants are seeing visions and dreaming dreams, simply doing something good from what they’ve received.
How can we explain their different reactions? Maybe, we shouldn’t ask that, or try to answer that, for unbelief and faith are hidden mysteries. Someone believes and another doesn’t. Trying to figure out what only the Holy Spirit can do through Word and Sacrament has led many a Christian down the path of heresy. It’s heresy trying to bottle the Holy Spirit’s work into some manageable, man-made formula.
So, what’s going on with the one-talent man? He’s only looking to himself. What can he do to prevent calamity when the mean boss-man returns? He’s thinking only of himself, trying to save his skin. That’s what happens when you get bogged down and only look at your side of the story.
We start taking stock of what we have, examining ourselves, and then we get stuck. We see the empty cupboards, the worn floorboards, and what we don’t have. Then what we see turns from bleak to dismal, and then dismal to desolate, for what we have within us will never please that demanding, perfectionist of a boss. And if any faith was ever there, that flame of faith dies from lack of breath. Lacking trust, we try to save ourselves, which only kills us in the end.
So, what took hold of the multi-talent men? What moved them to act so confidently and boldly? Well, for starters, they knew that hidden behind them was their master, a generous landowner who had entrusted them with wealth beyond their imagining.
The master gives one servant over 19-years’ worth of wages. To another, more than 38-years’ worth of wages, and still to another, 100-years’ worth of wages–and all without a word of instruction. The master attaches no rules or regulations. He merely hands over the gift and entrusts it to his servants, leaving in complete confidence. And the master doesn’t micromanage them from afar. He sends no regulators to control how they use the talents that he’s given them. He backs off and lets them go.
The two- and five-talent men recognize something good when they see it and take the master at his word. They know that “every good and every perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17). “What did they have that they didn’t receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7) And they act accordingly. Sensing the good faith that the master has invested in them, they take what He gives them and use it in full freedom.
And then the master returns to settle accounts. That’s the day of reckoning, the Last Day, Judgment Day. He praises the two who had a return with a hearty, “Well done!” They get to share in the joy of their master. But the third servant is sent into the darkness, where’s there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth, for bringing back his buried, unused, and soiled talent.
Now, no rational person would give out such ridiculous sums of money without any words of instruction. It’s an absurd scenario. And it’s supposed to be, for Jesus’ parable isn’t about an earthly master, but the heavenly master. It’s not about the kingdom of earth but the kingdom of God–the rule and reign of God the Father through His Son in the Holy Spirit.
Now, at first listen, the parable sounds like a judgment of works. After all, the one who made much received much. He even got the talent from the third servant. And if that’s what Jesus is teaching, then do all that you can do for God to show your good works on Judgment Day. Otherwise, you’ll be joining that third servant in a hell beyond reckoning.
But the third servant is the key to understanding why the master judges as he does. WHY didn’t the third servant turn a profit? WHY didn’t he take the master’s gift and use that in the world? He had nothing to lose–it was his master’s talent, not his! And his master gave him no instructions, made no demands, or even set any goals. He merely sent his servants out to do what they would do with what he had given them.
And what the master had given them was good. It was so good that there would’ve been some profit–if one didn’t bury the gift, the talent, that the master had given him. So, why didn’t the third servant do anything? Why did he bury it?
Why do we? What keeps you from taking risks, from stepping out of your comfort zone? It’s fear. It’s fear of failure, fear of punishment, fear of loss, fear of someone’s disapproving gaze. Fear is the great paralyzer that locks our knees, tightens our breath, and constricts our throats.
Fear, you can hear it in the servant’s quivering voice. “Master, I knew that you are a hard man. You harvest grain where you haven’t sown…. So I was afraid and went off and hid your talent in the ground” (Matthew 25:24-25). He saw his master as the great punisher, not as the great rewarder. He saw his master in the way of the Law, not in the way of the Gospel. That was his sin!
What matters isn’t the abundance of your works. They aren’t your works anyway, not really. They’re God’s works worked in you and through you. After all, how can you take credit for something that isn’t yours? Doesn’t our Lord say, “Without me, you can do nothing”? (John 15:5). And think about what those whom God received into His kingdom on Judgment Day, in Matthew 25. When Jesus praised them for their good works, they said repeatedly, “When did we [do this] and when did we [do that]”? (Matthew 25:37-38)
Don’t see God only from the lens of the Law that you miss His grace and mercy. The supreme act of unbelief is not believing that God is a God of mercy. God can forgive. He even forgives you before you ask. And yet the faith that burns within you brings you to confess your sin and receive His forgiveness with joyous hearts. Turn and see God’s face beaming down on you in His Word and Sacraments.
Jesus’ parable isn’t about a crazy, earthly landowner. It’s about our crazy God, at least, what we think is crazy from our normal, human vantage point. For our Lord has even gone beyond the crazy management style in the parable. He’s given you the gift of faith, the talent, and it’s all because of His grace.
How so you say? When did God give me the talents of faith? I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I forgive you all your sins. Take eat; this is the true body of Christ given for you. Take drink; this is the true blood of Christ shed for you. Those words have been spoken over you in God’s house.
Through such words, the good Lord has given You His talents, His grace, His mercy, His faith. And what does that mean? It means that salvation is yours. Eternal life is yours. The treasures of heaven are yours. The judgment ends in Jesus, and Jesus was judged in your place. As the Apostle Paul tells us: “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
You are free in Jesus to do what God has given you to do. And in the doing of it, God is at work in you and through you. There’s no way to fail, unless you choose to bury God’s gift of faith and let it die a lonely and unused death.
In Christ, the grace that God has given you is eternal, without end. So take the talents, the grace that enables you to do good works, and live them out in Christian freedom, in the joys and complications of everyday life. Let God’s generosity within you burn through the drudgery of this world. Celebrate God’s talents within you with others. For you can’t lose. In Christ Jesus, you can’t possibly lose!
Here’s the question: Do you see God as good, gracious, and forgiving? The faith God gives you does. Or do you fear that He is harsh, demanding, and judgmental? That’s the unbelief in you that will want to bury the gift of faith to die its lonesome death. For “the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”
Look then to the cross of Christ, and you will see the God you have, the One who comes to judge the living and the dead, the One who came to be the Servant of all. Look to His Word and Sacraments, where Jesus gives you His talents from the cross. There, you will find the confidence, the boldness to let your light shine before others and enter the joy of Jesus. Amen.
