Morning after thoughts, 27th Sunday after Pentecost

Well, even though I didn't preach yesterday (Sun the 16th) thanks to the fact that we were visited by our Bishop, I did preach on the Gospel text at the casual service on Thursday and I do have some "morning after" thoughts on the text. One of the things we did Thursday evening was to make a "T-graph" and put down all of the things we liked, and all of the things we did NOT like about the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). The real "gotch'ya" part of this parable comes in vss 24-26a, & vs 30:

"24 Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, "Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' 26 But his master replied, "You wicked and lazy slave! ...30 As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

On the DON'T LIKE side of the T-graph was the point that this poor scared servant was so mistreated by the Master--who in the parable is an obvious picture of Christ. We want always to tell our kids, and indeed believer OURSELVES, that God is a God of second chances. That idea is core to the Gospel message. Our past, our shortcomings, our failures, our weaknesses, the times we've let others down, in short OUR SINS....are not something that God holds against us; that, indeed, the Gospel message is that God for Christ's sake overlooks those things. God embraces sinners as His own children, and joint heirs with Christ. This is called "grace"....God's undeserved favor toward sinful humanity.

So where's the grace for this poor scared servant in the parable of the talents?
There are only so many optional answers to that question. One option would be to say that the parable isn't about grace, so we shouldn't try to find any there. But since the central message of the Gospel is about grace, it seems strange that we shouldn't expect to find it somewhere. Another option would be to say that in the end this "wicked & lazy" servant didn't deserve any grace because, unlike the other two servants, he didn't do anything to deserve it. Again, however, this explanation causes some serious problems. If grace is "deserved," then God's "undeserved favor toward sinful humanity" turns out not to be a very good definition of grace. Put another way, if sinful humanity has to *earn* God's grace, how do any of us know whether we're in the group of the first two servants, or in the group of the last one?

Spiritually speaking--which is to say that the original point of the parable may have had a more specific, more narrow application--the end of the parable only makes sense if viewed a certain way. What if the "talents" that were given out by the Master, were in fact, measures of grace? No two individuals are identical. We all stand before God's lawcourt as condemned in terms our status against His perfect Law. But in terms of particular infractions, of course this will vary from individual to individual. St. Paul said, concerning this, that where sin abounded, grace abounded much more (Rom. 5:20). In other words, grace is an endless supply of second chances. But there is no grace for one who rejects grace. Put another way, there is no gospel behind door #2. What if the first two servants represent those who willingly accept and live in this relationship of grace with the Lord, but the last servant represents one who spurns this grace? Given that the return of the Master and the "settling of accounts" in the parable is metaphorical for the Last Judgment, the wicked/lazy third servant has indeed run out of second chances.

The parable serves both as good news and as a warning. God is gracious in His dealings with us. He gives us His grace freely and in turn anticipates that we will lovingly live in that relationship of grace, producing the signs of that relationship (more talents, in the parable). But there is also a warning. Failure to "use" God's grace, failure to appropriate it into our lives is rejection--a conscious decision to claim it as un-needed. May we never do this.

peace,

Pastor Manwell