The Giving Master
Matthew 25:14-30
November 15th & 16th, 2008
This parable seems quite clear. We are given gifts (talents), and if we are called to put them to good use. If they are used, there is rejoicing, if they are not used , there is judgment. “To whom much has been given, much is expected”. In other words the message seems to be use your gifts before it is too late. Let me set before you another approach. Like most of scripture, the message is first and last about the merciful master who happens to give and give. We think it is about us, our involvement, and while you cannot deny each of the servants in this parable, ultimately it is about a God who gives, watches, and cares about what goes on this side of heaven. It is about a God, who wants us to be on the side of belief and not unbelief. Ultimately it is about a God who desperately wants us to enter into the joy of his presence or as the parable states “The joy of the master”.
Notice first of all the “Out of this world” giving nature of the Master. He gives his servants five talents, two talents, and one talent. This is no small thing, for a talent was worth somewhere between 3 and 15 years of one’s salary. Whether you had 15 years of wages, three, or six years , you were each getting a pretty good deal. To complain would be like a multi millionaire saying to a billionaire, how come you have it so good? The owner gives each according to their ability, after all he knows what they can handle. With thanksgiving just a around the corner it is good to remember the giving nature of God. Even in the garden he gave humanity the ability to rule over creation. He was behind the scenes doing it all, and he choses to bring his goodness to bear on this world and work through his people. Even after the devastating fall into sin God was a giving master. What does he give? Luther in his explanation to the first article of the creed says that “God has made me and all creatures that he gives me body, soul, eyes, ears, and all my members…. And he still takes care of them. Our God sends angels as ministering Spirits, to help guard and protect us from evil and danger that surround us daily. God is the one who gives us our health, our abilities, things both large and small. We are not self made people, rather we are made in God’s image.
Our merciful Master has also seen fit to come on a rescue mission, and rescue from sin, death, and that place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. This rescue mission was taken on by one of us very own, his only Son Jesus Christ. As Luther says in his explanation to the second article “This Jesus begotten from eternity and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary is my Lord. He has redeemed me not with gold or silver, but with his precious blood and his innocent suffering death. Why? So we could be his own. This rescue gift from the giving master is like no other. Lest we think this is merely an historical event, that somehow misses us, God sends his Holy Spirit. As Luther says “..but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” He is the one who brings all of Jesus past and present work for you and me to bear on our lives. Our Giving Master has covered all the bases, there is no place, no sin, no disease, no death, that Jesus cannot be part of. This Savior is going to come again to make all things right. Wow, what a giving Savior. 1 Corinthians 15:58 says “Always give yourselves full to the work of the Lord, because your labor is not in vain”. In other words with this giving master at our side, we can live, and serve, and you know he will multiply. He gives gifts, and says now give it away and see what happens.
He first inquires of the servants of whom he had given two and five talents. What are they commended for? Their faithfulness, they somehow in some way came back with more than they started. They also got to enter the joy of their master. The parable here is not concerned with specifics. For example we don’t know how the initial investment became doubled? Yet, they started out with a gracious master, who gave them far more than they deserved. Their gracious master, a allowed them to bear much fruit, and there was joy not ultimately in what they had done, but in their gracious master. He got the glory. He received the credit, and he gave them even more.
However, there was one who didn’t seem to see things in the same way. In some ways he is not such a bad servant. You don’t see him taking the wages and spending them on riotous living, i.e. the Prodigal Son. Rather, in a reasonable way he stashes the one talent away. What were his reasons? We see them at the end, and this is key. “Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping”. You reap what you do not sew, and you gather where you scatter no seed. Translation. You exploit others. It’s not worth taking the change, I’m sure to lose out on things anyway. It’s better to stuff it away, not worry about it, and just give what you gave me back. After all if I failed and lost everything, you would be mad at me. Maybe he thought that he would receive little of the profit, and would have to give it all away anyway. What is the point? This giving, gracious, merciful God, who gives us the privilege of working in this kingdom, became to him a hard, demanding God, of whom one could not satisfy. Where was the faith? It was nowhere to be found. What did he trust in instead? His own reasoning, his own views on what the Master was like. The false view that he was that his master was unfair, and hard. Ultimately he trusted and relied on himself after all God had given him was buried someplace else. He got what those who trust in themselves and their false views of God ultimately get. Utter darkness, and as it says nine times in Matthew weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The first two believed in the goodness and love of God, which
was personally and willing bestowed on them by a loving master. The fruits of this faith, led to doubling
the initial gift. The God of both the
Old and New Testaments is ultimately a gracious master. The God who gave each of the 10 commandments,
and made sure they were kept by Jesus alone is a loving God. The God who rescued the Egyptians from Pharaoh,
is the God who has rescued you and I through his sons blood on