Matthew 25:14-30

The Parable of the Talents

14 “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15 to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17 In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18 But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20 Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29 For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 30 As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Talent.  It’s an interesting word.  In this morning’s gospel lesson, it is talking about money, or the currency of the day.  It’s a famous parable, that historically has been interpreted as taking what you have, and then taking risks to have it multiplied.  This would please the master.

And, this is certainly true in our culture.  If we work for someone, or a company, if we increase their money making ability, or increase the organization, then we are oftentimes rewarded.

It does take faith and risk…and, that’s one of the lessons from this parable.  There is also a second, deeper one, but we’ll get to that in a minute or so.  

When I go rock climbing outdoors, say to Red River Gorge or up in Yellow Springs, I make sure to prepare and gather everything that I need to climb…rope, harness, carabiners, chalk, food, water, etc.  I haven’t climbed outdoors as much in the past few years, but, when I do, there’s a certain risk at stake…but, the reward is great…a feeling of accomplishment, and usually a great view.

When I have been a part of exciting projects in the past, same thing, lining up a team to support, co-lead, and co-create with, find our objective, and work to get there.  It takes time, faith, and some risk.  But, again, so good to be on a team that works together.

So, there is a lot of truth to this parable that we should pay attention to…and, it’s interesting that this parable almost always seems to come up in the lectionary around the time of many church’s stewardship drives!

Now, having said that, let’s dig a little deeper.  These servants are not just paid servants or employees.  This is the first century.  They are slaves, owned in some way by a master.  A shrewd master, who was apparently pretty deceitful and had unscrupulous business dealings.   

It’s important to note that this gospel lesson is not about “successful business practices”, it’s about seeing the system as it is and calling it out.

The first two slaves did take some risk and were rewarded, but they were still slaves beholden to a system and a master.

The last slave, which in western interpretations has been called lazy, wicked, incompetent, actually saw the master for what he was.  In a sort of biblical backhand, or even passive-aggressive way, the 3rd slave calls out the master for reaping what he doesn’t sow, for gathering, or stealing crops, who’s seed he didn’t plant.  He admitted that he was afraid, but instead of hiding it, used it to confront the master, the wealthy slaveowner.

In response, the master doesn’t have much grace…it’s a ruthless world or system…so, he casts him out, into the darkness.  

I’ve been reading a lot of commentaries about this, and they all seem to point towards this third slave somehow being freed from the system that had enslaved him…he was probably disoriented for a while, nothing was certain, he was thrust out, into the darkness.  

But, maybe, just maybe, in that darkness, he found a deeper awareness, a sense that God is with him.  And, maybe he found abundance is much deeper than how much money he had or bigger and better than any rewards that this slaveowner could give him.

You see, we have to remember something.  The bible was written by persons that were not in the power structure of the day, they were on the margins.  And, we have to remember that we live in a society that might interpret this passage one way because we are used to transactional relationships…but, the majority world, and especially Jesus followers in the majority world, places like India, Nicaragua, Mexico, etc. would read this passage differently.

We also must remember that Jesus is sharing this passage, Jesus who bears no resemblance to the slaveowner, who’s actions and life were polar opposite.  A Jesus who says all are welcome and come to me, lay your burdens down, etc.  A Jesus who suffered and struggled and is in the suffering and struggle with us, right now…this Jesus is trying to convey to folks who are listening, those marginalized, that sometimes we are given our freedom when it seems like everything is taken away from us…that we may be scared, but God is with us, even in the darkness.  And, in the process of getting to this God, may help us to see the world, again, the systems of this world, as they really are…and to not be afraid to confront them.   

We live in a transactional world, and there are times that we engage that world throughout life, but God is calling us to be transformed and transformational, which is a different paradigm, one that leads us towards growth, freedom, and love for ourselves, others, and God.  We can live in both, but strive to be aware and to live towards a higher ideal.  It can be done, and it is being done in our midst, in this church, and all around us.  

Mark 4:1-9

4 Again he began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell on a path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “If you have ears to hear, then hear!”

It’s been said around here at Fleming Road UCC, and at other places where I’ve been in community and ministry, that I have a lot of ideas.  Some are even good!  It is true, I have lots of thoughts and ideas.  Imagination and the ability to take risks with imagination are key for life…and the church!  I come up with lots of thoughts and ideas in conversations with folks…and when alone.  

It’s also true that many of those ideas that we come up with sometimes are good, sometimes not so good.  But, I believe that God’s Spirit acts within and outside of us, sparking us to have dreams and visions…to form processes for cultivating ideas even as we take some risks.  Ideas often start out small, need some time to grow and mature.  When the time is right, it’s good to plant those ideas and see what happens.  

That’s one of the reasons why I love the church.  We have processes and procedures, we have community, we have faith, we have all of the ingredients for imagination and to make things happen for the good of our communities.  

Love this picture.  It’s Iona Abbey.  A church.  It’s been in existence in some form since the beginning of Christianity in Scotland.  It’s been sacked and pillage by Vikings, endured plagues, and has had a lot of political intrigue…yet, today, it’s still re-inventing itself and thriving.  So, if you think all is lost, thing again…or imagine again.  

The church needs to be asking itself questions:   What are we passionate about, what makes us get up in the morning and face a day, what gives us hope?  I know I have a passion for running, I have a deeper passion for seeing community happen and for energy being driven from community for growth and change.

But, I also know that in order to run well in life, and in order to see community built, I need to listen and to see.  I also need to make sure that I am able to cultivate an understanding of myself, others, and God.  God is a mystery, so am I and so are you.  That’s what makes life interesting, we have mystery, we are curious, we ask questions, we lead and we follow, and we grow.  It’s not stagnant.  Growth happens or we die…and actually, death is a part of growth…we have to die to ourselves in order to live as image bearers of God.  In many ways, we have become functioning atheists, we talk about God a lot, but don’t really believe that God is moving and shaping us, we try to control things or look for certainty, rather than looking deep into the dark soil of life where things are messy and uncertain and where we have to have faith.

The parable of the sower has much to say to us.  Jesus spoke in parables oftentimes.  Parables are words for the audience that do not carry their meaning on the surface.  They are meant to be shared, chewed on, thought upon, and then their meaning grows within us.

This parable is found in other gospel accounts, almost verbatim.  So, it seems like a pretty important one for us to remember.  It was spoken right after Jesus had been encouraging his disciples with their being a part of his family, a part of God’s kingdom.  As we’ve said before, Kingdom of God talk is about God’s Presence in our lives and in the world.  God’s working out God’s purposes in all things, and for good.  And, we know that God’s Kingdom is an alternative kingdom to the kingdoms of this world.  That our allegiance as Jesus followers, to the kingdom of God, supersedes any allegiances to any other kingdoms, systems, political beliefs, countries, nationalities, ideologies, etc.  

That’s especially important for us to remember as we live through this season of change in our culture, country, church, and in our own lives.  

Jesus was also sharing that the Kingdom of God is participatory.  It’s not idly watching or consuming something.  So often, we in the church have followed along with the idea that we need to create programs or services that we can consume or others can.  That’s not the idea that was planted in the church by God.  We have created a consumer based church that may gives a brief respite from the craziness of life from time to time, and maybe that’s good for a season, but God wants to plant within us a vision for church that is life-giving, energizing, and involves us in relationship with each other and with the world around us…and with a God who is very much present with us.  

For example:  I love giving sermons, I love music…I like worship services.  There is a place for them, but if all we do is come and consume on Sunday morning, or produce a product, then we will all eventually come to a point of burn-out or hollowness.  We need something more, we need to be full participants in looking at ways that we can experience real life, eternal life…a life that has much more to with the quality of life that we live than the quantity.  We are so often enslaved to a system or a way of doing things in our culture, that we miss out on the freedom that God wants us to have and to share with others.   

So, we come to this beautiful passage in Mark about the parable of the sower…it starts with an image of folks being on a beach, listening to Jesus.  I think they are also looking at the water, the waves, they’ve been encouraged by being with Jesus and now they are sitting, listening, but their minds and hearts are engaged and they are thinking…about life and about possibility.

Jesus uses the imagery of a farmer laying out seed.  Some seed is planted and eaten up immediately, some seed falls on the rocks where it grows quickly, but also dies quickly because of lack of soil, some falls among thorns and it’s choked out, but, other seed falls on good ground, it produces a crop that yields large results…100 fold, 60 fold, 30 fold.

I believe that Jesus is saying to his listeners, and to us now, that he wants us to grow into the people we were called to be, that we have been given opportunities to understand who we are and how we relate to one another.  We have had so many opportunities and possibilities these past six years, and in this time of transition, more seeds of opportunities and possibilities are being sown in and around us.  

These opportunities help us to grow in many ways, but the real work is in between the events, in between seeds being planted and coming to bear fruit.  The work is in cultivating an understanding of the ideas, imagination, relationships, and new creation being formed and reformed within us and in the quality of our relationships with each other and with God. 

Seeds are being planted within us and all around us, seeds that will bear fruit towards seeing the Kingdom emerge within us, God’s Presence within us, and around us.  Some of those seeds are being consumed, aren’t being given enough water, don’t have deep roots, but some are falling on good soil.  Can we hear what Jesus is whispering in our ears?  Can we see what God intends to do?

Friends, I believe that God has given us good soil here at Fleming Road UCC.  I believe that this soil does require tending, plowing, and cultivating.  But, I think that the seeds God is planting will grow.

I’m also grateful for the conversations we’ve had this week around here and in the community that affirm that we have a lot of gardening to do, within us and in this church, but we are seeing what God wants to grow through all of the many seasons that we will be walking and working together in.  

Micah 6: 1-8

Hear what the Lord says:
    Rise, plead your case before the mountains,
    and let the hills hear your voice.

2 Hear, you mountains, the case of the Lord,
    and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has a case against his people,
    and he will contend with Israel.

3 “O my people, what have I done to you?
    In what have I wearied you? Answer me!

4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt
    and redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
    Aaron, and Miriam.

5 O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised,
    what Balaam son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
    that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.”

6 “With what shall I come before the Lord
    and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?

7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good,
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice and to love kindness
    and to walk humbly with your God?

What is good?  That’s a great question isn’t it?  The term “good” can be defined from the world wide webs as:  

“better or best…having admirable, pleasing, superior, or positive qualities; not negative, bad or mediocre: a good idea; a good teacher. morally excellent or admirable; virtuous; righteous: a good human.”

Our passage this morning is a conversation between three different groups of folks:

1. God (verses 1-5)
2. Worshippers of God (verses 6-7)
3. Micah (verse 8)

It seems like God is wanting to convey a message about being upset that folks aren’t getting a message in verses 1-5.  God’s making a statement that folks are not listening or being what they were created to be.  God’s telling them that God’s brought them out of slavery, out of the empire that was telling them that they were less than human.  That’s been the story throughout history really, God created us to be free and to live in equity and love with all of creation…and not stuck in a system, or an empire way of thinking that dehumanizes us and others and reduces us to simply being cogs in a wheel…or living in the proverbial rat race…  

So, God is a bit frustrated.

In verses 6-7, folks are asking, what do you want God?  Sacrifices?  I mean, look at what they are offering!  Their firstborn, the fruits of their body?  All sorts of things.  

Talk about missing the point.  God is frustrated, and I think that frustration leads God to a deep sense of sadness.  We try to make it up to God, but God simply wants us to be a better version of ourselves…to be persons who love ourselves and others well.  

It reminds me of a time when I was a kid.  I was in Canada on vacation.  Our family would vacation with my best friends family, Rob Waddles!  Loved Rob.  One day were playing and I accidentally gave him a black eye.  I felt horrible.  I did not know what to do…I asked him if there was anything I could do to make it up to him.  He simply replied in his 10 year old self, it hurts.  Trying as hard as I could, I could not make it right on that level.

Here’s the good news though, in verse 8, Micah, the prophet, reminds folks what God requires.  Oh human, mortal, I have told you what is good…it is to love kindness, do justice, and walk humbly with God.  God is not interested in our sacrifices, but wants us to be good.

When you meet folks who love kindness, do justice, and walk with humility within themselves and with others…with God and the Universe in which God resides, you know it.  God wants Israel, and wants us, to simply do that…to be human as God intended, which, if you remember when God created humanity, and creation, he said it was good from the beginning…Micah is telling us what “good” looks like.

We just had our Totenfest remembrance.  We do it every year the first Sunday after All Saints Day.  We remember folks that have passed, and their memories and presence in our lives…even after their death.  It’s actually an ancient practice that goes back thousands of years…our ancestors, like God, actually, in communion with God, are calling us to be the people were created to be as described by Micah.

I have been remembering many folks this week, especially my best friend Robbie who died of either suicide or an overdose of opioids that were prescribed to him by his doctor for a back issue.  In his life, he had that humility, that kindness, and a deep sense of justice for all people, which he expressed through music in a beautiful way…  He demonstrated that with me in so many ways over the years…and, it’s made me a better human and the desire to do the same.  He believed in me and still does.  Today, and most days, I remember Rob, and his spirit, his essence is still with me in amazing ways as he encourages me on my journey.  

God’s spirit is also with us on our journeys.  God is giving God’s self to us constantly, throughout history…God gets frustrated, but does not stop loving us and believes in us…just wanting us to be simply us…to be good.  And, we can’t help but being good at our core because God lives in us and all around us and God is good.  We just have to live in that recognition and let that love flow.  We can get into places where we get stuck from time to time…but, God is constantly working to get us unstuck and to remind us that we are connected with all things and people, we are in in communion…  

That’s good news to me, and I hope good news for you.