November 19, 2023 Matthew 25:14-30 Series A
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who loves you with his very life. Amen.
Financial institutions spend no little effort to keep the public informed about the many different kinds of investment opportunities which are available. How often do you get a flyer or a letter in the mail telling you about some new credit card or high interest investment account. The church gets them all the time, and I get them at my house too. There are the popular IRA, Roth IRA, long-term and short-term CDs at varying interest rates, and this or that kind of tax shelter or 401-k or whatever. And everyone, rich and poor alike would do well to examine how they might best manage whatever assets that God has blessed them with.You don’t have to be wealthy to manage your finances well and skillfully navigate the financial system. Shameless plug: If you want practical advice in this realm, keep your eyes out for a financial peace seminar
Anyway, In the kingdom of heaven there are investment opportunities also. Not in the sense of getting into heaven, you get to heaven by being good at anything, you are saved by faith in Jesus alone. Nonetheless, in our text today, when the Lord talked with his disciples privately on the Mount of Olives (Mt 24:3) to inform them about his second coming, he also spoke about investments, or shall we say, “kingdom investments” in the Parable of the Talents (Mt 25:14–30). We will unpack what that means here in a bit.
Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit would come upon them. This is Pentecost. After that miracle the disciples and the church were to be his “witnesses . . . in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). So here in Matthew, Jesus is giving them a hint of what is to come. So he tells this parable about a man who leaves for a while, and wouldn’t ch‘ya know it, Jesus is like that man. He has gone into a far country and has left servants behind to use the gifts that he has given.
And this is key - the servants are already in the Lord’s kingdom and God gives them everything they need for the work. This parable isn’t about getting into God’s presnemce. The master is already happy to have the three servants there. This parable is about what you do once you are in God’s community. How do you share in the Lord’s work? The Lord’s work, of course, is everything that relates to the kingdom of heaven, or the reign of God, or to say it a different way: God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” as he says in (1 Tm 2:4). Salvation has been accomplished in Jesus Christ. Kingdom work or investments, as this parable states are the Lord’s followers announcing this good news of salvation to the whole world.
God works through the Word and Sacraments. At the same God who has given us those word and sacraments, those means of grace, has also chosen to use people to proclaim the message throughout the world. We have been talking about this for the last couple months as it relates to being a witness. To serve God and his kingdom requires gifts and abilities, money and energy. With the Parable of the Talents, Jesus meant to impress upon his followers that he has equipped us with the material and personal resources that are needed to carry out kingdom work. The capital has been supplied, as it were, and the Lord has given us opportunities to invest that capital of gifts. Everyone has different gifts and talents and abilities, each given by God, each custom tailored to the individual, each amazing and wonderful, and each to serve God in his kingdom.
So the man in the parable distributed talents with a great deal of wisdom. He gave each servant according to that servant’s ability (v. 15). The Lord asks us to manage no more than he knows we can handle. Something has been given to each one to invest. Our lives are not our own. They belong to God who bought us. Our talents are not our own. They have been given to us. Although the Lord does not by any means deprive us of the privilege of using his gifts for personal purposes, at the same time he wants us to know that his gifts are capital for kingdom investment. We are to invest ourselves for him.
A special bonus might also be attached to the talent investments which we make in the Lord’s service. For the two faithful servants in the parable, such a bonus came at the time of the accounting. They were able to see the extent of their success, and their animated “Look, five/two other talents I have gained” suggests that they had found their work exciting. And they know the results. Sometimes we are blessed to see our work in God’s kingdom thrive. Be it in raising our children in the faith, so they grow to be Chrsitians. Or bringing a friend to church, or praying for your neighbor. Things we can see the results of. What a blessing! This doesn’t always happen, we don’t always see the fruits of our labors, but we are excited when we do.
Since our talents are gifts from God (vv. 14–15), we are not at all surprised that there should be accountability for that which we have received.
Now this needs to be said. How many of you when you hear this parable are afraid you aren’t doing enough? Are you afraid that you are the wicked servant? Well I have good news for you. You aren’t. If you are worried that you are aren’t doing enough, you are trying to save yourself by your works. Take comfort in the gospel. You are saved because Jesus loves you, because he died on the cross to forgive you, to bring you into his kingdom. You are not saved because you are a master of using talents. You are saved because
God is faithful, merciful, full of grace and love and forgiveness. Not because of what you do.
The fact of the matter is that the third servant didn’t want to work for his master and didn’t want the master’s gift. That’s a very different attitude than wondering if you are doing enough. Do see the difference. The unfaithful servant wants nothing to do with God or God’s kingdom. He takes it and buries it. Forgets about it intentionally. He wants nothing to do with God. He’s like, “GOd you have given me this great gift, but I don’t want. I want nothing to do with you or the gift. For you are shrewd, and I want no part of you, here take what is yours and leave me alone.” And that’s not you gathered here this day.
There is a message of warning for us in this parable, to be sure. Don’t spurn God’s gifts to you. Don’t bury grace in the ground. Instead, take it and invest it in others, tell them about Jesus, tell them of God’s love, and grace will grow. It will grow in abundance.
For those who have been faithful there is joy at the day of reckoning. Even as the talents of the two dutiful servants had been gifts of grace, so their Lord’s final acknowledgement exceeded all expectations. They were placed in charge of many things. God’s word and gifts don’t come back empty. God causes them to grow. What had they done? We don’t know. I do know that I can’t control investment returns. Likewise, God grew the results. A wise and faithful use of talents, however, pleases the Lord. That was the commendable activity of their faith-life which received praise at the last day. Are we going to be perfect? No. And nowhere does it say the two faithful were perfect. But it does say they were faithful. Full of faith. They new who to trust, namely God.
There are a lot of opportunities in our lives to invest. We can invest in our retirement or in property, or whatever. But God has invested in you. He has given you life. Given you a purpose, and given you everything you need to carry out that purpose. And what is that purpose? To share the good news of the kingdom. To tell about the master who invests in his servants, the master, God who brings us forgiveness life and salvation. Amen.
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