Matthew 25:14-30

¹⁴ “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey,who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.¹⁵ To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability.Then he went on his journey.¹⁶ The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more.¹⁷ So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more.¹⁸ But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

¹⁹ “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.²⁰ The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

²¹ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.Come and share your master’s happiness!’

²² “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’

²³ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.Come and share your master’s happiness!’

²⁴ “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.²⁵ So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

²⁶ “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?²⁷ Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

²⁸ “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags.²⁹ For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.³⁰ And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Let us pray,

May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all of our hearts, be pleasing and acceptable to you, our rock and our redeemer…

What does it mean? To be faithful. With what God has entrusted to our care.

This is the question Matthew takes up in today’s parable of the money bags.

A master is getting ready to leave town. He distributes his wealth amongst his three servants. Hoping that while he is gone, they will use the money he has given them to make more money. He gives one servant five talents. Another servant two talents. And a third servant one talent. Now a talent was a ridiculous amount of money. One talent was roughly equivalent to 20 years’ worth of labor for a laborer. So the first servant is entrusted with 100 years’ worth of labor.

After a long time the master returns. He summons his three servants and asks them what has become of the talents he entrusted to their care? The first servant turned his five talents into 10 talents. The second servant turned his two talents into four talents. But the third servant only returns one talent to the master. Instead of multiplying his talent, he buried it.

The master is furious. You wicked servant! He yells. You could have at least taken my talent to the bank where it would have collected interest. The wicked servant is cast out into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This is another one of Mathew’s eschatological parable. A parable concerned with how we are to wait for Jesus’ return. The master entrusts all of his servants to use their abilities to turn a profit for him. The master gives different servants different talents according to their different abilities. The problem with the last servant is that he buried his talent. He refused to take a risk. Even though he knows that his master is engaged in a risky business. The problem with the last servant isn’t that he failed. The problem is that he didn’t even try.

Jesus tells this parable to his disciples. Because he wants to prepare them for the days ahead. When he will be gone, and their faith will be tested. During this season of waiting, the disciples, like the third servant, will be tempted to bury their talents. To overcome this temptation, the disciples must be willing to take some risks for the sake of God’s kingdom. 

This week I’ve been reflecting on this idea of burying talents. The problem with burying our talents is that it’s the easy way out. There is no risk involved. But neither is there any reward. One lesson I have to learn over and over again in my life. Is that everything I want in life. Joy. Intimacy. Connection. Belonging. Peace. All of these things require me to fully show up in all aspects of my life. If I bury a part of myself to keep peace, the peace I do get is short lived. And I feel terrible in the process.

Let me give you an example. I am really bad at ending friendships. Once I become friends with someone, I expect we will be friends for life. But not all friendships are meant to last forever. Some people come into your life for specific seasons and need to leave when the season changes. This past year has been a season of transition for me. Because of spending so much time at home, by myself, I have a clearer sense of who I am, and what I want out of life.

One of my guiding principles throughout this pandemic is that we have to learn how to live with this virus. We can’t shelter at home forever. We can’t live without meaningful, in-person, human interaction. Because of this guiding principle, I’ve made some changes to my daily routine during this pandemic. These changes allow me to get some human interaction every day. Whether that human interaction comes in the form of a hike outside, to a CrossFit class, to a trip to the local library. These daily outings are low risk. And they make the long stretches of time I spend at home, alone, easier. 

Now I have a friend who is having a very different pandemic experience than I am. She thinks this virus is a conspiracy theory. It’s no worse than the flu. She isn’t going to live her life in fear. She hosted a large Halloween party at her house where no one wore masks or socially distanced. She’s planning to go to her parent’s house for Thanksgiving, and I worry about asymmetric transmission at such a large indoor gathering.

At the beginning of this pandemic, I adopted a ‘we’re all adults, we all get to make different decisions” attitude regarding her behavior during covid. But as cases continue to rise in Allegheny County, I realized that I was going to have to end our friendship for the sake of my sanity. Every time I saw her post pictures of herself on social media living the normal life I long to return to, I found myself seething with anger. So I had to have a conversation with her. Until this pandemic is over, I need to take break from our friendship. Part of that break means unfollowing her on social media. 

I share this story to illustrate the importance of not burying your talents during seasons of waiting. If this pandemic has taught me nothing else. It’s taught me that mental health is just as important as physical health. I didn’t have to break up with this friend. I could have toughed it out. But on the other side of risk is real peace. The peace that comes from having stood up for yourself and not having to be angry at yourself for allowing another person to affect you this way.

I think during this season of waiting. This season of waiting for a vaccine. This season of waiting for both the holidays and for winter to be over. This season presents us with an opportunity to name the talents that God has entrusted to our care. And reflect on how we might use these talents to the glory of God.

Maybe you don’t struggle to cut out toxic people in your life. Maybe you have house projects you’ve been putting off. Committee assignments you could start now instead of later. Difficult conversations you need to have with a spouse or a parent. Whatever talent you’re tempted to bury. Know that God entrusts us to use our talents to build his kingdom. And that on the other side of these difficult tasks is all the goodness we’ve been searching for.

Friends, my hope for us during this season of waiting is that we would feel God’s presence more clearly now than we do during seasons of acting. We have no need to be scared. God is with us. And God promises to never leave us or forsake us. We can enter into the risky, wild unknown knowing that God is calling each and every one of us to prepare for the day when Jesus will return in glory.

Thanks be to God,

In Jesus’ name, Amen.