The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, November 16th: Proverbs 31:10-31; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6; Matthew 25:14-30)

ARE YOU USING YOUR TALENT?

In this week’s gospel reading, Jesus offered a profound teaching on opportunity and responsibility. He told the parable of three servants who were entrusted by their master with three different amounts of money (the unit of measure was called a “talent”). The master went on a long journey, and when he finally returned, he settled accounts with the servants.

The first servant, who had been given five talents of money, had put the funds to work and was able to offer his master ten talents. The second servant had been given two talents and he also doubled its value while the master was away. (I think we can safely say they did NOT invest the money in Lehman Brothers or A.I.G. stock.) To both of these men, the master said, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.”

The third servant had been entrusted with one talent, and when he came forward he said, “Out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.”

The master reprimanded this servant for being such a lazy coward, saying, “You should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.” He then ordered the one talent to be taken from this servant and given to the man with ten talents. 

The master announced, “For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” And then, just to make sure everyone was paying attention, Jesus concluded the parable by having the master say, “Throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

Jesus’ message was simple: use it or lose it.

Although Jesus’ parable discussed the proper use of financial blessings, His real meaning behind the parable was focused more on spiritual blessings. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the monetary unit of measure was called a “talent.” We’ve all been given spiritual “talents,” and we are suppose to use them or lose them.

Just think about it: Each and every one of us has been given a tremendous opportunity to live as a faithful servant of the Lord. We are blessed to be living in a time and place where freedom and opportunity are abundant. Sure, the economy stinks. And sure, the elitists who hate Christianity are becoming more bold and outspoken in their public criticism of Jesus and His followers. But we still have more freedom and opportunity than virtually any other society in recorded history. We cannot take this for granted.

We also have wonderful educational opportunities via modern technology which can bring 20 centuries of Christian wisdom and knowledge into our homes via books, DVDs, or the click of a computer mouse. Except maybe for those years when Jesus walked the earth, there has never been a better era in all of history to be a Christian.

Each of us has been given varying amounts of spiritual talent. The key issue is not how much we have been given, but what we are doing with what we’ve been given. Are we putting our faith to work so it will grow and spread and bring the love of God to our world? Or out of fear (or maybe complacency), have we buried our faith in a hole in the ground?

Although our generation has the greatest opportunity to share our faith since 33 A.D., we also have the greatest number of distractions in history. There are literally millions of forces frantically competing for our attention: material success, pleasure, power, prestige, entertainment, etc.

(I heard a commercial on the radio a while ago for one of those satellite dish TV services which trumpeted the fact that you can have 20 commercial-free premium movie channels in your home in addition to the 500 other channels. Twenty versions of HBO and Cinemax? Are you kidding me? This is suppose to be a GOOD thing? Hey, I enjoy TV as much as the next guy—probably more. But that radio ad made me think of laboratory rats, where the rats spend their entire existence in a tiny cage. At least the rats have no choice. How sad that so many human beings willingly choose to spend every waking hour gazing at flickering images on a screen. It’s the epitome of burying a precious opportunity in the ground.)

The great thing about this week’s parable is that God grades on a curve. We’re not in competition with other Christians on some absolute scale. We don’t have to match the achievements of Billy Graham, Mother Teresa, James Dobson, or Pope John Paul II. We simply need to be faithful with whatever gifts have been entrusted to us. The master offered the exact same praise to the servant with four talents as he did to the servant with ten. The key is they each did the best they could with what they had.

We need to do the same. How many of us who know that God is real and that Jesus is the true Messiah think we are fulfilling our duty by day-dreaming in church for an hour each week? How many of us will face the Lord at the moment of our death and say, “Yeah, I know you gave me a mind and a heart and skills and abilities, and I know you explained in the Bible exactly what I should do with them, and I know you surrounded me with people who needed help. But just to be safe, I dug a hole in the backyard and buried it all.”

Do you know why Jesus spoke that “wailing and grinding of teeth” line at the end of the parable? He said it for the hell of it. Literally.

©2008