Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text this morning is from the Gospel according to Matthew, the 25th chapter:
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away… But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ …He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
Fast on the heels of the parable of the 10 virgins, where our Lord spoke of two groups of women, one who waited for the bridegroom, and one who forsook their duty in welcoming the bridegroom and tried to earn it all themselves, Jesus flips the table, so to speak. Now, instead of unwise, foolish, and moronic virgins trying to buy their way into the kingdom of heaven, we have an unwise, foolish, moronic servant wasting the gift of the master and getting himself thrown out.
As it was in last week’s parable, the small object that seems to serve as the biggest plot device stands for something. Last week, it was oil and faith, especially the faith given to us in our Baptisms, strengthened in the Supper, and persevering in the Word. So, certainly, our Lord has got to be switching it up today, right? I mean, He wouldn’t tell the same kind of story twice in a row, would He?
Perhaps this is why Jesus was so confusing to all the people who hated Him. He certainly is telling the same kind of story here. The oil last week was faith. The talent, the talanton, about $660,000, is faith. It’s not about the money. And a talent in the Scriptures is not a talent you have like singing, crocheting, or hunting. A talent is a measure of money, but today, even the talent stands for something else. Faith.
Faith is what Jesus is talking about. This is the most important thing to our Jesus. He doesn’t care how many good works you have. Jesus doesn’t care about how many people you served. Jesus doesn’t care about how much money you have. Jesus doesn’t care about how much you’ve gained in this life, even in His name. Jesus doesn’t care about that, not really. That’s not His first question, anyway. His first question is this: “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Jesus’ first question? Is faith to be found upon the earth? That’s what He asks in another Gospel, regarding the time when Jesus will return and make all things new, resurrecting His beloved children from the grave.
Now, before you go accuse me of being a guy who doesn’t care about people, or doesn’t care about works, don’t get me wrong. Those things I mentioned are important. They flow out of faith. James says that faith without works is dead. If you’re not helping, loving, and serving your neighbor, you’re disobeying God’s Law, and that’s not a place you want to be. You best be out there serving your neighbor, doing good works for them. And I know, even for all the things that you do to love and serve your neighbor, you’re not doing enough. I know that because I know that I am not doing enough.
But, that’s not what Jesus is talking about here. That’s not it at all. It’s not as if He’s giving this parable to say that you have been given faith, now go and get five more people, two more people, or people with interest, into the faith. That’s not what He’s saying. What He’s talking about is that the servants of the Master were given an object, faith, they are given faith, in relation to their ability. One person’s ability shows that he can handle five times the amount of another. That’s not a dig on the guy who gets one measure of faith. Not at all.
It’s a measure of what God knows He wants to give you. I mean, look around. There are some among us who we would say have a stronger faith than we do. And there are some who have a weaker faith. And there are some who have faith in such a way that it motivates them, through Christ’s work done for them, that they seem to do more good works than we do. It’s just the reality.
You see, faith without works is dead, but faith is ALWAYS going to produce works. And just because we think we see someone doing more, loving more, serving more, does not mean we don’t have works. They may be better suited for what they do, and you’re better suited for what you do.
Just because I’m a called and ordained pastor, having been divinely called to this congregation, doesn’t mean I’m better, stronger, faster, than anyone else. It doesn’t mean I’m more holy. It means that I love and serve you, my neighbors, in a particular way. That’s called vocation. And we all have a vocation. And it means that I have faith and I know that you are my neighbors. Just as you know who you should love and serve because of your faith.
So, the point of this parable is not to get you to double your faith. That’s not the point. The point is, what does that wicked and lazy servant do with a gift from his Master? He squanders it. He does nothing with faith. He does not come to hear the Word preached. He does not come to receive the Lord’s body and blood. He does not remember his Baptism as we do at the beginning of each service and all through it.
This servant is wicked because he assumes his Master is evil in some way, as opposed to seeing the good thing the Master has done for him. He assumes the Master is lazy because the Master doesn’t manage His own money. The servant of the Master assumes the Master is just like him, but the Master is not. The Master is good, and right, and holy. And the Master is going to do whatever He thinks is good, and right, and holy.
Just like when He gave you faith. He gave it to you in your baptism, just like Roman this morning. There, our Lord delivered to him and to you the gift of Christ, where He washes you in the blood of Christ, the blood that was crucified to wash away your sins. And there, our Lord gives to us faith, according to our ability. And isn’t an infant’s faith different than an adults? Isn’t Roman’s brand new faith this morning different from every one else hearing this? And isn’t a man who is brand new to the faith different from a man who has believed for years but hasn’t yet been baptized? Our Lord gives faith of all “sizes” to people of all sizes.
And then what happens? That child is raised in the faith, grows up, is instructed, comes to the Altar, eats the Lord’s Supper, is strengthened, perseveres, teaches his children, and dies a blessed death. That’s what we hope and pray for Roman this morning. Or what if any other child is baptized, and their parents never bring them to the Church to hear the Word, they fall away, the parents don’t care, the child doesn’t commune, and they die, and they hear the words of the Master: “You wicked and slothful servant! You have no faith, even though I gave it to you. Even your life will now be taken away from you.”
And the same goes for anyone. This is what our Lord seems to be talking about. He gives to us faith, and we either steward it or we squander it. We persist in it or we perish without it. We steward and persist in it by receiving ever more of the Lord’s good gifts. Or we squander and perish without it because we reject all of the Lord’s gifts. It’s one of the two and there’s no in between.
So, if we’re going to say that this is about growing anything, let us say that it’s about growing in our need for Christ. Let us say it is about coming more and more to the Lord’s Altar. Let us say it is hearing the Word of Christ and allowing all these things to strengthen us to love and serve our neighbor. And then when we do well, or when we fail, and fail we will at our vocations, we continue to have these works of Christ given to us so that we would be strengthened continually until the day that our Lord returns, the day when He looks upon His Church, His bride, and He says to her, to us, to you, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your Master.”
And so we shall, we shall rise from the dead and we will know then everlasting joy for we will be with Jesus, the Jesus who has given us strength for all our lives, the Jesus who has seen us through unto the end. We are our Master’s servants, and we are faithful, for Christ is faithful to us. We are His forever, and we steward His gifts. Receive them and live. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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