SETTING THE CONTEXT

Jesus is teaching in Galilee at this moment he has left the great crowds he taught on the beach and has moved into a smaller setting teaching his disciples in a house. Immediately following this passage, Jesus is rejected by his hometown neighbors and hears of his cousin, John the Baptist’s murder. With little time to grieve, the crowds continue to pursue and plead to him for healing.

READ Matthew 13:44-46

Jesus is now in Jerusalem. His triumphant entry is over and his time is growing very short. In a few minutes, Jesus will tell his disciples that Passover will be in 2 days and he will be crucified. We know that after that Passover meal, Jesus was arrested and the events we observe during Holy Week unfold. This parable and his teaching about the final judgment (the nations will be judged by how they responded to the hungry, stranger, etc) are the final things the writer of Matthew has Jesus teaching his disciples before he dies, so it is a very important teaching. This was going on in his own life as he was talking about the cost of discipleship. Keep in mind that a talent is worth more than 15 years wages for an average laborer.

READ Matthew 25:1a, 14-30

THE SERMON

Wouldn’t you love to find buried treasure? There is something about the possibility that captures our imaginations. Maybe that’s why pirate movies and explorer movies appeal to so many of us. To stumble on treasure, now that would really spice up life! Jesus tells us that there is treasure waiting for us, but it’s not a chest of rubies, jewelry and coins; it is the kingdom of heaven. It is a treasure that cannot be stolen from us or destroyed by the elements, but it is extremely costly.

Many things in life have a cost and a benefit and it’s usually a good idea to compare those two things before making a major decision. This is true if we are about to make a major purchase, but it’s also true when we deal with relational decisions, job decisions, life decisions. I could push and bully my spouse to do things my way, but it may cost me more in the long run with the resentment and damage to our relationship. I can choose to live an unhealthy lifestyle in whatever form, but it may cost me years of my life or a lower quality of life later on. Jesus assures his disciples in the treasure parables that this reign of God that they are participating in is worth any and every cost. He is not only telling them this but he is going to demonstrate it. The price he is paying includes the challenges and name calling of some of the local Pharisees who are saying he is working for a demon. It will include rejection by his hometown neighbors. He’ll hear that it cost John the Baptist his life as it will cost Jesus his life. By his words and his actions, Jesus wanted everyone to know that even if it takes everything you have, the prize is worth the price.

Let’s remember what the Kingdom of Heaven means; it is as Marcus Borg says what life would be like if God were the ruler and other people weren’t. It is also used to refer to the power of God active in Jesus’ healing work, the presence of God, the community living under the reign of God “right now” and the kingdom at the end of history.^[i] In the first parable I read, the person stumbles upon a hidden treasure then reburies it until he can buy the field and have legitimate ownership of it. Roman law made it clear anything found on land belonged to the owner of the land.^[ii] The treasure is so valuable that the person is willing to sell all he had to gain it. Now we might question the ethics of this person, but when taken with the following parable I don’t think that is the main point. The parable of the pearl portrays someone actively seeking the treasure, the pearl of great value. The merchant knew what he was looking for and was pursuing it but when he found it, he discovered it was of far greater value than even he expected. So this Kingdom of Heaven is for both those seeking it and those who just happen to stumble upon it. In both stories, the treasure was hidden and found; it was not earned or deserved. As Barbara Brown Taylor said, “It is the stuff legends are made of – the sunken treasure, the secret knowledge, the long-lost masterpiece gathering dust in the attic-suddenly discovered, suddenly found and claimed and enjoyed amid much celebration.”^[iii] But for both men had to “buy into” this treasure and it came at a cost; there was a price and it was everything they had.  It involved taking a radical risk.

Think of the risk of selling all you have for one prize. It’s not something most people would encourage you to do. Can you imagine a parent sending off their child with “oh and don’t forget to risk everything on that one venture, dear”? Or how about a financial counselor, “go ahead and sell everything you have for that one investment.” Radical risk-taking is counter to common sense. Maybe I interpreted it wrong, but then at the very end of Jesus’ life he tells another parable, the parable of the talents.

Let’s start by looking at it from the property owner’s perspective. He entrusts huge amounts of money to three slaves; 75 years worth of wages to one; 30 years of wages to another and 15 years of wages to the third. It seems funny that he later describes this as being “faithful with a little.” He divvies it up according to their abilities and then leaves without another word. Talk about a radical risk-taker. If this property owner represents God, it indicates the great risk that God takes entrusting human beings with God’s “property”. To me it goes back to the decision to give humanity free will. It is this radical risk that God took in allowing us to accept or reject God. I spent some time wondering what God’s “property” was.  I think it is ourselves, our life spans; it is the human community all over the world and it is creation, God’s handiwork. I guess it is pretty much everything.

Now to look at the story from the slaves’ perspective; can you imagine your boss handing you $3 million of his or her money and then leaving without a word of instruction?  Would you feel any better if it were $1.2 million? Alright, how about $600,000? Investing that money in an aggressive fund sounds a little presumptuous to me. Putting it in a safety deposit box sounds much more practical and safe, but it wasn’t. We can’t stand on the sideline doing nothing and expect to experience the fullness of God’s reign, we have to step up and put ourselves into it, too. The one talent slave lacked the initiative to risk even the minimum and wasted the opportunity. God offers all of us this invaluable treasure of the kingdom and when we aren’t willing to take risks, even radical risks to truly live its values, we waste the opportunity. George likes to quote, “God trusts us with our moment in history.” This parable tells us that we have the power to be faithful to that trust or to violate it. One of the final lines of this parable has been taken out of context and misused sometimes for a prosperity theology, “For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.” This must be taken in context, those who are faithful to God’s trust in them will be entrusted with more and those who are unfaithful will not be trusted by God with what was given them or anything else. Jesus is telling his disciples you can’t play it safe, God is entrusting you with great treasure and you have to take radical risks with it.

On Wednesday night, we had a wonderful program by Jerry Traylor. Jerry was born with cerebral palsy and has used crutches his whole life. Those crutches though have never hindered him from living life to its fullest. He was not and is not afraid of taking risks even radical risks to make the most of this lifetime that God gave him. He ran numerous marathons and eventually ran from the west coast to the east coast. He had some words of wisdom that I think help us live as 5 or 2 talent slaves or people willing to radically risk. He said, “Don’t worry about what you lack, use what you’ve got. Be sure your Vision is greater than your day to day pain. Put your faith above your fear.” Isn’t that precisely what the 5 talent and 2 talent slaves did? And Jerry quoted this Scripture over and over again, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.^[iv]”

We cannot control where or when we find the kingdom of heaven, the Prize. It is like a hidden treasure, unearned, undeserved, splendidly unexpected, a gift from God. When we do find it though it calls for us to respond, to pay the price, to take a radical risk. It calls us to risk embracing life fully in service to God. “Don’t worry about what you lack, use what you’ve got.”^[v] It calls us to risk working for the whole human community. It calls us to risk active stewardship of God’s creation. Jesus assures us, the prize is definitely worth price. Are you putting your faith above your fear? Amen.

Sermon delived by Rev. Nancy Cushman on September 24, 2006.