A, Post-Pentecost 25 Proper 28 - Matthew 25:14-30 "Invested Interest"

When Jesus told the parable of the talents, his hearers would have been astounded by the sheer size of what the master had entrusted with his servants before he departed to a foreign land.

These servants were bondslaves.  These three slaves were his property, they were bound to him, to do with whatever he pleased!

So, he invests in each of his workers, what they were capable of working with, and goes away.  We hear, “To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability.  Then he went away.” (Matthew 25:15 ESV)

It pleases the departing master to entrust to his bondsmen, what would have been a large responsibility for them.  He lays a burden of five talents on one, two on another, and one on the third bondsman.

One talent was twenty years of wages for a worker of that day.  So, two talents is forty year’s wages and five is one hundred year’s wages.   The master invests eight talents in these three men; that is one hundred and sixty years of worker’s wages.  That is not to be sniffed at.  The hearers of Jesus’ parable would have been both amazed and overwhelmed by the trust and generosity of the master sizable entrustment invested in these three characters!

Jesus tells the parable about himself.  He is the one going on a journey to a foreign place, so to speak, when he would ascend into heaven after the resurrection, leaving holy talents to manage. 

Although there are three bondsmen, there are two reactions.  To those given the five and two talents, they both willingly receive what the master has given and put the talents to work, both receiving back double.   The first, turning five talents, or one hundred year’s wages, into two hundred year’s wages.  And the second turning forty year’s wages into eighty!

To them the master says exactly the same thing, “Well done, good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.  Enter into the joy of your master.” (Matthew 25:21,23 ESV).

The two get the same accolade and are welcomed into the joy of their master.  This is the pleasure of the master.  Now that the master has returned, they both are endowed with the same benefit and favour. They not only enjoy the spoils of what the master had given, but now they dwell with the master in the fullness of his presence and his pleasure. 

What he had given them to manage was considered by the master as being puny and limited, which would have also made the ears tingle of those who heard Jesus say, “You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much”.

In contrast to the first two servant slaves, the third acts completely different.  In fact, the weight of the parable sits with this fellow’s action and response to his master. 

We might say that he is contrasted by the fact that he received less.  However, what he received although smaller, was still indeed quite a substantial investment given to him.  In the same way as the other two, it pleased the master to consider the burden this slave could bear and bound him accordingly.  Even though the amount was less, the master’s trust was the same as was his expectations.

The third servant saw it differently, and it’s evident in what he did with the talent as well as what he said at the master’s return. 

The parable to this point has been deliberately repetitive, demonstrating that the master graciously entrusted his property to all three, he had fairly considered the abilities of all three, but nevertheless still gave equally what the servants considered much and what he considered little.

The third slave condemns himself with his own words saying, “Master, 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.” (Matthew 25:24–25 ESV)

From where did the third servant get his impression of his master?  Not only was this bondsman ignorant of his master’s true character, the bondsman’s action, or lack thereof, treated the master’s invested interest, entrustment, and faith in his servant’s ability with utter contempt.  

The language Jesus uses of the third slave also differs somewhat, which is not made plain in English.  Most English translations say all three “received” five, two, and one talent, but the Greek stresses Jesus saying he who took possession of the one talent, “still” only held one talent.  The two who had received the five and two talents, had five and two talents only once, which on his return was a thing of the past, whereas the one who held one talent, continued to only hold one talent.

Why would the bond slave bury his master’s entrustment of property?  The answer comes from the master calling the servant, “wicked and slothful”. 

With regard to being wicked, this servant was starved of trust in both the master and what was entrusted to him.  The servant also was found wanting in his own identity as a trusted servant, starving the master of his service.  Not only was he wearisome and hurtful of himself, but the servant was also wearisome and hurtful to his master.

Not only was he wicked, but he was also slothful.  Slothfulness is being slow and hesitant.  This is not cautious and careful, but rather sluggish and slack.  The master reports, “you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.”  (Matthew 25:27 ESV)

We don’t know why, but this third bondsman thought the master’s being was hard, and he was afraid.  Where the first two servants were in awe of the master, the third for some reason thought him to be awful rather than awesome.

Jesus is the master in the parable he tells.  The goods Jesus leaves with us is the very essence of his goodness to us!  How one treats the goods of God is how one treats and considers our God who is good to us.

We are God’s bond servants; we are tied to Jesus Christ.  Like the servants in the parable, we can see our service and our being bound to God and his goodness as good!  Or, like the third servant we can loath God’s goodness, bury his goodness and actively hide what he has given to us.

The interest God has in you, is an invested interest.  He is so interested in you he sent his Son, the Son of God, to invest his goodness in you, to tie you to his resurrection and return, to bind your sin and set you free.

In Jesus Christ you have received an inheritance, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.   And believing in his goodness, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of your inheritance until you acquire possession of it. 

That possession will occur for all who believe, when Jesus our good and gracious master returns.

Be like the two willing servants, who were willing slaves of their master, tied to his goodness, living in freedom from self to serve his interests.  Flee the fear of the other slave who buried and forgot the master’s goodness, becoming enslaved to his own spirit and perception of the master’s gracious gifts!

“By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.”  (2 Timothy 1:14 ESV)

Because you bear the Holy Spirit you are a helpful bondservant of God.  He gives to you according to your ability.  He gives grace upon grace, gift upon gift, good upon good.  He also gives all who believe the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit will enable you too!  God’s good is your good, his goods are your goods, his identity is invested in your identity!

In the joy of the Holy Spirit, see that you have been invested into the enjoyment of your master, Jesus Christ!  Amen.  

A, Post-Pentecost 9 Proper 12 - Romans 8:37 Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 "Treasured Conquerors"

Romans 8:37 (ESV) “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “your kingdom come”.   What hinders God’s kingdom from coming?  The answer to this is also prayed in the Lord’s Prayer.  We pray, for God to “lead us not into temptation”.  In other words, we pray for ourselves and for each other for God to protect us from being led into temptation, by ourselves, someone, or something else, to seek other kingdoms.

Luther tells us in his explanation to the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer that, “God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us his Holy Spirit, so that by his grace we believe his holy word and live a godly life on earth now and in heaven for ever.”  (Luther’s Small Catechism: Lord’s Prayer, 2^nd Petition)

Luther also demonstrates in his explanation of the sixth petition that temptations shut out God’s kingdom from coming, saying, “God tempts no one to sin, but we ask in this prayer that God would watch over us and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful self may not deceive us and draw us into false belief, despair, and other great and shameful sins. And we pray that even though we are so tempted we may still win the final victory.” (Luther’s Small Catechism: Lord’s Prayer, 6^th Petition)

The kingdom of heaven comes when God gives us his Holy Spirit so that the devil, the world, and our sinful selves are not led to a faith in ourselves.  A faith in the self ends in death, in vain, vainglory, or vain despair!  Those living in the ways of the world, practise a faith in the oneness of great and shameful sins, which end in despair and death.

The devil stands as the master of this world, deceiving people that they are either, too good to need help, or too bad to deserve help.  The devil, the world, and the sinful self, tempt people into isolation and opposition to God.

The parables of the kingdom of heaven calls for acute listening, measured up against the entirety of God’s Word.  They call you to pray and ponder over what Jesus is saying!  They call you to take time in the Word of God! 

The disciples asked Jesus why he spoke in parables, “And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.  For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.  This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”  (Matthew 13:11–13 ESV)

In Romans chapter ten we are told, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”  (Romans 10:17 ESV)  So, to those who have ears to hear, what is the belief the Holy Spirit seeks to enlighten within us, from Jesus’ teaching in the parables before us today?   

The picture Jesus paints in the parable of the mustard seed is full of hyperbole to get the hearers attention. 

“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.  It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”  (Matthew 13:31–32 ESV)

Mustard seed is from the brassica family, the same as canola.  It shares its genus with vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, turnip, and cauliflower, to name a few.  When these vegies go to seed, the flowers displayed are yellow cross-shaped blooms, hence they are called cruciferous vegetables. 

Jesus uses hyperbole here to shake the hearer’s expectation.  These seeds are tiny, and we do not expect them to grow into trees.  The kingdom of heaven seems hidden but once the cross is planted and Jesus is lifted up, what seems small will grow greater than any human expectation. 

Even today the kingdom of heaven is somewhat hidden!  Just after hearing this parable the disciples saw Jesus feed the five thousand, leaving twelve baskets of leftovers.  Still today we do not understand how this works with only five loaves and two fish!  Yet, we believe, and, like the birds in the branches of the mustard tree, we trust we’ll be nested and rest in the kingdom of heaven eternally! 

The parable of the leaven is next.  “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”  (Matthew 13:33 ESV)

What on earth is leaven?  Today we might say yeast.  It’s the raising agent in bread!  Once when bread making was an everyday affair in the home, one would keep back some of the leavened dough to put into the bread mixture for tomorrow.  One gets a picture of succession here!  Perhaps an eternal loaf of bread being raised.  Every loaf of bread is borne of the dough from the day before.  

Elsewhere, Jesus refers to leaven negatively as an unhealthy teaching, spread by the Pharisees and Sadducees. (See Mat 16:5-12)   Paul refers to the leaven of malice and evil, needing to be lifted from amongst believers.  But not so here! 

The leaven is added to three dry measures of flour.  That’s three measures of thirteen litres, thirty-nine litres of flour, yet to rise!  That much bread dough not only overwhelms the mind, but it also makes the hearer realise Jesus is raising a point.

Like the mustard seed that produces cruciferous flowers, that grows into a tree in the parable.  So too, the leaven that’s sometimes bad, here is good leaven, that’s raised up on the tree of the cross.  And it’s placed in the flour by a woman, just as Jesus Christ is nurtured in the world by the church. 

The mustard seed and the leaven seem insignificant and hidden but becomes something great.  One is unexpected to grow so much, the other is expected to overwhelm everything!  

Such is the kingdom of heaven!  What one would have expected to end in death after the crucifixion, flowers and flourishes into eternal fruit that raises up you and me and all who believe.

This leads us to the next two parables.

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”  (Matthew 13:44-46 ESV)

Many times, we’ve probably been told these parables are about what we should “do as disciples”!  But the cost of discipleship is not our cost, we cannot buy the kingdom of heaven.  Rather these two parables are about “being disciples”.

What do I mean by this?  Jesus pays the cost, and he does so because you and I are the treasure and the pearl that costs Jesus his Sonship, making us Sons of heaven, Sons of God.  It cost him his human life.  In complete selflessness he served, suffered, and died to save us from our sin.  So treasured are you as the pinnacle of God’s creation, he became weak so you would become more than conquerors despite your weakness.

To that end, we are so treasured by God, he sends the Holy Spirit to help us in our weakness, to help us in our discipleship.  And even so today, as the Spirit intercedes for us with levelling groans that straighten out our prayers, they are presented to Jesus, “who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” (Romans 8:34b ESV) 

Jesus Christ treasures you so much, that through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit our prayers are joined with all those treasured of every time and every place, and are united with the eternal petitions of Jesus, our great high priest, who intercedes for us at the right hand of God, until he comes as the victorious merchant man to unveil you and me, his treasured possessions!

The parable of the dragnet is possibly the easiest of these parables to understand. 

“The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.  When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad.  So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous  and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”   (Matthew 13:47-50 ESV)

This parallels the parable of the weeds that come up in the wheat.  They too will be burned in the eternal furnace, painting a picture of suffering an eternal mental and dental living hell.  This simple parable warns the unbelieving hearer will be red flagged from the kingdom of heaven. 

Finally, Jesus asked the disciples if they understood what he was saying.  They said, “yes”.  But desertion at the cross shows they still had much to learn.

Yet they were Jesus’ apostles, his twelve baskets of treasured leftovers!  Even Judas was treasured, who in unbelief would turn and betray him!  He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (Matthew 13: 52 ESV)

God trained his Apostles to be the scribes of the kingdom of heaven, so having been sent you might believe the old and new treasures of his Word.  This is the death of original sin inherited in us from the old Adam and eternal life into which we’re born by the new Adam, Jesus Christ. 

Having receive these treasures of the kingdom of heaven, we who are treasured are given the Holy Spirit.  He gives us relief as he leads us to repent, and belief in knowing we are being loved by God. 

The kingdom of heaven is Jesus’ victory for you.  He treasures you so much he makes you more than conquerors!  Those who have ears, let them hear!  Amen.