From The First Baptist Church in America pulpit

Providence, Rhode Island – August 24, 2008

“The Malady of Not Wanting” (Matthew 25:14-31)

Dr. Dan Ivins, preaching

What amazes me about theology is how often we get it backwards. For instance, sin has to do with our wanters. Which is why most people think of sinning as something you do.  And you wouldn't do it uless you wanted to. Today’s scripture is just the opposite, the sin of not wanting; being timid, of not letting your “light shine.” Likewise, we come to church to refine what we believe about God. But Jesus’s story focuses on what we believe about ourselves. Matthew lays out what God wants from his workers. Matthew lays out what God wants from his workers. It’s interesting to see what God doesn’t want. There are no spiritual directives. Nobody’s invited to pray, or to be honest, or kind to their neighbors, or to even love God. The only request, was to do something useful with what’s been entrusted to them. Notice no particular spiritual directives. Nor are the workers invited to pray, or to be honest, or kind to their neighbors, or to even love God.

In keeping with Matthew’s theme of harshness toward evil-doers, this parable socks-it-to the poor 1-talent man. Jesus said: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man going abroad who called his servants together before he departed and handed his property to them to manage, according to their abilities.” This is not to say God’s not fair. But God is God. And to those who’ve been given much, much will be required. Everybody, great or small has been given something. So from each of us something is required. Because what we don’t use, we lose. Based on 40 years of experience I’d have to say, the most pervasive weakness of the church today is the reluctance to risk.

The patron saint of this attitude is the recalcitrant Old Testament prophet Jonah. Forget the “fish story.” It’s really about Jonah’s fury at God for showing kindness to those he despised. He’d rather die than see one Assyrian spared. So God’s prophet espouses the ill-advised theology that God exists for us, rather than we exist for God; the notion that God’s supposed to do what we want, rather than our doing what God wants.

Jesus adds a new twist on “the Parable of the Talents.” It’s has to do with financial activity. It’s not a coin, but a measurement of weight. A popular interpretation for those tight with their money, is to view a talent as the ability to sing or paint. But it’s equivalent to15 hours of hard work. A capitalist wants his money to be working for him while he’s away on vacation. So he entrusts different amounts to two of his brokers, expecting a return on his investment. The third broker loves deals without hard work, involving low risk (V. 24). But he believes the master is “a hard man.” That was the erroneous, Pharisaical view that Jesus was countering with this story.

By their meticulous observance of the law, they “hid themselves.” Matthew weaves into Jesus’ story his own concerns about his church, (V. 21, 23, 30). When he adds: “Enter into the joy of your master,” this is not business talk. Or his reference to: “Outer darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth” has no meaning in the financial world. Matthew’s insertions makes the story flow unevenly, as in V. 29 “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” It’s a stunning reminder to those who get hypnotized by the jumboism of our day. But Jesus calls our attention to little things, simple things: “2 or 3 are gathered;” 5 loaves and 2 sardines he used to feed 5000; faith the size of a mustard seed to move mountains; a widow's mite is the most significant offering in church. Jesus believed that the small, insignificant things are loaded with possibilities. Jesus believed that even one talent folks are loaded with possibilities that won’t allow us to stand still in the Christian life. We either end up with more or we lose what we have.

Matthew’s theology bothers me because he’s one of those either/or guys. His images are black or white, light or dark; sheep or goats; heaven or hell, who gets in, and those who won’t make it. Matthew wouldn’t make a good Unitarian universalist. His theology doesn’t allow God to automatically haul everybody into heaven at the last minute. Rather God makes heaven or hell our decision. The only exclusion is self-exclusion.

Jesus shines the spotlight on the one-talent guy, who lived by the slogan: “A bird in the hand is worth more than a bird in the bush.” But that depends on what the bird’s doing in your hand! And that the birds are doing in the bush! This guy wasted what had been given to him. When the day arrived for the final accounting, he sneaks up behind the other two who were being commended and rewarded and pleads his case. “Sir, you strike me as a tough guy, and that scares me. And I sure don’t trust the banks. So I hid your talent in the dirt. Here it is...just as you gave it to me! Unused...perfectly intact. No more, no less.” That’s when it thundered, but in the 2^nd person. "You wicked and lazy, good-for-nothing! Why didn’t you do something with what I gave you? So I’m going to take it back and give it to somebody who will." Then the lightning struck in the 3^rd person. “As for this worthless servant, throw him outside into the darkness, where he’ll be grinding his teeth forever." Whew! You don’t want to get on God’s bad side, right?

Kingdom competition is not against each other, because we all start at different places. Kingdom competition is against ourselves, as each of us will be matched against our own abilities and whether we take advantage of our opportunities to leave the world a better place than we found it. Somebody said luck is opportunity, prepared for. Kingdom competition allows for even one talent people to succeed, if they have enough faith in God to make something out themselves.

So we might as well yank the haloes off of all biblical heroes. Before Moses was a prophet, he was a murderer, with a stutter. James and John were blustery fisherman, who talked their Mamma into badgering Jesus for a hot spot in heaven. Peter was a boistrous over-promiser of vows he couldn’t keep. Paul was a self-righteous Pharisee determined to persecute every Christian that crossed his path. Crooked crowns at best, like Matthew’s one talent man. Except these were great because they allowed God to turn their talent into something more. And today we call them saints! One of Jesus’ greatest compliments was to a lowly woman who “anointed him with costly perfume and wiped her feet with his hair.” And he lauded this lady, not for something spectacular. But because“She did what she could with what she had.” Other than himself, Jesus remembered a thief and a prostitute and never worried about the company he kept.

Everybody has something. It’s not what we have that matters but what we do with what we have. We may not be equal in talent but we can exceed in effort. Jesus socked it to Tiny Tim not because he didn’t succeed, but because he was too afraid to try. Jesus wants us to “launch out into the deep” (Luke 5:4). Get out of the comfortable shallows, far from shore where our feet can’t touch the bottom. He knows risk will put steel in our spines and spirit in our souls more than security ever could. Because then we have to depend on God instead of ourselves. That’s good theology. So the only question we should ask ourselves is, will we be reluctant or risky servants; managers or manglers; caretakers or undertakers? Do you know what it’s like to be afraid? Have you ever felt like quitting? Or wondered if anything will come of what you’re trying to do for God? Then Matthew’s got us right where he wants us!

Ever wonder why fear is such a serious offense to God? You’d think sex or murder or breaking one of the 10 commandments. Why would fear send someone to hell? You know what jealousy is don’t you? It’s fear of the loss of love. Why are people greedy, doing whatever it takes to get and keep as much as they can and show it off? It’s fear of insecurity. People cheat all the time, for fear of failure. Why do kids lie? Fear of punishment. Adults lie for fear of getting caught, exposed, humiliated. Why be obnoxious controllers? Fear that somebody might be superior to you. Why are there resentful manipulators? Fear that they won’t measure up. “You’re a hard man, and I was afraid.” Ever hear people on their cell phones, not talking about anything in particular. Just to make sure somebody’s out there. What are you afraid of? A storm blows up and knocks off the TV and Internet. Now what’re we gonna do? Read a book? Last week I sat out in Dan Taneyhill’s fishing boat on Echo Lake and it was peaceful, serene, beautiful. Far removed from waterfire. Television can’t give you that.

I’ve forgotten how we used to do stuff like that when I was a kid. Surrounded by concrete, jammed lines, the frenetic noise of city life blurs the memory. Construction of the Blue Cross building, one shift is not enough. Yeah the diesels are banging around the clock downtown. Afraid they’ll lose money? Busy, busy, busy. Now they’re shooting people in schools and churches. Afraid? When I was a kid nobody was afraid of going to church or school. At my house in the summertime, before TV, we’d go out in the yard after dark and chase lightning bugs and put them in a jar, to make a living iridescent light. Then lay on a blanket and count the shooting stars darting across the sky. Fear never crossed our mind.

We used to get excited about skimming shards across the water, see how many times you could make it bounce. Doesn’t matter how many times it skips; when it stops … is that what you’re afraid of? The rock not skipping your way? Or somebody getting more skips than you? It doesn’t take much to depress us does it? So we have to work overtime at having a good time. I know lots of people who don’t know how to have fun.

In Bible times, they feared the deep because they thought demons were in the water. And you know, I wish they were in the water. But that’s not where the fear demon is. It’s right in here. Tiny Tim was afraid, so he dug a hole in the ground and hid his talent. His fear wouldn’t let him put to use his greatest talent, trust in God. He had God all wrong: he’s not “a hard man.” That’s what the puritans think. But he does expect us to make something out of ourselves.

Life is as big or small as we make it. God takes fear seriously because it destroys everything that matters; love dies, justice is weakened, sharing disappears. Faith is what keeps the mind open, the heart sensitive, and the spirit willing. Jesus believed God trusts us, to manage what he’s given to us. The question is, do we trust God? Do that and you can be “more than conquerors. And neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to scare us, because of the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Pastoral Prayer: (8/24/08)

With yearnings we can’t fully identify, with fears too personal to voice, harboring hostilities of which we are ashamed, weighted down with disappointment at having done so little with so much, we make bold now O God, to pray for ourselves. Let thy presence fill those homes where death has come; thy wisdom fall like gentle rain on the parched souls of the confused, thy healing engender trust in those who are estranged, thy joy overcome the melancholy of those who’ve forgotten how to laugh.

Show us in this worship that nothing is more valuable than life itself, and nothing more tragic than wasting a life and its gifts, whether it’s in ourselves or in others. So we pray for those among us and around us who are burdened not by too little, but too much. Who have so much power they’ve grown indifferent to others, and are fast becoming what they don’t want to be. Those so healthy they can’t understand somebody who’s sick or reckon adequately with their own mortality; those who own so much they prize their possessions more than people and worry into the night about losing what they have accumulated. Those who have so much knowledge and proud of it that they’ve lost touch with common people. Those who have so much virtue that they can’t see their own sins or value your grace. Those who have so much leisure that they float like driftwood, lacking any cause bigger than themselves.

Thou who art able to save us from abundance or privation, meet the strong in their strength, and the weak in their depths, so that what each of us has and what we are may be conscripted for thy service, wherein lies peace. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.