Sermon November 13, 2011 Proper 28, Year A
James Wirrell
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts
be acceptable in your sight, Oh Lord, our strength and our redeemer.
Today’s Gospel reading is a parable, or story, that Jesus
told his disciples concerning stewardship in the end times. It is one of a series on this topic. Now just to orient you, in terms of time, we
are living in the end times. No, not as
some radio preachers would have you believe, but rather in that Jesus could
return or call us home at any time. This
series of parables start in Matthew chapter 24 and continue through chapter 25. They all feature a character representing God
going away somewhere and who will return somewhat unexpectedly. They also feature characters representing us
exercising good or bad stewardship over something. The overall message is to be prepared and
practice continual good stewardship over that which you are responsible so that
you will be ready when God returns and calls you to account.
Two weeks ago, Barbara and I had one of those weeks where
bad news about our friends just kept coming in unrelentingly. Ron had serious complications with his eye
surgery; a priest friend of Barbara in the diocese collapsed, hit her head on
the floor and died from the resultant brain injury. Another friend told us of her friend who had
just suddenly died at age 52 of a brain aneurism. Another friend we heard had had a heart
attack over the summer, and yet another friend had discovered that her cancer
had spread to her brain. All of this
news made me think about today’s Gospel reading, which I had been reading over
in preparation for today’s sermon. I
thought to myself that none of us knows when our time will come and when we
will be called to account for our stewardship of what God has entrusted to us.
Now you might ask yourself what it means for God to call us
to account for our stewardship. Doesn’t
the Bible tell us that we are saved by grace alone and not by works? Didn’t Jesus already die for our sins? So why were the first two servants in today’s
parable rewarded for their good work and the third servant condemned for his
poor work? Or were they? Let’s consider what it means for God to call
us to account.
There are a few things we need to understand about this
parable. First, the translation we heard
today speaks of the servants being given five, two and one bags of gold. The original text actually indicates that the
first servant was given an amount of money that was worth 100 years wages for a
common laborer, the second servant an amount worth 40 years wages, and the
third servant an amount worth 20 years wages.
These were not small amounts of money.
Second, note that the departing master gave money to the three servants
according to their abilities – thus the point of the parable is not to condemn
people because of their lack of ability.
The first two servants took the resources they were given
and made good use of them – each of them doubling the amount by the time the
master returned. When the master
returned he heartily congratulated them before telling them that because they
were faithful with a few things, they would be put in charge of many
things. This implies that the master was
training his servants, and that those who practiced good stewardship would be
given even more responsibility.
The third servant hid away the resources he had been given
and just sat on them. Note that the
first two servants actively managed the resources they had been given, and,
given the amounts involved, this probably took up most of their time. Thus, their time was spent on their master’s
business. The third servant, in
contrast, by hiding away his resources, would have spent his time on his own
business, and not on his master’s. When
the master returned, this third servant attempted to justify his inaction. Most English Bibles translate the servant’s
response to his master as being “I knew you were a hard man”, but it is important
to know that the Greek word used for “hard” connotes someone who is ruthless,
merciless, unpleasant and mean. So this
third servant is claiming that he was afraid to do anything with the resources
entrusted to him because he thought his master was a mean jerk.
The master’s response to this suggests that he saw this
servant’s response as being an insincere excuse. The master replies to the servant by calling
him lazy and saying “if what you say is true and I am greedy and ruthless, then
why didn’t you at least invest the resources in a bank and, at a minimum, earn
some interest on it?” The master’s
retort makes it clear that he doesn’t think that the servant is telling the
truth, but rather was trying to excuse his laziness. And it is only after hearing the untruthful
excuse that the master became really angry with the servant.
So the problem is not with the third servant’s rate of
return on the investment but rather with his attitude to and relationship with
the master. The lazy servant obviously
did not have respect for his master, because when the master left he simply
buried his bag of gold and ignored it.
Then when his master returned, he tried to justify himself with a
deceitful excuse.
So what does this parable tell us today? Well, when the master left, he gave each of
the three servants resources of which they were to be stewards. All three servants were given the opportunity
to serve the master. The master even
apportioned the resources according to the abilities of his servants. In the same way, God has given each of us
everything that we have, and He expects us to be good stewards of everything
that He has given us. The two faithful
servants took their master seriously and devoted their lives to investing their
resources in service of their master.
This is what God calls us to do also.
And if we live our lives devoted to God and what God would have us do,
we will be investing our resources wisely.
And God will say to us “well done, good and faithful servant.” Not because this service earns us our
salvation, but rather because this service shows that we have accepted God’s
invitation to be in relationship with Him.
The lazy servant, however, hid away the resources he had
been given and instead spent his time on his own affairs. This action by the lazy servant shows that he
did not desire an ongoing serious relationship with his master. What’s more, when his master returned, this
servant insulted his master and lied to him with a false excuse. How we treat the resources that God has
entrusted to us says a lot about our attitude towards God. If we don’t use those resources to further
God’s kingdom on earth, but instead spend our time on other things, it is a
sign that God is not our priority.
So to return to our question - what does it mean for God to
call us to account for our stewardship?
When God looks to our stewardship and listens to how we explain
ourselves, He will know whether we want to be in a relationship with Him. Those who want a relationship with God, will
go experience an even deeper and richer relationship. To them, as the Gospel reading says “will be
given more, and they will have an abundance.”
But those who think that they can put God in second place and have just
a superficial relationship with God will realize that in reality they have no
relationship with God at all. These
people will, in the end, even lose their false belief that they can have a
superficial relationship with God – as
our reading says “for those that do not have, even what they have will be taken
from them.”
So let us turn our hearts towards God and a deeper
relationship with Him, practicing stewardship over that which God has given us
to reflect where we have set our hearts.
Let us pray:
Oh God, we acknowledge
that all that we have is given to us by You.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to show our commitment to you by
exercising stewardship over all that you have given us. Lord, send you Holy Spirit to us that we
might exercise that stewardship in ways that are pleasing to you and in
furtherance of Your Kingdom. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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