More than Enough

Psalm 73

Truly God is good to the upright, to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant; I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For they have no pain; their bodies are sound and sleek. They are not in trouble as other are; they are not plagued like other people.
But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end.
Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. Who have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.
But for me, it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, to tell of all your works.


We have been working our way through a number of parables this fall. We have heard the parable of the dishonest steward, the parable of the mustard seed, the parable of the persistent widow. Today we have another parable. And as we have come to understand, a parable might seem simple, or clear, on first reading. But it is usually more complicated than that. Clarence Jordan said that a parable is like a Trojan horse- once you let it in, BAM its got you. One of the things we need to know, in opening up this parable, is that Jesus is telling stories about what life in the Kingdom of God is like. It is like ten women, waiting for the bridegroom’s return. It is like a mustard plant that grows from a tiny seed. It is like a master going on a journey…..Listen now for the word of the Lord….
Matthew 25:14-30
14“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another, one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ 21His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 22And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ 23His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 24Then 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; 25so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? 27Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 28So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29For 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. 30As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

This is the word of the Lord…..Thanks be to God
On first glance, this seems to be a story about venture capitalism. Two slaves are given money by their owner. They invest it- wisely? Luckily? Who knows? But they get a great return on their investment. When their owner comes back, they are happy to report the good return, and they are rewarded. The third slave, on the other hand, doesn’t do anything with the investment—well, he does one thing— he doesn’t lose it. He buries it in the ground- and, no surprise--it produces no yield, no return. And when he reports to the master, he is thrown out into the outer darkness. Not exactly a happy ending?

There are some things we need to know about this story. The money is the master’s. It is his to do with as he pleases. And what pleases him? Entrusting porperty to his servants. The master gives his own money to the servants, in full trust. This is what the business world calls a “fiduciary transaction” – that is based on the Latin word, fide, for trust.

Second, the master gives them an enormous amount—in today’s dollars, the sums would equal between half a million and several million dollars. I don't know about you, but Id be a little nervous to entrusted with that amount of money.

Third, irt seems teh master gives without any restrictions, any prerequisites—but we are told that the master gives “according to their abilities”. The master knows the slaves, knows what they can handle, what they are capable of accomplishing. Then he leaves.
Well, the master finally returns to settle teh accounts after being gone "a long time." And we hear the reports of the slaves to the master. We don’t know what the slaves did, how they invested- but we do know that “trust” and “joy” are involved. The servants are described as “trustworthy”- the version many of us know is “well done, good and faithful servant”. Faithful, dependable, trustworthy- take your pick. And then the servants enter into the “joy of their master”. They have acted in trust, and are proclaimed trustworthy themselves.

The third slave, however, has not acted in trust. He has acted out of fear. He buried the money- the text says “concealed it”. Now, he could have told the master he hid teh money for safekeeping. That was accepted practice in teh first century. Instead,he tells the master “I was afraid” He feared the master, describes him as greedy and dishonest, and acted out of fear—fear of not enough.

In many ways, the third slave is like the person described in Psalm 73—who sees others, sees how well off they are, sees how “sound and sleek” their bodies are—no disease, no health problems, no putting off going to the doctor because of worry about how much the bill is going to be, no letting the car go with that funny noise because you can’t afford to get it fixed, and because you’re afraid of how expensive its going to be. The writer of Psalm 73 sees those rich, sleek people, and is filled with fear and envy. He says about himself “but as for me, my feet had almost stumbled….until I went into the sanctuary of God”. When the writer encounters God, his mind is made clear—he sees what is trustworthy: “Whom have I in heaven but you? You hold my right hand”

The parable is, at heart, not a story about money markets and good investment strategies. It is a story about trust. And, it is about risk. Because the two alwasy travel hand in hand. The kingdom of God is like a master who gives. Extravagantly. Abundantly. Good gifts, that produce good fruit. We learned in the parable of the mustard seed that we already have enough faith. And we learned in the parable on the unjust steward that God wants, expects us, to use our minds, our imagination, our talents. We learn in this story to trust.
I think the first two servants knew their boss and teh thrid one didnt have a clue. The first two knew he expected results, but that resluts were less important than effort. Tom Watson, former head of IBM is quoted as saying "To increase your success rate you have to double your failure rate." Why? becase great success can rarely happen withput taking some risk.

When we act, trusting those gifts and that God, we are acting out Kingdom of God living. The Kingdom of God is not ruled by fear of not enough—it is based on trust in a God who is giving—so giving that he comes to us, eats with us, invites us to eat with him.
We live that out, here, as a community of faith, gathered around this Table. I am not telling you anything you don’t already know, that the past few years have been very difficult. And yet—and yet—God has blessed us richly, so that we can be a blessing to others. God is always a God of enough—more than enough. God feeds God’s people with manna and quail in the wilderness, with so much fish and bread—out of nothing—that there is enough for everybody, and enough for baskets of leftovers to be taken up. The economy of the kingdom of God is abundant and knows no scarcity. God feeds us so well, we have food to give to the food pantry, and to the Free lunch, and the OFA luncheon, and to shut ins, and to the Community Turkey Dinner. God has blessed us, so that we can be a blessing to others. Which is what we will do, in the giving of the seed money grants later this morning. The Session acted, trusting God, and trusting you, faithful servants, to use your imagination and skills and talents, to produce a return for God, and to share that blessing with others.
God blesses us here, at the Table. In overflowing love, in abundant grace, we are called. To be fed, to be nourished, and to go out into the world to reflect that abundant love to others. Because God is always a God of more than enough. Amen