A Paralyzing Fear - A Reflection on Matthew 25:14-30

(Click on the title above to hear JJ's sermon)

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…

One has to wonder about the wisdom of putting the parable of the talents right next to the parable of the ten virgins. They both are part of a private conversation between Jesus and the disciples (ch. 24) and both are about the general theme of the final judgment. However, their placement together might send a mixed message. Maybe the third slave in the ‘talent’ parable had heard the story of the 5 foolish virgins who ran out of oil and took it to heart. He did not want to be the one let without ‘oil’ or without ‘talents’ at the master’s return. Therefore, he did the most natural and fiscally responsible thing – he buried the money, so that he would have the master’s money when the master returned. Yet instead of rewarding the servant for prudence and preparedness, he had him thrown into outer darkness, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. That seems totally unfair.

Any reading on the parable of the talents would likely lead to a conclusion that it has something to do with being faithful with what God has entrusted to us. This message is established through allegory, the dominant way that parables used to be interpreted, in which the master represents Jesus, his return represents the 2nd coming and the final judgment, and the servants are Jesus’ disciples, today represented by the church. So, many of these writings on the parable would argue that the central issue of the parable is this: what does Jesus entrust us with? Or, to put it a different way, what do the talents represent?

What are the options? Augustine thought that the talents represented salvation; others believe that the talents represent the Law, and still others the Word of God. Some people don’t think the talents mean anything – they are just a way to demonstrate the unfaithfulness of the third servant. But the number one option for the meaning of the talents, put forward by John Chrysostym, is this – they symbolize personal gifts and abilities to be used in the service of the Son of Man. So the talents represent talent.

To make the correlation between the talent and talent is a legitimate reading of the story. But it does come with a couple of problems. If I’m reading the story correctly, the first two servants double their 'talents'; this implies that using one's gifts and abilities will result in the gaining of more gifts and abilities. The issue is further clouded by verse 28 where the one talent of the third servant is taken away and given to the first servant. How this could be said to apply to gifts and abilities is not exactly clear. A further complication is that the gaining of new talents/abilities happens after the return of the master, or after the return of Jesus, which further clouds the issue. Additionally, at face value, one critique of this reading is that it espouses a work-centered theology that most of us simply cannot agree with. Perhaps I’m reading way too much into the story and taking the allegory too far, but it certainly does make you wonder whether the talents are really meant to be talent.

What if the major issue in the text, thought, doesn’t have to do with trying to identify what the talents represent at all?

Maybe a better question is this – what is the difference between the servants that led to such different outcomes upon the master’s return?

The answer is fear. The third servant was afraid. Maybe he did know the story of the virgins and didn’t want to be the one left empty-handed when the master returned…burying the money until that time was the safe thing to do.

Given our country’s current financial situation, his plan sounds good. Think about the incredible audacity of the first two servants to put their master’s fortune at risk. The story moves through the investment and return so quickly that we are tempted to think it is almost a given that the servant’s investment of the master’s money will automatically pay off – but that is not necessarily the case. These guys possessed some kind of nerve to take a fortune that they neither earned nor could pay back and put it completely at risk, enduring the possibility that they would be left to greet the master upon his return with nothing.

I can totally relate to the third servant. I grew up believing that “it is better to be safe than sorry.” I have lived significant portions of my life in fear…fear of dieing, fear of the unknown, fear of failure…even fear of success. Fear can be absolutely and totally paralyzing, prompting us to see burying money (and even our heads in the sand) as an example of sound, fiscally responsive policy. Fear is a totally merciless and demanding master that can take over and run our lives into the ground.

Many of us have recently been talking about trying to grow our church. Telling people about Jesus can make us afraid. I think probably the number one reason that people don’t engage in evangelism is because they are afraid. What if people say no? What if people think we’re stupid? The challenge to grow and be evangelistic and engage people in conversations about faith and salvation challenge us and our faith on its deepest level – do we have the faith to conquer our fear and take the risks to win people to Christ? Or perhaps our fear takes us in a different direction. What happens if we fail? What happens if we make a mistake? What happens if we totally blow it and instead of growing we lose more members? What happens if we go broke? What happens if we die? Or, maybe worse…what happens if we are successful and actually grow? You cannot grow a church and not experience at least minimal, but more likely, significant change. As we all know, change is an occasion for fear as well.

I think the message of this parable for us is this: there is no responsible use of the gifts of God, there is no responsible work in God’s service that does not involve taking risks. Stasis is impossible. There is no standing still, no burying of capital allowed. Responsible discharge of our calling as Christians and our calling as a church requires us to take risks for the Kingdom, risks we would rather avoid. The parable pushes us beyond the apparent issues of industriousness and using our talents to a harder truth – service for the king is a dangerous affair that calls for us to risk everything for the sake of the reward that stands before us. I can’t help but think back to Jesus' words to the disciples, "Those who want to save their lives will lose them and those who lose their lives for my sake will find them."

So I guess it makes sense, after all, to put this parable next to the parable of the ten virgins. “Be ready for a long delay as you wait for my return,” says Jesus, “but don’t let fear keep you from serving me with all you have in the meantime.”