Sermon Tone Analysis

\\   \\ TITLE:     Trust, Not Fear \\ \\ \\ SERMON IN A SENTENCE:   Christ calls us to live bold lives of faith in the trust that he will reward our bold faith with great joy.

\\ \\ \\ EXEGESIS:      \\ \\ CHAPTERS 24-25:  THE CONTEXT \\ \\ Chapters 24-25 constitute Jesus' Eschatological (end times) Discourse.

The setting is the temple, and the time is early Holy Week -- between Palm Sunday and Holy Thursday.

\\ \\ The religious authorities were unhappy about Jesus before the Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday (21:1-11), but the acclaim that he received on that day and his subsequent cleansing of the temple hardened their antagonism.

They made several attempts to trip up Jesus with hard questions (21:23; 22:15; 22:23-28; 22:34-36), but were unsuccessful.

Chapter 23 is Jesus' denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees and his lament over Jerusalem.

\\ \\ Jesus' discourse includes several parables that emphasize being prepared for the master's return: \\ \\ -- The Faithful and the Unfaithful Servant (24:45-51) \\ \\ -- The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (25:1-13) \\ \\ -- The Parable of the Talents (25:14-30) -- today's Gospel lesson \\ \\ The Eschatological Discourse concludes with The Judgment of the Nations (25:31-46), which portrays Judgment Day and Jesus' emphasis on "least of these" ministry.

\\ \\ Judgment is central to all of these.

The unexpected nature of the master's coming is important to the three parables.

\\ \\ \\

 

SCRIPTURE:    Matthew 25:14-30

\\ 14For /the kingdom of heaven is/ as a man travelling into a far country, /who/ called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.

15And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

16Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made /them/ other five talents.

17And likewise he that /had received/ two, he also gained other two.

18But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.

19After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.

20And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.

21His lord said unto him, Well done, /thou/ good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

22He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.

23His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

24Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: 25And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, /there/ thou hast /that is/ thine.

26His lord answered and said unto him, /Thou/ wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: 27Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and /then/ at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.

28Take therefore the talent from him, and give /it/ unto him which hath ten talents.

29For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

30And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

\\ SERMON:     \\ \\ Today I'd like us to remember something that all of us sometimes forget: that what God requires of us is not success, but faithfulness.

\\ \\ The Gospel we just heard is known as the Parable of the Talents.

That word "talent" has a double meaning.

Its original meaning in the Greek of the New Testament refers to a huge sum of money.

*In the ancient world, a talent was worth what an ordinary laborer earned over the course of fifteen years.*

Thus, giving each of his servants one or more talents, the master in this story is entrusting them with a fortune.

\\ \\ The second meaning of the word "talent" results from one interpretation of this very story.

As the master entrusts his servants with talents, so God entrusts each of us with abilities.

Talent has thus come to mean ability or skill.

We say that someone has a talent for music or cooking or business.

\\ \\ But the Parable of the Talents isn't really about money or ability.

It's about something even more important.

The Parable of the Talents is about trust.

\\ \\ The story opens with an act of trust.

The master is about to leave town on a journey.

He entrusts his wealth to three servants.

Each is given a different sum of money.

Yet each is given a big amount -- one talent or two or five.

It's clear that the master trusts each of his servants.

He even hands over the money without any instructions.

\\ \\ After a long time, the master returns and calls in his three servants.

Two of them have doubled their money.

The third has made nothing at all; he returns to his master exactly what he received.

It turns out that this servant had simply buried the money in the ground, a common security measure in ancient times.

He reveals the reason for his action: he was afraid of his master.

\\ \\ His trust in his master was zero, so he reduced his financial risk to zero.

Yet he reduced the possibility of profit so that it too was zero.

\\ \\ The story as we have it leaves us with an unanswered question.

How would the master have responded to the first two servants if they had not brought in a profit?

What if they had put the money at risk and come back empty-handed?

\\ \\ I think the master would have accepted them.

After all, in the parable what he commends is not their profits, but their faithfulness.

He does not commend the servant who produced five talents more than the one who produced two.

Each receives the same commendation: "Well done, good and trustworthy servant."

Each receives the same invitation: "You have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master."

\\ \\ And in responding to the third servant, the master makes it clear that he would have accepted anything -- even rock-bottom savings account interest -- that was motivated by faith rather than fear.

\\ \\ Moreover, it's notable that the servant who is given five talents makes five talents more, and the one who receives two makes two more.

This doubling in each case suggests that the growth is automatic.

It's not the cleverness of the servants that produces results so much as their willingness to act out of trust.

\\ \\ The parable is not about money or ability so much as it is about trust.

The master trusts his servants and acts on this trust.

The servants -- or rather two of them -- return the favor by acting out of trust rather than fear, and they come back to their master with one fortune stacked on top of another.

\\ \\ The third servant paints an ugly picture of a grasping master who demands success.

What this servant gets for his trouble is exactly the rejection he fears.

He's a small-minded man who insists that his master is just as small-minded.

\\ \\ The other two servants, however, recognize generosity when they see it.

The piles of money thrust their way reveal a guy who's pretty generous, who takes a risk, who accepts them, even honors them.

Finding themselves at the receiving end of such outrageous trust, they feel empowered, and are willing to take risks of their own.

The love their master has shown them overcomes their fear of failure.

They realize that any master who treats his money managers in this open-handed way is more interested in them than in turning a profit.

\\ \\ This brief story about a master and his three servants turns upside down the standards of the world.

It announces that the worst thing that can happen to us is not failure.

The worst thing that can happen is that we make God out to be a horrible old grouch who rejects us when we fail.

\\ \\ The story tells us that the worst thing is not losing out.

The worst thing is never risking.

In the eyes of God, the fear that keeps a treasure in the ground is an act of atheism.

The freedom that puts that treasure at risk -- and may even result in its loss -- that is an act of faith.

\\ \\ We can learn from our failures, and often it is failure that provides the most indelible lessons.

But fear teaches us nothing -- until we leave it behind.

\\ \\ The gospel stage is crowded with people who are there to shock us into the recognition that it is stupid and ugly not to trust God.

There's the snide elder brother who refuses to welcome home the prodigal son.

The all-day workers who demand that late arrivals receive less than the daily wage.

The Pharisee who tries to talk God into accepting him because he's kept the rules, not because God is merciful.

All these live in a gray, fearful world, where grace is absent and slackers get thrown to the wolves.

\\ \\ We understand these pathetic people because we too are given to burying our talent out of fear.

We're made anxious by the ogre idol of our imagination.

We know what it's like to misperceive and mistrust God.

\\ \\ What if the true, living, and only God has no interest in keeping score?

What if God's concern is simply that we all get up and take a turn at bat? \\ \\ The Good News of Jesus gives new meaning to success and security.

Success is found, not in accumulating more than we can ever use, but in our willingness to risk in response to God's invitation.

Security is found, not in keeping pace with our rising paranoia, but in the utterly reliable God who trusts us before we trust ourselves, who risks, and asks that we risk also.

\\ \\ To sum up, let me share with you words from the French scientist and theologian Pierre de Chardin.

In his best-known book, The Divine Milieu, he writes: \\ \\ "God obviously has no need of the products of your busy activity since he could give himself everything without you.

The only thing that concerns him, the only thing that he desires intensely, is your faithful use of your freedom and the preference you accord him over the things around you.

Try to grasp this: the things that are given to you on earth are given to you purely as an exercise, a bank sheet on which you make your own mind and heart.