Sunday
11/15/20 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “The Parable Of The Talents”
Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 123
New Testament Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Gospel Lesson: Matthew 25:14-30
Welcome again, on this the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost.
Twenty-Four Sundays after the Holy Spirit moved on the day of Pentecost, and
the Christian Church was born.
With this said, this morning Jesus tells
us a story or a parable about using the gifts or the talents that we have been
entrusted with. We all have gifts and graces given to us from God. Some of you have
musical talent, some of you can build, create, manage, develop, etc. What are
your gifts, graces, and talents?
We are reminded once again in our
reading from this morning from Psalm 123, who God is. The Psalmist writes once
again in Psalm 123:1:
“To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!” (Ps. 123:1, NRSV).
We lift our eyes, our hearts, and our
souls to God, the giver of all good things. What gifts and graces has God given
you? What talents or abilities do you have? Further, has anyone ever entrusted
you with something valuable or precious. Some of us have family heirlooms that
we have been entrusted with for the rest of our lives, and some of us are
entrusted with things temporarily. Some of us have been asked to care for
someone or something for a period of time.
For example, who here has ever been a dog or a cat sitter? Did
you take good care of the animals? Who here has ever been a house sitter for
someone? Did you take good care of the house? Who here has ever been asked to
hold onto to something valuable for someone else? Maybe someone had something
worth a lot of money, and they wanted you to hold it for a while.
These
examples are like my sermon title, which is taken from our gospel of Matthew
reading for this morning, called “The Parable Of The Talents”. Jesus uses this
parable or this story, in part, to explain the significance of his second
coming to earth, but also to tell us what do with our gifts and our talents.
In
our reading for this morning from 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 once again, the Apostle
Paul tells the church in Thessalonica or the Thessalonians, that Jesus will
return to this earth like a thief in the night. The Apostle Paul tells us to
stay awake in our faith, to not loose heart, and to not become complacent in
our hope in Jesus Christ. Be of good cheer for Jesus Christ has overcome the
world, overcome sin and death, and will return one day in glory (1 Thess.
5:1-11, NRSV). Let us work the make this world better in the hear and the now,
but stay away, keep the faith, and be prepared.
Again,
with the title of my sermon being “The Parable Of The Talents,” my focus this
morning is on this story or parable that Jesus tells us. This parable eludes to
Christ’s second coming or return to earth, but it also emphasizing using gifts,
graces, and talents.
In
getting into this gospel lesson once again, Jesus tells us:
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” (Mt. 25:14-18, NRSV).
Jesus gives us this example of
distributing 5-talents to one slave, 2-talents to another, and finally 1-talent
to a third slave. The real question we might be thinking though, is what is a “talent”?
Before defining what a “talent” is, this parable, in addition to pointing to
the second coming of Christ, can be used broadly. Any ability, gift, grace, or
talent that you have, how are you and how will you use it? What we do between
now and when we go to be with the Lord then, or until the Lord returns then, matters.
Our time on earth, here and now, matters.
To define biblically though what a “talent” is, let me read
to you from one of my favorite Bible commentaries. This is what it says:
“In this parable, a ‘talent’ refers not to a natural ability, such as an aptitude for music or leadership, but to a large sum of money, for a talent was equal to 6000 denarii, and a denarius was a day’s wage for a labourer. The master gave different amount to his servants according to their abilities (25:14-15)” (Africa Bible Commentary, pg. 1189).
So while “The Parable Of The Talents,” can be used to
broadly discuss using our own gifts, graces, talents, and abilities, and while
it points to the second coming of Christ, Jesus give us an example this money involving
money. In fact, three different slaves were each given a different amount of
money. These amounts of money are referred to a “talents,” and one talent is equal
to 6,000 denarii, which is equal to 6,000 days of work or labor. One slave was
given 5-talents, or the equivalent of 30,000 denarii, or 30,000 days of work or
labor. One slave was also given 2-talents, or the equivalent of 12,000 denarii,
or 12,000 days of work or labor.
We are told by Jesus that the master of these slaves
entrusted these large sums of money, based upon, once again, the slave’s abilities.
So, imagine, if some gave you a sum of money equal to 6,000 days of work, or
12,000, or 30,000? Could you be trusted with a responsibility like that?
How many of you have people that you know that you would
happily entrust your money or your possessions to? How many of you have people
that you would not entrust anything to?
Our faith in Jesus Christ, as our Lord and our savior, is
like being entrusted with a large sum of money. One day the master will return,
and when he does, he will want to know what we did with what he has entrusted
us with.
Before getting into how this parable ends, once again, how
many of you have ever seen the sings at the bank that say “FDIC” on them. “FDIC”
is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and from what I understand, at
most banks someone could deposit up to $250,000, and that sum backed up and
protected by the US government/US treasury.
For those than know their history, when the Great
Depression began in this country in 1929, our stock market plummeted, and many
people ran to there bank to pull out their money. These “bank-runs” resulted in
some banks closing or refusing to give people their money. Not until President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed “The Banking Act” in 1933, where their
protections for the money that you had deposited at the bank. You entrusted
your money, your “talents,” and your bank closed on you, and you lost
everything. Today however, short of the entire United States economy
collapsing, your money is hopefully now protected through the FDIC.
I have met a couple of depression era people in my life however,
that their whole life long, they did not trust banks. You could tell them years
after the Great Depression that banks now have protections to guarantee your
money. Still some of the people had a safe in house, money between the
mattresses, or like the one slave in our parable this morning, buried their
money in a hole. I really do not meet as many people leery of banks like I used
to, but I remember when I was younger, I knew a few. Anyone here every know
someone that would never put their money in bank? There money was under a floorboard,
a hole on the wall, a hole in the mattress, a hole in the backyard, etc.
This morning in “The Parable of the Talents,” all three of
these slaves are given different large sums of money to manage. Yet, they do
different things with this money. So, what exactly did they do with the “talents”
that the master entrusted them with?
In finishing our gospel lesson for this morning, it says
once again:
“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’ (Mt. 25:19-30, NRSV).
So, two of these slaves were given large sums of money from
there master, and to honor their master’s trust in them, they went out, traded,
invested, and grew the money. In fact, they double the “talents,” or the money.
Yet, the one slave buried the one talent in a hole in ground, much like of
those anti-bank folks we might know who grew up during the Great Depression.
For starters, I think that this parable blows multiple
holes in the idea that Jesus was a socialist or promoted that sort of an
economic system. From a broader view however, Jesus is telling us to use what
God or the “master” has entrusted us with for his glory. To take our gifts, our
abilities, our graces, and our talents and use them for God. Grow them and even
double them if possible. While this parable shows two of the three slaves being
awarded for doing well with there master’s money, ultimately, Jesus says use
what God has given you, and has entrusted you with. For when Christ returns,
expect him to ask you what you did with what he entrusted you with.
I do not know about you, but I do not want to bury my talent
in a hole in the ground, instead I want to grow it, to double it. On this earth
we are also entrusted with resources, like property, possessions, and yes
money.
In his 1789 sermon called “The Use of Money,” the founder
of the Methodist Movement, John Wesley, tells us to “Earn all you can, save all you can, and
give all you can” (https://www.gnjumc.org/earn-all-you-can-save-all-you-can-and-give-all-you-can/).
Whatever God entrusts to us, gifts, talents, graces, abilities, let us use them
fully for his glory. For Jesus says this morning, when he returns, he will ask
you what you did with what you were entrusted with.
May we all in this pledge season be good stewards of our
resources, our gifts, and our graces, and lastly do not entrust your money to
person who will bury it in a hole in the ground! Amen.
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