Speaking of Life 5052 | The Heart of the Father
This week we’re sharing a Speaking of Life message from our archive as a supplemental resource. We encourage you to use this for reflection and preparation, or small group discussion. For your worship gathering, consider how a call to worship from a local voice or contextualized introduction to the theme might serve your congregation well.
Watch video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aMzZe4iqyM
Program Transcript
Speaking of Life 5052 | The Heart of the Father
Greg Williams
Do you ever notice how often we are drawn into the negative rather than the positive? You give a presentation and several people comment on how helpful it was, but one person tells you it was a waste of his time. Which comment do you spend the most time thinking about? For many of us, we allow the negative to outweigh the positive. We can look at Scripture the same way. Rather than see the blessings of what is being said, we focus on what we perceive as the negative. The parable of the talents in Matthew 25 is a good example of this.
In this parable, Jesus talks about a man who is preparing to go on a journey. He calls his servants in and entrusts part of his property to each one. To one servant he gives 5 talents, to another he gives 2 talents and to the third, he gives 1 talent.
When he returns, the one who had 5 invested wisely, doubled the value and now has 10 talents for the owner. Likewise, the one who has 2 doubled it and now has 4. But the one who had one talent didn’t do anything with the talent, he buried it and simply tried to return it because he implied he was afraid of the owner. I’ve heard many sermons focusing on the unprofitable servant – and certainly, there are lessons there. But we fail to see the good news in this parable. Note how the man responded to the other two servants.
And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
Matthew 25:20-23 (ESV)
Jesus is showing through this parable that God wants to bless us. He wants us to enter into his joy. He gives us gifts and talents so that we can use them, investing them into relationships, service, and loving others. The result is greater blessings and living in his joy.
What is the Father’s joy? Among other things, being with us, listening to us, walking with us, and loving us because we are his beloved children.
Jesus uses this parable to show us the Father’s heart. He will never force us to love him or use the gifts and talents he gives us, but when we do, he multiplies them beyond our wildest dreams. That’s the heart of the Father.
I’m Greg Williams, Speaking of Life.
Program Transcript
Speaking of Life 5052 | The Heart of the Father
Greg Williams
Do you ever notice how often we are drawn into the negative rather than the positive? You give a presentation and several people comment on how helpful it was, but one person tells you it was a waste of his time. Which comment do you spend the most time thinking about? For many of us, we allow the negative to outweigh the positive. We can look at Scripture the same way. Rather than see the blessings of what is being said, we focus on what we perceive as the negative. The parable of the talents in Matthew 25 is a good example of this.
In this parable, Jesus talks about a man who is preparing to go on a journey. He calls his servants in and entrusts part of his property to each one. To one servant he gives 5 talents, to another he gives 2 talents and to the third, he gives 1 talent.
When he returns, the one who had 5 invested wisely, doubled the value and now has 10 talents for the owner. Likewise, the one who has 2 doubled it and now has 4. But the one who had one talent didn’t do anything with the talent, he buried it and simply tried to return it because he implied he was afraid of the owner. I’ve heard many sermons focusing on the unprofitable servant – and certainly, there are lessons there. But we fail to see the good news in this parable. Note how the man responded to the other two servants.
And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
Matthew 25:20-23 (ESV)
Jesus is showing through this parable that God wants to bless us. He wants us to enter into his joy. He gives us gifts and talents so that we can use them, investing them into relationships, service, and loving others. The result is greater blessings and living in his joy.
What is the Father’s joy? Among other things, being with us, listening to us, walking with us, and loving us because we are his beloved children.
Jesus uses this parable to show us the Father’s heart. He will never force us to love him or use the gifts and talents he gives us, but when we do, he multiplies them beyond our wildest dreams. That’s the heart of the Father.
I’m Greg Williams, Speaking of Life.
Psalm 123:1–4 . Judges 4:1–7 . I Thessalonians 5:1–11 . Matthew 25:14–30
This week’s theme is God gives before he asks. In our Psalm, the people lift their eyes to God in helpless dependence, trusting only in the mercy of the Master’s hand already extended toward them. In Judges, God announces Israel’s deliverance through Deborah before a single soldier has moved. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul reminds believers that God has already appointed them to salvation through Christ’s death and resurrection, their destiny settled before they did anything to earn it. And in our pericope in Matthew, the master lavishes his own extraordinary wealth on his servants before asking anything of them, inviting the faithful not into mere reward but into the fullness of his own joy.
Reminder: This introductory paragraph is intended to show how the four RCL selections for this week are connected and to assist the preacher prepare the sermon. It is not intended to be included in the sermon.
How to use this sermon resource.
God Gives Before He Asks
Matthew 25:14–30 ESV
[Read of ask someone to read the passage.]
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ his master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ his master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'” Matthew 25:14–30 ESV
Introduction
Near the beginning of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables is a scene that has moved generations of readers to tears. A man named Jean Valjean has just been released from nineteen years of brutal imprisonment. His crime was stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s starving children. Nineteen years for a loaf of bread. A hungry young man was imprisoned and returned a hardened, bitter one. Everything in Valjean’s experience taught him about how the world works. You are watched. You are measured. You are punished. Every debt is collected in full.
Then one night a bishop takes him in. He feeds him at his own table and gives him a warm bed. But in the middle of the night, Valjean repays this kindness by stealing the bishop’s silver and slipping out into the darkness. He doesn’t get far. The police catch him, and in the morning, they drag him back to the bishop’s door, fully expecting to send him back to prison for life.
What happens next changes everything. The bishop looks at Valjean and says, in effect, my friend, I am so glad you came back. You forgot the best pieces. And he places his silver candlesticks, the most valuable things he owns, into the hands of the man who robbed him.
Valjean stands there holding a fortune he cannot comprehend. He came expecting judgment and received a gift. He came braced for the harsh master his whole life had taught him to expect, and instead he met generosity that asked for nothing in advance. It nearly broke him. And then it remade him.1
Hold onto that image, because the parable Jesus tells in our text is about three servants who receive lavish gifts from their master. Two of them learn to live inside the gift. One of them, like Valjean early in his journey, is blinded by the image of a harsh master he has constructed in his mind. And the difference between them is the difference between joy and darkness.
The Gift Comes First
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.” Matthew 25:14–15 ESV
Notice carefully how this story begins. Before anyone is asked to do anything, the master gives. He calls his servants together and entrusts his property to them,. his wealth,. his treasure.
We need to feel the scope of this. A single talent was worth roughly twenty years of wages for an ordinary worker.2 Twenty years. This wasn’t a coin you were likely to lose in the cushions of your couch. So, the servant who received five talents was handed something like a century of income. Even the servant who received one talent was holding two decades of wages in his hands. The master literally poured out fortunes.
And here is what we must not miss. He gave first. He attached no conditions, no contracts, no instructions, no threats. He simply placed his own wealth into their hands and went on his journey. The gift came before any request, before any performance, before any accounting.
This is the pattern of God from the very beginning. God gives before he asks. He created a world full of beauty and handed it to humanity before we had done a single thing. He called Abraham and promised to bless him before Abraham did anything. He delivered Israel out of Egypt before he gave them a single commandment at Sinai. The rescue came first; the response came second. And then the Father gave us his own Son while we were still far from him. The gift always comes first. As Paul writes to the Romans,
God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 NIV
So, what are the talents in this parable? Be careful here, because the flattest reading turns this into a story about using your natural abilities, and then the sermon becomes a pep talk about maximizing your potential. But the talents are not the servants’ own abilities. The text is clear. This is the master’s property, wealth, and treasure, freely placed into their hands.
What is God’s greatest treasure entrusted to us? It is grace, which is the love and favor of God given to us as a free gift, never earned and never withdrawn. Grace is the Father loving you before you ever loved him. Grace is the Son giving his life for you before you ever asked him to. Grace is the Spirit dwelling with you, day after day, making the love of God real in your life. That is the treasure. That is what has been placed into your hands. The riches of God’s own life, entrusted to ordinary servants like you and me.
Living Freely Within the Gift
He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. Matthew 25:16–17 ESV
See what the first two servants did? The text says the one with five talents went at once and traded with them. At once. No hesitation, no anxiety, no committee meetings. He took his master’s enormous wealth out into the open market and put it to work. The servant with two talents did the same.
These servants were risking someone else’s fortune. Trading in the ancient world was not safe. Ships sank. Markets failed. Ventures collapsed. Thieves stole treasures. And yet these two servants handled their master’s treasure with open hands and apparent fearlessness. How could they do that?
They knew their master. They knew his character. They knew he was generous, because they were holding the evidence of his generosity in their hands. A master who freely gives away fortunes is not a master who will crush you for an honest venture that goes sideways. Their freedom flowed directly from their picture of the giver. Because they trusted his goodness, they could live boldly with his gift.
God gives before he asks. And this is exactly how grace works. People who know that God is for them live differently than people who suspect God is against them. People who know they are loved take holy risks. They forgive, because they have been forgiven. They give generously, because they have received generously. They share the love of God with their neighbors, because they know there is always more where that came from. Grace received becomes grace in motion. The gift was never meant to sit still; it was meant to move and multiply and bless.
Then the master returns, and we reach one of the most beautiful moments in all of Jesus’ parables. Both servants come forward, and both hear the identical words:
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. Matthew 25:23 ESV
Consider “being faithful over a little”, or as the ISV puts it, “trustworthy with a small amount”. How shocking that statement would be to the servants who had been entrusted with an immense fortune! Clearly the master had something more in mind than finances. Notice two things. First, the master praises faithfulness, not results. The servant with five talents and the servant with two talents produce different amounts, yet they receive exactly the same commendation, word for word. God has never once compared you to another. Faithfulness with what you were given is the whole measure.
Second, look at the reward. It is not a salary. It is not a bonus. It is an invitation. Enter into the joy of your master. This is the first time in the gospel that anyone had been invited to share in the joy of the master. The reward for living within the gift is the Giver himself, and the servant’s own happiness thrown open like a door. This is where the parable becomes noticeably Trinitarian, which is the life of God as Father, Son, and Spirit. From all eternity, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit have lived in unbroken delight in one another. Joy is not something God has; joy is something God is. And the astonishing claim of the gospel is that through Jesus, the Father invites us into that very joy, and by the Spirit we begin to taste it now. The gift and the Giver were never two separate things. To receive the treasure is to be welcomed into the joy of the Giver: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Tragedy of Imagining a Hard Master
Then comes the third servant, and the whole atmosphere of the story changes. He steps forward, hands back the buried talent, and explains himself:
Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Matthew 25:24–25 ESV
Listen to that explanation carefully, because everything is in it. I knew you to be a hard man. So, I was afraid. So, I hid.
There is the whole tragedy in three steps. A false picture of the master produced fear. Fear produced burial or hiding. His failure did not begin with his hands; it began with his picture of his master.
And here is the question the parable presses on us: was his picture true? Is the master of this story a hard man? He freely handed out fortunes. He attached no conditions. He celebrated faithfulness over results. He invited his servants into his own joy. Nothing in this story matches the servant’s description.
The master who was demanding, taking where he hadn’t given, existed in one place only, the servant’s imagination. He hid from a master who never existed and missed the master who actually did exist.
And notice the bitter irony. The servant who believed in a bookkeeping master became the only bookkeeper in the story. “Here, you have what is yours”, he says, as if closing an account. He kept the ledger balanced. He lost nothing, risked nothing, owed nothing. By the standards of the false master he believed in, he did everything right. And he missed everything that mattered. The God who gives before he asks invites us into his joy, not into his ledger. The third servant chose the ledger, and the ledger cannot lead anywhere except the dark.
Robert Farrar Capon put it this way:
Here, therefore, as in the Laborers in the Vineyard, it is only the bookkeeping of unfaith that is condemned; the rest of the story is about the unaccountable, even irresponsible joy of the Lord who just wants everybody to be joyful with him.3
That is exactly right. The master’s response to the third servant is not the explosion of a harsh god finally showing his true colors. It is the sorrow of a generous lord handing a man the only thing he ever insisted on having, which was a world without grace.
…. cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Matthew 25:30 ESV
Jesus’ warning is sobering. Life apart from God’s grace is darkness. The servant’s fear has become the world he chooses to inhabit. Having rejected the master’s generosity, he experiences only the darkness his false picture of the master could produce. He believed in a hard master, and in the end, that is the only master he had left himself with.
This is where Jean Valjean and the third servant part ways. Both men began in the same place. Both had been taught by life to expect a harsh master. But when grace was placed into Valjean’s hands, he let it shatter his false picture. He let the candlesticks tell him the truth about the giver. The third servant held the same kind of evidence, a fortune freely given, and refused to let it speak. He clung to the hard master in his head against all the generosity in his hands.
So, the question this parable asks each of us is simple and searching. What do you believe about the Giver? Because how you live with God’s gift depends entirely on what you believe about him. If somewhere deep down you suspect God is a hard task master, you will bury things. You will bury your gifts, your honesty, your prayers, your heart.
But if you come to see the Father that Jesus came to reveal, the Father who gives his treasure away before we have done anything at all, whose Son went to a cross for us, whose Spirit pours that love into our hearts, then you will begin to live freely, openly, and even boldly with everything he has placed in your hands.
Here is an encouragement as we leave this parable. This week, refuse to bury the gift. Not by straining or striving, but by trusting the character of the One who gives it. Forgive someone, and trust there is more mercy where that came from. Give generously, and trust there is more provision. Share the love of God with someone who has only ever known hard masters, and trust there is more grace. Live like people holding candlesticks.
Because here is the good news. The Master of this story is not waiting at the end of time with a ledger. He has already given you his treasure. He gave his Son before you ever asked. He gives his Spirit without earning the gift. God gives before he asks, and he has never once asked for anything he did not first supply. The accounts have been settled in Jesus Christ. The fortune is already in your hands. And the door the Master holds open is not the door to an audit; it is the door to a celebration. Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Master.
- The Bishop’s Candlesticks Symbol in Les Misérables | LitCharts
- Lee Harmon’s Blog – Matthew 25:25, How Much is a Talent? – October 17, 2011, 07:00
- Robert Farrar Capon, Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2022), 503.
Ted Johnston—Year A Proper 28
Listen to audio: https://cloud.gci.org/dl/GReverb/GR081-Johnston-YearA-Proper28.mp3
Program Transcript
Ted Johnston—Year A Proper 28
Anthony: Our third pericope of the month is Matthew 25:14–30. It is the Revised Common Lectionary passage for Proper 28 in Ordinary Time, which this year comes on November 15.
14 “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15 to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. At once 16 the one who had received the five talents went off and traded with them and made five more talents. 17 In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18 But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20 Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I did not scatter? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29 For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 30 As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
So, the first two servants seem to act from trust, while the third servant acts from fear and from a distorted picture of his master. “I knew you were a harsh man.” So, I’m curious, Ted, from a Christocentric Trinitarian perspective, how does Jesus reveal the true character of the Father, and how does what we believe about God shape the way that we participate in his kingdom based on what we’ve read?
Ted: Yeah, here’s another one of these parables that is often used as a club over people’s heads. And it’s not hard to use it that way if you’re so inclined, because there’s a certain harshness to it, at least at first blush. But here a master goes away and leaves his servants with responsibilities to fulfill. The master has a certain expectation and trust in these followers. And notice again the theme we saw before.
There is a long time to wait, and the issue is who will be ready again — after this long time of waiting — who will be ready when the master finally comes back, returns? And readiness is defined as having faith, that is trust in the master. There’s that, those you hear those resonances of themes here, which are really important. And I think that it’s important to see how the master gifts all three. There’s that grace precedes judgment theme again.
Anthony: Yes. Yes.
Ted: Yeah, but a key point in this parable is that faith in Jesus, trust in Jesus, is not passive. It’s active and living faith, participating in the work that the master is doing, participating in the work that Jesus is doing, making the most of the opportunities that he provides. The parable represents these opportunities as talents, at least in this translation, which is a very large sum of money, and there’s been various guesses as to how much money a talent was worth in this day, but suffice it to say, all three were given a whole lot of money. Amazing opportunities, if you can equate the talent with opportunities.
Different amounts, though all very large, are given to each servant according to their ability, and a return is expected in proportion to the sum of what was entrusted. Key point here, the point of this parable is not about earning salvation through works. The three are already included. The three already are receiving the largesse, the wealth of the master.
No, rather it’s about trusting Jesus, it’s about faith, receiving what Jesus has given, and then joining him and using those gifts to share with him in serving others. I think you have to draw those conclusions when you understand the context of what Jesus is doing and saying during this period of Holy Week leading up to the cross.
It’s significant that the two faithful servants receive identical commendations from the master even though the scale of their responsibility, and therefore their achievements, is different. Thus, we learn that what counts is a faith-filled response to whatever the master gives. So, it’s not about superiority, inferiority; it’s about the generosity of the master. So, what about this third servant? His fault is that he doesn’t recognize the master’s goodness. He doesn’t see the master as generous. So instead of responding in trust, in a response that would be appropriate to the generosity of the master, he responds with what? Fear, which is a form of unbelief.
Hoping to avoid doing anything wrong, he finishes up doing nothing. And rather than trusting the master, rather than trusting Jesus to be the generous one that he is, the fearful servant views him as a hard task master. And thus, when the master returns, he is not ready, for he does not trust, does not truly know the master. So, when Jesus says, “I never knew you,” that’s not because Jesus is stupid, it’s because there was not that relationship of reciprocal knowing.
Anthony: Yeah.
Ted: And so, again, what is the standard of judgment? What is the criterion of judgment? It is knowing Jesus, trusting Jesus, being responsive to him, sharing him, who he is, and what he’s doing.
Oh, because trust, faith is a dynamic thing. It’s not just about acquiring knowledge about Jesus. And ultimately, as we know, the faith that we have in Jesus is a faith that he has, which he shares with us. It’s all his gift And once again, judgment equals grace. Judgment comes wrapped in grace, and grace precedes accountability.
So again, the same basic criteria, but just in different stories saying the same thing. And you can imagine the disciples going like, “What?” “What’s Jesus getting at now?” And I don’t know if it took one, one month, two months, two years, or whatever for them to understand. And Jesus promised, “The Holy Spirit will teach you what I told you.” They got it. They got it.
Anthony: Yeah. They got it.
Ted: But, …
Anthony: And it …
Ted: It’s so contrary to the economy of the world.
Anthony: That’s right. That’s right. And that’s why I appreciate what you said about God’s generosity because often we’ll come to a text like this, and we’re just hoping that we’re not the, the third slave, right? That we have not been trustworthy with what we’ve been given.
Ted: Yeah.
Anthony: But it’s in knowing God. The Apostle John said as much in John 17:3, “Eternal life is this, knowing God and the one whom he sent, the Son, Jesus.” That’s where trust grows. And I also really appreciated what you said because it can seem like the master wasn’t generous with the third slave. However, as you alluded to, a talent is a significant, maybe decade’s worth of earnings.
Ted: Yeah. He was set up for life from the very beginning. Yeah.
Anthony: That’s right. So, God was just super abundantly generous in every case, and I think we cannot lose sight of that when we come to a difficult text like this.
Ted: That’s key. Yeah.
Anthony: So, the master invites the faithful servants to enter into the joy of your master. What if the heart of this parable is not simply about accomplishing more for God but again sharing in the life and joy of the Triune God? How might that change the way that we understand faithfulness, vocation, and even Christian mission?
Ted: Yeah, that is clearly being inferred here. We need to learn more about that, and actually we will learn more about it in the next passage we look at from Paul’s epistle. But fundamentally trusting Jesus is a dynamic relationship that includes our sharing in what he’s doing, our participation. And the joy we experience is our sharing in the joy of the Lord himself. As we’re told in Scripture, it was for the joy set before him that Jesus went to the cross.
Anthony: Yes, come on.
Ted: I love — there’s a book called The Joy of Jesus, which unpacks that passage in chapter after another. And we often think of Jesus being dour and down, and he had some stuff to be dour and down about, no question about it. But fundamental to the heart of Jesus is one of great joy because he sees the end. He sees the outworking of the plan that Father, Son, and Spirit have had from all eternity.
And this parable certainly is about responding to God with thankfulness and trust. But that thankfulness and that trust involves real participation. And not just hiding away the gifts that God has given, but to use those to share in what Jesus is doing. And in doing that, you’re sharing in the joy of the Lord himself.
Anthony: Amen and amen.
Program Transcript
Ted Johnston—Year A Proper 28
Anthony: Our third pericope of the month is Matthew 25:14–30. It is the Revised Common Lectionary passage for Proper 28 in Ordinary Time, which this year comes on November 15.
14 “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15 to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. At once 16 the one who had received the five talents went off and traded with them and made five more talents. 17 In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18 But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20 Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I did not scatter? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29 For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 30 As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
So, the first two servants seem to act from trust, while the third servant acts from fear and from a distorted picture of his master. “I knew you were a harsh man.” So, I’m curious, Ted, from a Christocentric Trinitarian perspective, how does Jesus reveal the true character of the Father, and how does what we believe about God shape the way that we participate in his kingdom based on what we’ve read?
Ted: Yeah, here’s another one of these parables that is often used as a club over people’s heads. And it’s not hard to use it that way if you’re so inclined, because there’s a certain harshness to it, at least at first blush. But here a master goes away and leaves his servants with responsibilities to fulfill. The master has a certain expectation and trust in these followers. And notice again the theme we saw before.
There is a long time to wait, and the issue is who will be ready again — after this long time of waiting — who will be ready when the master finally comes back, returns? And readiness is defined as having faith, that is trust in the master. There’s that, those you hear those resonances of themes here, which are really important. And I think that it’s important to see how the master gifts all three. There’s that grace precedes judgment theme again.
Anthony: Yes. Yes.
Ted: Yeah, but a key point in this parable is that faith in Jesus, trust in Jesus, is not passive. It’s active and living faith, participating in the work that the master is doing, participating in the work that Jesus is doing, making the most of the opportunities that he provides. The parable represents these opportunities as talents, at least in this translation, which is a very large sum of money, and there’s been various guesses as to how much money a talent was worth in this day, but suffice it to say, all three were given a whole lot of money. Amazing opportunities, if you can equate the talent with opportunities.
Different amounts, though all very large, are given to each servant according to their ability, and a return is expected in proportion to the sum of what was entrusted. Key point here, the point of this parable is not about earning salvation through works. The three are already included. The three already are receiving the largesse, the wealth of the master.
No, rather it’s about trusting Jesus, it’s about faith, receiving what Jesus has given, and then joining him and using those gifts to share with him in serving others. I think you have to draw those conclusions when you understand the context of what Jesus is doing and saying during this period of Holy Week leading up to the cross.
It’s significant that the two faithful servants receive identical commendations from the master even though the scale of their responsibility, and therefore their achievements, is different. Thus, we learn that what counts is a faith-filled response to whatever the master gives. So, it’s not about superiority, inferiority; it’s about the generosity of the master. So, what about this third servant? His fault is that he doesn’t recognize the master’s goodness. He doesn’t see the master as generous. So instead of responding in trust, in a response that would be appropriate to the generosity of the master, he responds with what? Fear, which is a form of unbelief.
Hoping to avoid doing anything wrong, he finishes up doing nothing. And rather than trusting the master, rather than trusting Jesus to be the generous one that he is, the fearful servant views him as a hard task master. And thus, when the master returns, he is not ready, for he does not trust, does not truly know the master. So, when Jesus says, “I never knew you,” that’s not because Jesus is stupid, it’s because there was not that relationship of reciprocal knowing.
Anthony: Yeah.
Ted: And so, again, what is the standard of judgment? What is the criterion of judgment? It is knowing Jesus, trusting Jesus, being responsive to him, sharing him, who he is, and what he’s doing.
Oh, because trust, faith is a dynamic thing. It’s not just about acquiring knowledge about Jesus. And ultimately, as we know, the faith that we have in Jesus is a faith that he has, which he shares with us. It’s all his gift And once again, judgment equals grace. Judgment comes wrapped in grace, and grace precedes accountability.
So again, the same basic criteria, but just in different stories saying the same thing. And you can imagine the disciples going like, “What?” “What’s Jesus getting at now?” And I don’t know if it took one, one month, two months, two years, or whatever for them to understand. And Jesus promised, “The Holy Spirit will teach you what I told you.” They got it. They got it.
Anthony: Yeah. They got it.
Ted: But, …
Anthony: And it …
Ted: It’s so contrary to the economy of the world.
Anthony: That’s right. That’s right. And that’s why I appreciate what you said about God’s generosity because often we’ll come to a text like this, and we’re just hoping that we’re not the, the third slave, right? That we have not been trustworthy with what we’ve been given.
Ted: Yeah.
Anthony: But it’s in knowing God. The Apostle John said as much in John 17:3, “Eternal life is this, knowing God and the one whom he sent, the Son, Jesus.” That’s where trust grows. And I also really appreciated what you said because it can seem like the master wasn’t generous with the third slave. However, as you alluded to, a talent is a significant, maybe decade’s worth of earnings.
Ted: Yeah. He was set up for life from the very beginning. Yeah.
Anthony: That’s right. So, God was just super abundantly generous in every case, and I think we cannot lose sight of that when we come to a difficult text like this.
Ted: That’s key. Yeah.
Anthony: So, the master invites the faithful servants to enter into the joy of your master. What if the heart of this parable is not simply about accomplishing more for God but again sharing in the life and joy of the Triune God? How might that change the way that we understand faithfulness, vocation, and even Christian mission?
Ted: Yeah, that is clearly being inferred here. We need to learn more about that, and actually we will learn more about it in the next passage we look at from Paul’s epistle. But fundamentally trusting Jesus is a dynamic relationship that includes our sharing in what he’s doing, our participation. And the joy we experience is our sharing in the joy of the Lord himself. As we’re told in Scripture, it was for the joy set before him that Jesus went to the cross.
Anthony: Yes, come on.
Ted: I love — there’s a book called The Joy of Jesus, which unpacks that passage in chapter after another. And we often think of Jesus being dour and down, and he had some stuff to be dour and down about, no question about it. But fundamental to the heart of Jesus is one of great joy because he sees the end. He sees the outworking of the plan that Father, Son, and Spirit have had from all eternity.
And this parable certainly is about responding to God with thankfulness and trust. But that thankfulness and that trust involves real participation. And not just hiding away the gifts that God has given, but to use those to share in what Jesus is doing. And in doing that, you’re sharing in the joy of the Lord himself.
Anthony: Amen and amen.
Small Group Discussion Questions
- How does knowing that God gives before he asks, change the way you think about your relationship with him?
- What does trusting God’s goodness look like in your everyday life?
- Have you ever related to God as a demanding master? Where did that image come from?
- What does it mean for you to personally be invited into God’s joy rather than simply being rewarded for good behavior?
Please note that comments are moderated. Your comment will not appear until it is reviewed.