In the Name of Jesus
Matthew 25,14-30
9. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 054
Bonosus and Maximilianus, soldiers, Martyrs 363
21. August 2011
2. Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the Gospel according to Matthew where the holy evangelist writes: Jesus said to His disciples: ,,For the reign of heaven is like a man going on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions (resources) to them. He gave five talents to one slave, two to another, and one to another, each according to his own ability; then he went on his journey. Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and invested them, and he made a profit of an additional five talents. Likewise, the one who had received the two talents made a profit of two additional talents. But the one who had received a single talent went away, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. Now after a long time the master of those slaves returned and settled accounts with them. And the one having received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying: ‘Lord, you entrusted to me five talents; behold I gained five talents more.’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful slave, you have been faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your lord.’ And the one who also had the two talents came forward, saying: ‘Lord, you entrusted to me two talents; behold I gained two talents more.’ His lord said to him: ‘Well done, good and faithful slave, you have been faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your lord.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying: ‘Lord, 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 lord answered him: ‘You wicked and slothful slave! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you should have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore take the talent away from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’ For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will be rich; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have will be taken away from him. And throw out the useless slave into the outermost darkness: where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.“ This is our text.
3. Today, Jesus’ parable compares the Reign of heaven to a wealthy man entrusting a portion of his many talents to his slaves. In Jesus day, a single talent was exceedingly valuable, for it was equivalent to twenty-seven years’ worth of salary. One slave received five talents (135 years’ worth of salary), another slave two talents (54 years’ worth), and a third slave one talent (27 years’ worth).[1] These eight talents are only a few of the many resources and wealth possessed by this exceptionally rich man.
4. „This parable is about a wealthy man who is taking an extended trip abroad and in the meantime entrusted his property to his slaves, so that they should take care of it. He does not make them require a profitable return, he does not put them under pressure, he trusts that the slaves will simply do the right thing with his money“ (Martens § 4). Jesus draws our attention to three points of truth in this parable:
I. the great trust of the Lord
II. the great gift entrusted
III. the reward is great (Martens § 5).
I.
5. The wealthy lord in Jesus’ parable has great trust and confidence in his servants. These servants are stewards of their lord’s possessions, property, and wealth. Likewise, Jesus has great trust and confidence in you, His Christian disciples. A steward acts in the name, and on behalf, of the king. In his seven-volume fantasy novel A Song of Fire and Ice, George R. R. Martin has a prominent office referred to as the Hand of the King. This Hand is the king’s steward who speaks and acts for the king when he is absent or indisposed, and in the first two novels the Hand of the King essentially runs the kingdom for the king, the first of whom was too busy hunting or drinking, and the second of whom, the king’s son, who reigns after his father but is a young abusive tyrant. 6. Jesus is the wealthy lord in His parable who goes on a lengthy journey but eventually returns. In the meantime, He has given His disciples the right hand of stewardship to take care of His great wealth and possessions. Jesus has taken a lengthy journey, for He has left this earth and returned to the right hand of His Heavenly Father. He will one day return to this earth, and in the meantime between His ascension and His second advent, Jesus has entrusted you with His precious treasury.
7. A number of things could happen during this interval. The servants could take the wealth entrusted to them and establish themselves as powerful lords. The servants could use the wealth and lose some or all of it in bad ventures. The servants could just ignore the wealth and go about other tasks. The servants could use the wealth and earn more wealth for their absent lord. No matter what occurs, the lord has placed into the hands of his servants extreme riches and trusts them to do the right thing without any active oversight on his part. In the parable, only two outcomes occurs: the servants use the wealth and earn more wealth for their lord, while a third just hides the wealth and returns back exactly what he was entrusted with. Jesus trusts you so much that He knows that you will increase the value of what He has originally given to you.
8. How great and confident is our Lord Jesus Christ! And yet, how many Christians and churches squander the great wealth entrusted to them. Our Lord expects His people to use and invest His gifts so that at the very least interest would be earned on what was given out. Those who view Christ as a fearsome, vengeful lord view him wrongly. As a result, in their fear of His wrath, they refuse to take any chances, and instead hide the wealth entrusted to them, comforting themselves with the fact that they have not lost anything of what had been given to them. Stop fearing Jesus and His supposed wrathful response, but see Him as He truly is: a loving king who trusts you with His great wealth. This church needs to lose the nine decades’ old attitude of a hoarding servant who is afraid to fully put Jesus’ great gifts to use for fear of losing what little they have been entrusted with. Jesus does not want an attitude of fear and mistrust, but an attitude of faith and confidence that Jesus knows what He is doing by giving us a portion of His treasury to take care of in His absence.
II.
9. The wealthy lord in Jesus’ parable entrusted his servants with a great gift. This lord was worth millions of dollars in just the talents he distributed to three servants, but he also had millions of more dollars in his treasury. Each servant received according to his ability; some received more and others less, but each received an enormous sum of wealth. Jesus blesses each person differently. Some are financially wealthy, others are relatively poor. Some have many skills, others have a few or a single skill. But each is abundantly blessed by Jesus. Each church is likewise blessed by Jesus. Some have many members, others only a few. Some have great stores of financial wealth, others not so much. But each and every church is blessed abundantly by Jesus, for the true talent that is given equally and liberally to each and every church are the gifts of the Word and the Sacraments. „We are a rich church, because Christ has entrusted us with priceless treasures: the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, communion with the Living God – all of which we have in large quantities …: The more we hand out, the richer we become. We are a rich church, – no, we do not presume that we are so small and seemingly insignificant. On the contrary: The largest and most magnificent treasures of the world have entrusted to us, no matter how many or how few people can perceive this and also make use of it“ (Martens § 11).
10. Looking out upon you, I see how this gospel grounded upon Christ crucified and risen for you and your sins, how this gospel of forgiveness, has blessed each one of you. From this great talent more talent has been earned. Some here have the gift of encouragement, others technical skills, liberal givers, or selfless volunteers, and so much more. This is why Christ has such confidence in His disciples because He knows that what He has given out will return abundantly more.
11. Woe to you if you refuse to see the wealth that Jesus has given you and this church. Woe to if you ignore those gifts, bury them for safe keeping, or think you do not have need of what Jesus has wisely and richly supplied here. Woe to you if you are that faithless servant who only sees Jesus as an avenging Judge and consequently refuses to use His gifts out of fear of failure and punishment. Here Christ gives His very self in the preached Word and in the Holy Sacraments. Here you receive the forgiveness of sins and the promise of everlasting life. These great gifts are the bulwark of this church, and through them you are blessed and more gifts abound from these means of grace.
III.
12. In Jesus’ parable, when the lord returned, he gave out lavish rewards. This was unexpected. The lord was not bound to reward his fruitful servants. But we know that the lord in this parable will do so, for from the beginning he has been a generous, giving lord. Their lord rewarded them greatly. They had been faithful in a little bit of treasure, now they would be rewarded as stewards of even more wealth. You are not employees of Jesus, and neither are you bosses who make the decisions, rather you are Jesus’ disciples and receive everything from His giving hand gracefully and respectfully. You do not demand nor do you impose, but you merely receive the free gift. You receive the gift by faith in Jesus, and also on account of this faith you are rewarded. The incredible return on the investment is not the result of your wisdom or diligent work, but the mere fact that you trusted in Jesus to bless your endeavors. The immense gain is the result of Jesus who blessed and prospered all that you do through faith in Him. 13. Those who are faithless will also get their just reward. Those who refuse to behold Jesus as a loving, forgiving, merciful Lord will behold a wrathful and terrible Judge they only thought Him to be. Those who attempt to force their way or impose their will upon Jesus’ gifts will likewise receive a forceful, imposing Jesus who will take away what was freely and lovingly given. Dear brothers and sisters, it need not be this way for you. Behold Jesus by faith. Receive Him in love and joy as the giving and gracious Lord He is. Don’t hinder your faith from turning you into a merciful copy of Jesus your Lord. His gifts are given to bless you; don’t refuse such a blessing, but by repentance and faith draw nigh unto Jesus who loves to give gifts and gives them abundantly.
14. „You do not need to be afraid that you do not earn enough in your lives. You can gladly look to the completely undeserved reward that awaits you at the end, a reward that you have no right to but nevertheless a reward that Christ desires to present you with: namely, to share in eternal life, to eat the great feast in the reign God that will never end, to share a life in which God is with us in everything and will keep nothing for Himself. O how good that we belong to this Lord!“ (Martens § 16) Amen.
15. Let us pray. O Heavenly Father, all who seek You rejoice and are glad in You, pour out Your love, Your mercy and Your gifts so that we rejoice in Your salvation and say continually, „Great is the LORD!“ Amen.
One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!
All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the New Testament Greek Manuscripts, Luke © 1995 by Reuben Joseph Swanson.
Gibbs, Jeffrey A. Jerusalem and Parousia: Jesus’ Eschatological Discourse in Matthew’s Gospel. Copyright © 2000 Jeffrey A. Gibbs. Martens, Gottfried. A sermon preached on 9. August 2009 (9. Trinitatis) in Berlin-Zehlendorf, Germany on Matthew 25,14-30. Copyright © 2011 St. Mary Church in Berlin-Zehlendorf (SELK). All rights reserved. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2011.
[1] Using the U.S. Federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour this calculates as: $2,035,800, $814,320 and $407,160. Eight talents would be at least $3,257,280.
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