We’ve all known good bosses and bad ones. Bad bosses make life at work almost unbearable. They create an atmosphere of mistrust and far. Worker never know where they really stand. It’s demotivating and terrible for productivity. A good boss, on the other hand, makes a world of difference. They trust their staff and equip them to work more effectively. They are not threatened by their team, and don’t need to be seen as the smartest person in the room. They are a pleasure to work for, and we will go the extra mile for them.
We are approaching the end of the church year, and over these weeks we are listening to Jesus’ words about how to live as faithful disciples in the light of his death and resurrection, and his return to judge the world. We’ve heard Paul’s words this morning to the church in Thessalonica. He says that the “day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” However, because we live in the light, we are awake to the reality of his return, and we are to spend the time living soberly, “putting on the breastplate of faith and love.” Faith receives God’s gift of love and returns in lives of praise and service.
Back to today’s parable. It’s about the world of work, indeed, how the kingdom of God works. “Again, it [the kingdom of God] will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property.” His servants are at his beck and call, but on the other hand, he clearly trusts them. That is clear when we see what he hands over to them: “To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability.”
So, what kind of a boss is he? Well, firstly, he is generous. A talent was a measure of money equivalent to 20 year’s wages. Even the servant who received the least was spectacularly blessed. Much more so the other two.
Secondly, he is trusting. Then master clearly had a close relationship with his servants, and gave to them “according to their ability”’ He knows them and what they are capable of. And then he’s off. He’s comfortable that they have learnt well from watching what he’s done, and confident that they will carry on in the power of his example. They have the expansive freedom of working with this gift.
As soon as he leaves, the first two servants get cracking. They know that they have received an incredible opportunity from their master. There’s no time to waste. They want to repay his trust. Their work pays an extraordinary dividend of 100%, a reward far beyond what most people could have imagined. But this is no ordinary boss, and the gift was extraordinary in its scope.
But servant No.3 took a radically different approach. He “went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.” As they were active, he was passive. He receives what they do, but he views this endowment in a completely different light. Absolutely nothing happens to the master’s investment in him.
Sometime later, certainly later than expected, the master returns, and he calls the servants back to see how they’ve done with what he has given them. There’s an easy relationship between he and the first two servants. “Master…you have entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.” There’s a sense of joy and satisfaction at having been empowered by the master’s trust and generosity. And the master likes what he sees. “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things!” A few things! Is he kidding? He received an enormous endowment, but then, it has been doubled. That’s incredible. But wait, there’s more from the master. “I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share the happiness of your master.” The same encouraging words greet the second slave.
But the atmosphere changes when it comes to the third servant. “‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.’ He seems to have a different perspective on his master than the other two servants. This servant is scared of his master. He believes him to be a hard man, and the last thing he would want to do is endanger his property. “I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.”
What about the generous gift? What about the trust the master placed in him? It’s almost as if he is blaming his master for his lack of action. And now, as the boss blasts him, perhaps he was right in his thinking. The master is angry, and with good reason. His trust has been misplaced, and the responsibility he gave to the servant spurned. “You wicked, lazy servant” are words that send a chill down the spine. “You don’t like the way I go about things. You don’t agree with my methods. You think I’m harsh. You could at least have done the prudent thing and invested the money. But you deliberately did nothing. You haven’t respected my gift and what it can do. I’m taking it away from you. You’ll get from me exactly what you thought of me.” “Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Three servants. Two different outcomes. A commendation to the faithful two, an expulsion of the worthless one. A story with a severe sting in the tail.
The key to this parable is the way that the servants view their master, and the way that this perception directs their behaviour. The first two show by their actions that they respect him, and want to repay the trust he’s placed in them. Is this how we see God? As the one who is generous far outstripping anything we could imagine? In his Son, Jesus Christ, we see the love that gave its all, so that we could be welcomed into his kingdom, and set free to serve. Jesus’ sacrificial love transforms us through the gift of new heart in his death and resurrection, and a new relationship with our loving, generous heavenly Father? Grace comes first, and then comes the opportunities for us to live a life of thankful love.
Or do we see God as the third slave did? He was too scared to risk putting a foot wrong. He didn’t see grace and freedom in his master’s gift of the one talent, but tiresome duty. Do we see God in the same way? We may have heard the good news of God’s love, time and again, but we struggle to see how it applies to us personally. That could be because we want to remain the boss of our own lives and want to stick with our efforts to make our own way to God, spurning his embrace. Or perhaps we’ve got so stuck on our sin and our inadequacies, that we can’t believe loves us, warts and all. Either way, this is not good news.
This is not the kind of life that God wants for us, for children. This isn’t the joyous freedom of service into which God has called us through our baptism. We trust in a God whose mercy triumphs over judgement, whose generosity to us is breathtakingly extravagant, whose love impels him to call people into his kingdom, and who gives us everything we could possibly need to be co-workers with him in his kingdom. Remember what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount: “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” This is what two servants did. The third chose the self-protective, indeed selfish option. And there is no reward for this choice, only the risk of facing God’s judgement stripped naked of the grace of God and the gifts God gives.
Three weeks ago we celebrated Reformation Sunday. We gave thanks to God once again for the rediscovery of the treasure of the gospel: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Paul’s words speak of this parable enacted in the life of the church. God has entrusted to the church the most incredible gift of the good news, and with that the gifts with which he has graced each individual member of the church, the body of Christ. Uniquely gifted, uniquely placed, totally loved, God’s grace works itself out in our lives in what we say and do. Jesus’ disciples know him to be a loving Father, and we, the servants he has loved; saved, commissioned and empowered to serve him and then world he loves. Amen.
