Judges 4:1-7,  1 Thessalonians 5:1-11,  Matthew 25:14-30

A hug???

Grace to you and peace from God, our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Last week (in the text we skipped because of All Saint’s Sunday) Jesus explained about the "end times" by telling a parable about not taking any chances, about being neurotic "over planners" in order to be ready for the time of Jesus' return...  But, this week, in the very next parable, Jesus seems to turn the tables!  In this parable Jesus seems to be advocating taking "risks".....  Again, the unexpected!

This parable is not unfamiliar to most people - with the obvious lesson of "use it or lose it"....  But as I read it over, I find myself feeling sorry for that poor guy who received only one talent.  He is the underdog of the story right from the start.  He is the last to be mentioned and he got the least from the master.  He seems to try his best with the hand he has been dealt...

What could anyone do with one measly talent?  Especially when you consider the increased possibilities with 5 or even 2!  To take a chance with only one is not very wise or responsible. At least with 2 you have a 2nd chance if you lose the first one... 

Not only was this slave given just one talent, but he was not given any instructions!  The master just left, so what could the master expect?  After all, this 3rd slave's abilities were somewhat less than the others.

Not much money, no instructions, limited ability - add to this “fear” and this guy is really in trouble.  He himself said that he was afraid because of what he had seen the master do in other situations.  So I can sympathize with what he did.

It seems he did not at all deserve to be called wicked and lazy.  This slave could have just gone out, blown all the money and skipped town. But he didn't! He was much more responsible.  He didn't deserve to have his money taken away and he certainly didn't deserve to be thrown out into the street! 

But before I get too carried away with righteous indignation, let's take another look... What about that "measly talent" given to the 3rd slave?  What could a person do with only one talent?  Well, as it turns out, probably a lot.  It was the equivalent to more than 15 years wages!  At $50,000 a year, that's about 3/4 of a million dollars in today's reckoning!  That's not such a "measly" gift at all!

OK, so the master was generous.  But what about the lack of instructions?  This guy didn't have the ability of the others.  Well, given that the master entrusted such a large amount and "to each according to his abilities" I think we should take seriously that this slave was ABLE to handle what he was given.  Maybe this guy was even more "able" than the others - he could have been better with money so might have been given less because he could do more with it....

The "excuses" for this guy are melting away before our eyes!

But, there is still the issue of the fear that the servant had of the master.  We all know how debilitating fear can be.  It clouds our thinking, we can get mixed up.  We can understand and sympathize with fear....  But what was he afraid of?  He was afraid of the master!  Did he see the "gift" only as a trap to set him up to fail?  In essence the servant blames his actions (or maybe better put - inaction) on the master.
But, if the master were such an ogre, why were the other slaves not affected?

So what is this parable all about?  It seems that it is all about money.  But the master does not seem to really care about the money at all, after all he talks about the 5 talents (75 years wages) as just "a few things"!  He also speaks of being in charge, responsible, for many things as entering into "joy".  Joy is usually not the first description that people think of when they are put in charge of and responsible for money.

The parable is about trust!  The master hopes that the slaves will see his trust in them and that they will respond with trust for him.  The other two saw that and embraced it.  And so they lived in that trust and the master was overjoyed.

The third didn't see encouragement and trust in the gift.  He saw harshness, and judgment, so he buried it and as a result, he really didn't have anything to begin with at all!  He rejected the offer of relationship based on trust and instead acted out of fear and suspicion and that is why he found himself on the outside - he put himself there!

So what are we to do with God's gifts to us?  "Use it or lose it"?  Do we need to take risks in order to enter into God's joy?  Well, look at what happens... In each instance where the slave trusts the master, the talents double - not so much because of the slave, but because of the nature of the talent.  It's almost as if the "talents" do the work all on their own...

Gifts from God are not something that we can lose when we use them.  We only lose them if we deny them and bury them in the sand.
When you look at it, the risk is not ours, it is God's risk!  Like the master in this parable, God takes the chance that we might not recognize that we are loved.  We might simply deny the gift and bury it, out of fear.  But that is not God's hope.  God hopes that we will accept the gift and embrace it. 

Think about God's gift (or talent) as if it were a hug.  A hug can be an intimidating, negative experience if we see it like that.  You know, the unwanted hug from your aunt, or the embarrassing one from your mom or dad when you are 13 years old.  But in the right circumstances, when we accept it, it can be a caring, comforting, encouraging experience. 

Like the hug from mom when you are 5 and get hurt.  Like the hug you get from a dear friend or your spouse that picks you up when you need it.  When it comes at the right time, a hug fills us with good feelings and it spills over and affects how we relate to others. How we receive a hug sometimes makes all the difference.

And, just like hugs, our relationship with God is not a one time event.  In the story the two trustworthy slaves were put in charge of MANY things compared to the few that they started out with.  The relationship continued, living continues, and we are able, with God's support and encouragement to expand.  The increased responsibilities don't depend on our abilities.  This increased responsibility is the joy of the Master.  The joy of God is for us to live with God, knowing that God is there, and that God loves, encourages and trusts us in every part of our lives.

And just as there is no "single" way that a hug affects us, there are no absolute right ways to live in relationship with God.  The slave with 5 talents probably approached his gift in quite different ways than the one with 2.  We also are not all going to accept and use God's gifts in the same way.  We are different people.  But God recognizes our differences and treats us accordingly, with the same love.  We are free to respond not out of fear of doing something wrong but in confidence that we are loved.

May we live in the joy and light of our Master, without fear, confident, accepting  and using the talents we have been blessed with.  Because when we do, those gifts from God will multiply and we will one day, one unexpected day find ourselves in God's joy.
Amen.