2023 11 19 Proper 28A Pentecost 25 A
Ahhh the parable of the talents. A parable with so many applications. To start with, the very obvious fact that if you have a talent, let’s say for playing the piano, it gets better when you practise. Practise increases and grows that talent exponentially. But to not practise… well the talent dwindles. So our Biblical story explains the whole “Use it or you’ll lose it” principle. However this is a story with an important message.
To begin with we need to understand the original context. A “talent” in the Bible is actually a unit of money. A Talent was seen as 6000 average daily pays. If we calculate that a person worked every single day, except the Sabbath, it would take 20 years to earn this amount of money. Therefore, one single “talent” is an astronomical amount of money. Even the person put in charge of only one talent, was put in charge of a massive sum of money.
With this realization in mind, what is the Holy Spirit telling us today?
Firstly, we need to understand what was going on and why Jesus is telling this story. This story follows on directly after the reading that we had last week about the Ten women with their lamps, waiting for the bridegroom.
Both that parable and the one we read today is part of the private conversation that happened between Jesus and His disciples - Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, when the disciples came to him privately, saying “Tell us, when these things will happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” - This story is part of Jesus message about end times.
Before telling the two parables, Jesus mentions the rising up of false prophets, persecutions his followers would face, earth quakes, famines and wars. Jesus also talks about the prophecy of the end times as described in the Old Testament book of Daniel.
Then Jesus tells the parable of the Ten women with their lamps. It is an obvious encouragement to stay focused and connected to the mission and ministry to which God has entrusted us, and He follows on to explain it further by telling the parable of the talents.
Does this make any difference to the way that we view the parable? In essence, the parable is about being a reliable and trustworthy servant of God, who is a good steward of the treasures entrusted to them. It is a message for Jesus disciples. A disciple is a learner… one who learns the ways of God…. That means; All of us here today.
So…. What is it that God has entrusted to us?
Each of us individually has some power and authority. Some of us may perceive ourselves to have more or less than others. The amount is not the issue, the issue is whether or not we live to grow God’s Kingdom. Aaaaaaand do we comprehend the treasure to which we’ve been entrusted?
When I calculated the worth of the “talent”, the first thing that occurred to me, is that I had seriously underestimated what a “talent” was worth. Along with this thought, was, “what “talents” has God given me that I have also underestimated. God has given me an astronomical number of blessings – and I generally take them for granted.
God has given us all an incredible, astronomical “treasure”. I suspect that I am not the only one who underestimates the “treasure” he has given us. He has given us a beautiful country to live in. Are we rejoicing in it and doing our best to contribute to it, keeping it a beautiful, friendly and hospitable place to live? God has given us a treasure in the scriptures. Do we safe guard that treasure? Do we read those scriptures aware that they contain the message of our God? And guard it for the treasure that it is?
Do we consider the great treasure that God has given us, in the priceless gift of Salvation, through the giving of Jesus? Living in a land of blessing, we give thanks for and appreciate the gift of Salvation, but we may be so busy and caught up in the demands of this life, or so comfortable with the here and now, that we don’t actually treasure our eternal life in the same way that others, who have not had those demands or comforts, might do.
We have been given this treasure of salvation, and we come to church to continue keeping God our focus, and to continue strong in our faith – or in other words; we are filling our lamps with oil – Which it a good thing! We are doing well, but are we growing the treasure that God has entrusted us with, or are we simply maintaining it? ARE we growing God’s Church?
Sometimes it isn’t until we are hard pressed that we realize the treasure we have in God. If we look back to our first reading, we find that it is the time of Judges. This is the time before the nation of Israel had any Kings. The way the story generally went is that the nation would go well for a while and then they would forget the ways of God and do evil, and then they’d be subjected to another nation who gave them such a hard time that they turned back to God. God would raise up another Judge for them and this Judge would turn the nation back to the ways of God and the nation would be freed from the oppression of their enemies.
At the time of our story, the Judge that God raised was Deborah. As you might have already noted, this Judge was a female and a leader of the nation who led them back to God and to victory over their enemy. I don’t want to get side-tracked on this issue, but please note that female leadership is not new and is not against the word of God…. Remembering that in the New Testament we note that there is neither male nor female in God’s eyes, but all are one in Christ Jesus.
Back to the main point; The key to the nation’s victory was actually that the people cried out to the Lord. Deborah was a prophetess. She delivered the word of God to the people and she sent for Barak to let him know that God would give Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army into his hand.
Now this Sisera was a fearsome man with an incredible army… so much so, that Barak wouldn’t go unless Deborah went with him. I guess he doubted the word of God and wanted to make sure that it was truly God’s message and not someone’s wishful thinking. Deborah didn’t hesitate. She knew that God, who said He would deliver them, would be true to His word.
Deborah went to the battle front confident of God’s deliverance. The points we need to take note of here are that 1 – we should cry out to the Lord for deliverance. 2 – When the Lord says that He will deliver us, we need to know that we should trust in him when He tells us to act … and that action to which we are called, could well be to face situations that are possibly intimidating to say the least.
We are currently living in times of unrest. There are many of our regional towns where people are in fear of youth crime. There are also strong opinions and protests about how we should be responding to the wars overseas. In all this what do we learn from our scriptures that we should do?
1 – Cry out to the Lord for His deliverance… 2 – Have such faith in God that we take the action to which he calls us. Remember that we have an incredible treasure – God is our treasure. We are called to grow this treasure, like those talents, in all our situations – even in this time of unrest.
Saint Paul tells us that the day of Jesus coming will be like a thief in the night. However, we are children of the day, not the night and that time shouldn’t catch us unawares. It reminds me of the saying; “Live as though Christ died yesterday, rose today and is coming again tomorrow.”
The parable of the talents was told to explain about, and encourage us in the end times. In the end times it is likened to a Master who entrusted these great treasures to his servants. The parable tells us that after a long time the Master returned. Although I have mentioned that our great treasure is the gift of salvation, and our great treasure truly is God himself, when I ponder about the great treasure of God, I’m actually pretty adamant that I know what treasure is most dear to God’s heart. It is the treasure that He laid down His life to save. That treasure is you and me. The people that Jesus died for, are the treasure of God…. The priceless treasure.
In what ways can we be faithful servants nurturing the people that God loves so that the reality of God’s love, eternal life and the salvation of God can grow? Our talent is the Gospel itself; the Good News about Jesus Christ.
What action should we take so that we can bring life and this Good News to our community? How can we let the light of Christ so shine in us that people turn to God, knowing that His way is goodness and love? This is a question for each of us to take to prayer, crying out to God for His solutions…. And then whatever it is that He calls us to, we put into action.
I’d like to end with our prayer of the day; “Everliving God, before the earth was formed, and even after it shall cease to be, you are God.
Break into our short span of life and show us those things that are eternal, that we may serve your purpose in all we do; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in unity with the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. AMEN
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