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SERMONS

The Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
November 17 , 2002

By Frank Spencer

What a harsh Gospel lesson from Matthew for us today! And the Gospel of Luke tells roughly the same story. The basic plot is there is a slave owner or a master who knows that he is leaving the country for a long time and he entrusts a great deal of wealth to three of his servants. Then, when he returns, he calls the servants to account for what he has given them.

Different authorities give different explanations of how much wealth was entrusted to the servants. Luke describes the wealth in terms of "pounds," each pound being an amount of money corresponding to about three months wages for a laborer. Matthew describes the wealth in terms of "talents," the most valuable Greek coin. The "talent" represented about 15 years of wages for a common laborer. The servants were told to take their talents and conduct business with them until the Master returned.

What happened when the Master finally returned? He called each of the servants before him to account for what the servant had done with the talents. The first servant reported that he used the five talents given by the Master to earn the Master five more talents. Needless to say, the Master was pleased and he praised the servant and put him in charge of even more of the Master's wealth. The Master then called the second servant to whom he had given the two talents. That servant reported that he had also doubled the Master's investment by taking the two talents and earning the Master two more. The Master was again pleased and he praised the servant and also entrusted him with more of his wealth.

Unfortunately, the story goes downhill from there and the trouble started. The third servant came before the Master. When the Master asked him to account for the one talent entrusted to him, the pitiful man blurted out the truth as he believed it, "Oh Master, I knew you were a harsh and unjust man and I was afraid,… so I buried the one talent you gave me in the ground. Here it is, have back what is yours."

What does the Master do? He does not thank the third servant for returning the one talent safely to him. He does not even have pity on the scared man, instead he gets angry and says to him "You wicked and lazy servant. So you know what a harsh and unjust man I am do you? Then you should have invested my money with the bankers and when I got back you could at least have given me back my talent with interest." The Master ordered the one talent taken from the third servant and given to the first servant who had turned the five talents entrusted to him into 10 talents. He then ordered the third servant thrown into the outer darkness where we are told there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

What are we to learn from the Gospel lesson? According to both Matthew and Luke, the lesson Jesus wanted us to learn was this: "For to all those who have, more will be given, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away."

What do we do with this harsh lesson? Should we ignore it? I don't think we had better do that because according to Matthew, Jesus is describing how to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Further, both the Gospels of Matthew and Luke place the event immediately before Jesus gets to Jerusalem in the final days before his crucifixion. The parable is one of the final fruits of Jesus' ministry that we have to gain an understanding of what is expected of us as his followers.

Well, realizing that is disturbing too, isn't it? Here we have Jesus telling us at the culmination of his ministry that the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer. That certainly doesn't sound like the rest of Jesus' teachings about our "loving Father in Heaven" and the "Kingdom of God." In fact, it sound directly contrary to his teachings in other parts of the Bible.

Fortunately, that is not the lesson that Jesus was teaching. In the story, the Master, of course, is God. The "talents" and the "more that will be given" have to do with wealth but the wealth that Jesus was describing did not involve money. The "talents" given by the Master was a metaphor used by Jesus to represent our personal abilities and the opportunities and privileges that we have as gifts from God as we journey through this life. Talents which we had no role in selecting at our birth and opportunities which present themselves as we go through our life's journey which we also can not control. These things are truly gifts entrusted to us by God.

Just as in the story, these gifts have immense value. If you think about it, our talents and such opportunities are the tools and building blocks with which we craft our lives. Their value to us as individuals is beyond calculation. They are what make you and me, "You" and "Me." We can use our "talents" and opportunities which God entrusts to us to do many things.

We can use them for ourselves and our families, to obtain food and clothing and shelter. We can use them to learn and to have relationships, and to derive pleasure from life. They can be used for many wonderful purposes and accomplishments.

But there is also a dark side to this story. Remember the third Servant who buried his talent? As we reflect on what he did, or rather what he didn't do, it is apparent that the third servant was paralyzed by his fear and could not see beyond his fear to accomplish anything. All he could do was hoard his talent. His inability to multiply his gift was not that he had been given insufficient money to work with because even his one talent represented a great deal of wealth. It also was not because it was impossible to make money in that country at that time, because the other two servants had doubled their money. As the Master told the third servant, he could have at least put the talent in the bank and earned interest. It was the third servant's fear that kept him from doing anything at all with his talent. We should always remember that such paralyzing fear is the same as an absence of faith and that is simply not an acceptable excuse for the servant or for us as Christians.

As we examine this parable and try to determine what we are to learn, it is apparent that its main lesson is that just as the Master held the fearful third servant accountable, God will hold us accountable for the talents entrusted to us. We can bury our God-given talents just like the third servant in the story. We can bury them out of a sense of fear that our talents do not measure up to everyone else's, or bury them because we think that using our talents may embarrass us in front of people that we want to impress. We can bury our talents through misuse like the talented individuals who have used their God-given talents to rise to high positions in the corporate world and then ruined their companies and investors and disgraced themselves out of greed for wealth or power.

And I believe there is another way, a modern way we can bury our talents and that is we can bury them simply by not making time to use them. For all these nonuses of our talents, what a shame! Because God did not give us these gifts to bury through our fear, or our misuse, or our nonuse. God gave them to us to "do business with." And the good news according to the Gospel lesson, the more we exercise these gifts, the more God gives us in return.

We can use our talents for our purposes for what we hope to accomplish in life but we must remember that we have an obligation to use them for God's purposes as well. If you have any doubts about what God's purposes for our talents are, you have only to read the very next parable in the Gospel of Matthew. There Matthew records Jesus talked about how he will judge the Nations when he returns. What Jesus said was when the Son of Man comes in glory and sits on his throne, he will separate the people as a shepherd separates sheep from goats and tell them at that time:

"Come you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me; I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me." Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?" And the King will answer them and say, "Truly, I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me."

Jesus went on in the parable to say that the Son of Man will tell those who turned away when they saw people that were hungry, or sick, or inadequately clothed to depart from him because they were not fit for the Kingdom of Heaven.

Two weeks ago, I sat in the congregation with you and heard our Associate Rector David tell us that the priorities of most people could be determined by looking at the two books most important to them, that is, their check book and their calendar. The truth of that statement was immediately apparent to me and I am sure it was to many of you also.

The membership of this Chapel have been truly blessed in many ways and one of those ways is financially. Most of the members of this Congregation have used their God given talents to accumulate financial wealth and have been entrusted with such wealth by God. It is appropriate that we return some of this wealth to do God's work at the Chapel which includes Servant Ministry projects. I hope you have taken the time to fill out your pledge cards and turn them in.

However, the book that I would like to emphasize today is not your checkbook but your calendar. I want to challenge you to live into today's Gospel lesson by scheduling time to use your talents and time to assist the "least" of God's family. The words of Jesus in Matthew are a clear call to us at the Chapel that God intends us to our talents and our time to help not only ourselves but also those less fortunate than ourselves.

Along those lines, I want to recognize and thank all those who went to Madison Stewpot in Canton this week and not only fed the hungry but also fellowshipped with them as fellow members of God's Kingdom. Thank you. I know you were blessed by your experience.

And I know there are many who were not able to go last week but have gone in the past to both Jackson and Madison Stewpot in Canton, or participated in other Servant Ministry projects such as the clothing drives, or our Habitat work or the Easter baskets or many other projects.

Today, I want to urge everybody to reflect and make sure that your talents are not buried when it comes to helping the least of God's Kingdom. The Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi and our Church work hard to identify ministries in which our members can be participating in as the Body of Christ. In fact, the Chapel Servant Ministry Committee met just last Wednesday to discuss projects in which you can participate during the next few weeks and for the rest of this year. Projects to feed the hungry at Thanksgiving and at other times through Stewpot, projects to cloth those unable to afford appropriate winter clothing and a project to make sure that all of the children of Madison County have the Merriest Christmas possible. The Servant Ministry Committee plans these projects for you to participate in because we believe that is what God intended for you and for us to do as the Body of Christ. Please take advantage of them.

It is also possible that God is calling you to be involved in another type of Servant Ministry, such as prison ministry, or addiction ministry or medical mission work or disaster relief work or something that I haven't named. If that is the case, please talk to me, or David or Deacon Eileen Warwick. There are many wonderful projects sponsored by our Diocese which we can tell you about and put you in touch with the right people.

I want to say a little more about one project in particular. One of the most rewarding ministries in which I have been involved is our home building project in Honduras. Over the past three years, the Chapel has commissioned numerous Chapel members to go as our representatives to Honduras. Many have felt the call to go there and share our talents with the friendly and loving people of Honduras and we have gone to work and worship in that beautiful country. Some of the people that have gone have discovered new talents which they have put to work helping the less fortunate. While there, we have built houses and had new experiences. But most importantly, we have fellowshipped with the Hondurans and have shown God's love and received God's love in return. While using our talents, we have received the "abundance" described in Matthew and have been truly blessed.

The Honduran ministry has flourished through our efforts and the efforts of other churches. It has been expanded to help with supplies to assist Hondurans after Hurricane Mitch struck and also to obtain school supplies for the children there who are unable to afford what they need to go to school properly. It will be expanded even further in the near future. When you are offered you the opportunity to sponsor a poor child to go to school. A child that needs a sponsor in order to obtain an education that will enable them to escape a life of desperate poverty. A child that you may chose to visit and meet when you join us in our work in Honduras. A child who, because of your help, will be better equipped to work with his or her fellow countrymen to build a better Honduras.

We are so fortunate today to have with us in our worship service, Melvin Flores, the person who coordinates the assistance of the Chapel and other churches perform in Honduras. Melvin and his wife, Marie have come to the United States to thank churches for their help and to tell us about additional opportunities for ministry. Melvin will speak to us briefly at the announcement period and hopefully be around for a few minutes after church to visit with his friends.

The ministry in Honduras, like all the servant ministry projects, has given many of us the opportunity to use our talents for the least in God's Kingdom. Melvin and I hope you will prayerfully consider whether you have a part in that ministry.

In closing, I would like to share with you something that I discovered studying for this sermon. It resonated with me and I knew I must share it with you today. It is a short piece of wisdom which comes from a Jewish Rabbi named Rabbi Zusya. What Rabbi Zusya said was this: "When I get to Heaven, it will not be asked of me, 'Why were you not Moses' but rather 'why were you not Zusya?'"

God has entrusted unique talents and opportunities to each of us, let us pray for ourselves and others that we find the strength and the courage to use our God-given talents to their fullest potential in a way pleasing to God and live into the unique and beautiful creatures God intended for us to be.

AMEN

Frank Spencer
The Chapel of the Cross
Madison, Mississippi