The Master Is Not A Stingy, Harsh, Rough, Jerk!
Text: Matthew 25:14-30
Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
In today’s Gospel reading we
encounter another parable from Jesus. In
this parable, that is (to say) this story, we hear of a master who is planning
on going on a long trip. However, before
leaving, the master entrusts his talents—his wealth and assets—to three particular
servants. He gives five talents to one
servant, which would be about $5,000,000 in our day and age. He then gave two talents to another servant,
which is about $2,000,000. And finally
he gave one talent to the last servant, which is about $1,000,000.
Yes, he entrusts these
talents—these monetary units of wealth—to three servants, until he would return
from his long trip.
After returning from his
long trip, he calls these servants to give an account of what they did with his
resources. The first man showed that he
doubled the master’s talents. The second
man came forth and showed that he doubled the talents as well. The third man, however, came forth and gave
the master the original talent that was entrusted to him. This talent, unlike the other talents, was a
bit different. It was different because
it was covered in dirt. You see, upon
originally receiving this talent the servant tossed it in a hole to hide it. In other words, this third man decided to conceal
the talent in the ground for safe keeping.
He didn’t lose a cent, it was returned completely to the master, though
it was a bit dirty from being buried in the ground.
It would be easy for us at
this point to grab a hold of our calculators and spreadsheets to compare the
amount of worth given to each of these servants, rank their financial returns
on these assets, and focus on their profit increase. Otherwise stated, it would be easy to debate
who was the wisest investor among the three servants. Thus, we could make the main point of this
parable sound something like this,
“How much did the servants multiple the master’s resources; how much are you multiplying the Lord’s talents?”
Yes, it would be easy to
make the main focus of this parable focus on how much we have been given by the
Lord and how much we are putting these spiritual and physical talents to
use.
There are two problems with
this focus though.
First, it is very tempting
to get a yardstick out or a scale and start measuring, comparing, and
categorizing the gifts that we have been given and received by faith. It would be easy to rush to accounting
principles to gauge, record, and document everything that we have been given without
realizing that five talents, two talents, and one talent are all tremendous
amounts already. In other words, we need
to recognize that whether we are dealing with five talents, two talents, or one
talent, that a talent is no small chunk of change for an unworthy servant. Indeed, the Master’s talents, that is (to
say), the Lord’s salvation and various gifts that have been given to you and me
are poured out upon who? Yes, upon us
sinners; sinners who do not deserve a single talent, let alone deserve to be
even classified as a servant; we don’t deserve anything. Thus, to have any talents at all is tremendous! When we start comparing the amount of talent
we tread upon foolishness.
The second problem is that
this parable is not primarily about the amount of return that was produced by
the servants. You see, was not the
servant who gained 2 talents praised equally with the servant who gained 5
talents? Yes, they were equally praised
even though their gain was different!
So, if this text is not
mainly about the amount of talents given and the amount of talents returned,
what can we glean from today’s Gospel reading?
Dear friends, do you realize
that the Lord loves to pour out grace upon grace, for that is what is done in
the parable and that is what is done for us.
Yes, we see that the main point in this parable is the master simply
handing over eight-million-bucks to his servants as they await His return. In other words, the Lord is a tremendous,
marvelous, and remarkable giver of talents, a remarkable giver of salvation and
other gifts to you and to me. Truly,
truly, salvation is poured out upon you at your baptism, it is spoken to you in
the Word, and delivered to you on our tongues in the Lord’s Supper. Furthermore, you are entrusted with gifts in
our vocations to use and to enjoy, and gladly show what we make and do with
these great gifts!
This was the case of two of
the servants. They received talents as a
gift to manage and they invested the wealth, even though they were not
commanded to invest it. Truly, these
servants were honored and entrusted with this great wealth and property because
the master in his generosity turned it all over to them. When the master returned from being away I
get the impression that these two servants were excited to share all that
happened as a result of the master’s generous entrusting of gifts to them.
As you have already heard,
this was not the case with the one servant though. No, he hid the treasure, it was stuck in a hole
in the ground. Why did this servant do
this? Listen to his justification,
“Master, I knew you to be 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.”
Did you hear that? This servant saw the master as a stiff, stingy, rough, harsh, jerk. Furthermore,
because of the way that he saw the master he became afraid, wanted to protect
himself, and played it safe. Think about
this for a moment. The master lavished
over $8,000,000 upon his servants; he entrusted this great wealth to them and
comes home to hear,
“I played it safe master because you are a stingy, harsh, rough, jerk of a master who I don’t trust and I didn’t want to tic you off any more than you already naturally are.”
What an insult to the
master!
My friends, lest we become
too judgmental of the foolish and wicked servant, may I remind you and me that
this is an exact picture of us. You and
I are that man. Oh, yes, the Lord pours out
grace upon grace upon us. As a result, “Such
a bounty is hard to bear for shriveled sinners who won’t be given to but who
insist on taking over and getting control.”[1] Otherwise stated, instead of receiving gifts
from the Lord freely and joyfully, we resort to the disposition of the one
wicked servant. Inevitably what happens
is that we receive grace and gifts from the Lord—gifts that seem too good to be
true—which then results in us taking out yardsticks to measure how much we have
received, comparing our stash of gifts to other people, and then insist on
getting control over these gifts, as if they are our own personal possessions. We measure, tally, catalog, and quantify what
we receive from the Lord because we begin to believe that we are spiritual and
physical owners of the Lord’s gifts rather than receives of the Lord’s
gifts. We think to ourselves,
“The Lord can’t possibly be ‘that’ generous; surely there are limits on His gifts. Thus we better preserve, monitor, catalog, and conserve what we have been given. In fact, why don’t we just claim these gifts as if they are our own, that way we can have more control over them; that way we can keep a closer eye on ‘our’ possessions! Yes, ‘our’ possession; that sounds so much better!
Dear friends, the Lord is a
great giver of gifts. Everything that we
have—including salvation—is pure and total gift from Him. This means that we are terribly mistaken when
we fail to remember that all of these gifts and talents are the Lord’s; we
create a different God and break the First Commandment when we do not believe
that the Lord lavishes and entrust talents to us to receive, enjoy, and often
times use. Indeed, we do not see the
Lord correctly when we hijack the Lord’s gifts and talents as if they are our
own possessions and when we fail to see that the Lord is truly a generous,
kind, and great master.
Frankly put, “If you make
[God] into a hard man who infringes your rights, who demands what He has the
right to demand, then that is how you will get it from Him. . . . We make God
our enemy when we clutch what we have as our own for ourselves. Then [God becomes] a threat to us. Others are, too, against whom we must protect
ourselves and what we have.”[2] This is the way of the servant who hid the
talent. He lived in fear and protected
the talent, which resulted in a slothful, idolatrous, hand clinching sinful
disposition. This is the spirit of Cain,
the nature of our sinful flesh, it is the way of the old Adam.
Baptized Saints this is not
what God wants. It is not who God
is. It is not who you are as
blood-bought-baptized-washed-beloved-forgiven-servants.
Baptized Saints our Lord God
does not operate like Wall Street. Our
Lord God is not stingy in His gifts to us.
The Lord’s salvation flows freely from Calvary to you, which means that
there is no end to His grace, no condition to His grace. With forgiveness and grace there is no empty
bottom to fear.
“The reason Christ gives
gifts to people lie in the fact that He Himself was delivered—delivered into
death and damnation for our sins. . . .
As a result of His deliverance into death for our sins, Jesus has
‘delivered us from so great a death’ (2 Cor. 1:10) and ‘has delivered us from
the power of darkness’ (Col. 1:13).”[3]
Indeed, this parable really
has more to do about how we see the Master than the rates of return that we get
for the Master. It has more to do about
the character and disposition of the master towards His servants.
Giver of all we have, forgive us and help us to recognize that truly everything that we own belongs to you. Teach us to use Your gifts wisely, so that we may be a blessing to others.
What all of this means is
that the Lord is not harsh and you do not have to be afraid. Surely, no need to panic, for Christ-crucified
and His gifts are given to you. No need
to be driven by dread, for Christ-crucified and His gifts are free. No need for
a yardstick, for Christ-crucified and His gifts cannot be measured, they are
too big. No need to compare with your
neighbor, for Christ-crucified and His gifts are yours.
Gifts, gifts, gifts, to you and
me. Small gifts, big gifts, gifts of
salvation, gifts in our vocations, all different and unique—all for you. The Lord “gives so many, so we can share His
joy of giving for using and sharing together.
[You who have ears,] enter into the joy of our Lord! To Him be all our joyful praise through
happy, giving, sharing days.”[4]
The peace of God, which
passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1]
Norman Nagel, Selected Sermon of Norman
Nagel (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2004), 252.
[2]
Ibid, 252-253.
[3]
Francis C. Rossow, Gospel Handles:
Finding New Connections in Biblical Texts (St. Louis, MO: Concordia
Publishing House, 2001), 93.
[4]
Norman Nagel, Selected Sermons of Norman Nagel,
254-255.
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