Parable of the Talents 2021

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit. This is the time of year

we'd be getting ready for our annual meeting.

We'd be looking at the budget, which we are.

And I have to say, I'm so proud of this parish.

Good stewards of what God has given you to support

your parish, to support the work of the parish

and of the church. Reminds me of a joke which

has nothing to do with me, but so you're clear,

I'm not asking for anything. A church was doing

its annual finances and the pastor saw them,

saw the finances. And he went to the board members

and said, I see that I didn't get a raise. Like

he said, I'm not asking for anything for myself

here. And the board members said, yes, that's

right. And the preacher says, well, I'm just

a poor preacher. And the president of the council

said, we know, we hear you every week. So I will

endeavor to let the words of the Lord speak for

themselves. We listen to an exhortation, a sermon,

a criticism, a judgment from the Lord Jesus Christ.

What you heard comes from chapter 25 of the Gospel

of St. Matthew, and don't you ever forget it.

What's coming next? What explains this particular

gospel? In our Bibles, there's a chapter heading,

and it says, The Parable of the Talents. And

then it says, The Parable of the Sheep and the

Goats. But it doesn't say that in the Bible.

That's added by publishers. This parable you

heard is connected and explained by the next

parable, which is the parable of the sheep and

the goats. We rightly hang on to words that describe

our Savior, words that he himself said, the way,

the truth, and the life. We call him our Savior.

We call him the lover of mankind. This is good,

isn't it? Because this is a true thing. It's

not a description. It's what he is. We call him

the shepherd. We call him the prince of peace.

All wonderful things. But something that's less

popular is that he is the judge. He will judge

everything. And we confess this in the creed.

He will come again to judge the living and the

dead. This parable is about that. It's challenging.

I probably wouldn't want to hear it. But here

it is. The church says, listen to this as you're

getting ready for Lent. This parable is a story

of what the Savior will do at the end. The Gospel

comes, the reading comes from just before he

is arrested. Judgment. Now, we might hear this

parable as only some kind of moral story about

a working hard, good investments return. on capital,

sort of an explanation, a Christian version of

capitalism. If Mark Twain or Ben Franklin had

said these words, that would have been true.

If you win the lottery, how would you invest

this? How would you get a good return? I read

last week, about a week and a half ago, someone

won. the megabucks or whatever lottery it was,

it was a billion dollars. Of course, the government

gets 40 % of that right off the top. And it turns

out that 70 % of people that win a lottery file

for bankruptcy within a few years. It's not good.

So the parable isn't about that. The parable...

It's about the talents that are given to each

servant by the Lord. Talenta, which is a form

of money. And Jesus doesn't say, the master in

the story doesn't say, here's your life. Make

the most of it. Just do it. Be all you can be,

or whatever slogan you want to plug in. Live

your dream. The Lord entrusts the talents. He

doesn't give them. This is not like the lottery.

We are asked at the end to show how we have multiplied

those talents. We belong to God. He isn't here

to enslave us. He doesn't need slaves. He is

here. To make us as great as we can be. Christians

need to be convinced that our lives, everything

in our lives, everything we do, everything we

have, including our finances, it all belongs

to God. Why? Because he entrusts us with it.

We haven't been given these things. The word

in the gospel parable isn't Isn't giving over,

but it's entrusting. Five for this one. Two for

this one. One for another one. Remember, who

says these words? It's he that was crucified

and buried and rose. and ascended, and he shall

come again in glory to judge the living and the

dead. But he is not gone. Not for us. Perhaps

for the rest of the world that does not know

Christ, he is gone. For us, remember, brothers

and sisters, that when he returns, he will return

and every knee shall bow. But what did we just

sing at Christmastime in Theophany? God is with

us. God is with us. And the church is his body

and he is his head. We are members of his body.

At the liturgy we say Christ is in our midst.

And the liturgy is the kingdom of heaven that

we have put on Christ. St. Paul says to put on

kindness and long -suffering and humility, peace.

These are all gifts and talents from the Lord.

This is what we have been given. Yes, he will

come again for all to see in glory. It is his

glorious appearing. But he is here. He is here.

Where two or three are in the midst. And in the

church, he is here. For we are his members. His

life continues in us. Judgment in this gospel

probably inspires fear. We're waiting for the

judgment and we're considering how much time

I relate to the man with one talent. That's me.

And you would think that we should be fearful,

but that was the problem of that man with the

one talent. He was the only one condemned. And

he was condemned. Why? He said, I was afraid

of you. You're a hard man. Is Christ hard? Is

he difficult? Is he demanding? My yoke is easy,

he says. My burden is light. He gives us the

gift that we maybe forget about because we put

it on the back burner because we forget how precious

Time is, and maybe the most important gift we

have, is time. You don't have tomorrow. Father

Patrick Reardon, in a sermon I was listening

to recently, he says, most people think of tomorrow

as a noun. Today, tomorrow. But tomorrow's not

a thing. It's an idea. It's a concept. You can't

grasp it. You can't touch it. We don't have it.

We only have the nanosecond we're living in.

And in that nanosecond, we are expected to do

something as Christians with it and not act out

of fear like that man. What did he spend his

time doing? He spent his time, he says, I buried

the talent because I knew that you wanted it

back and I was afraid I'd lose it. He spent his

time digging a hole in the earth, bearing what

God had entrusted to him. Do you see the connection?

To put something in the earth means that that's

where he invested his life, just down here. He

prepared for his grave, not for the resurrection.

He spent his time digging rather than investing.

How do we know, brothers and sisters, if we are

multiplying the talents God has given us? I suggest

you ask yourself this question. You heard the

epistle today from Colossians. Read it again.

Chapter 3. Colossians only has three chapters.

It's extremely short. You can read it in 15 minutes.

If you take your time and you do it in a meditative,

prayerful way, It'll take you an hour, as it

should. You'll stop. You'll let the word sink

into your heart. What did St. Paul say to us

last week in Colossians? He says, when Christ,

who is our Lord, appears, you will also appear

with him in glory. Therefore, put away these

sins. Fornication, lying, unjust works, and so

on and so on. And today he says, What to put

on. He says to put on meekness, humility, long

-suffering, peace. But above all, he says, put

on love. Now, mercy, long -suffering, humility,

peace, and love. You can't fake it. We can't.

Manufacture it. It comes from God. He has entrusted

us with all these things. Look in yourself. Let

each of us examine ourselves in the little time

we have in this life. We don't have tomorrow.

Today, look at yourself, brothers and sisters.

Let us each examine. Is there mercy? Do we forgive

one another? Is there long suffering? Is there

humility? Do we know what humility is? If you

have it, you'll know it. Do you have the peace

of heart reigning in your body, your soul, your

mind? Have you put on love for all? If you have

done those things, then you and I will hear those

longed -for words. You have been faithful with

a few things. Now you will be master of many

things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Well

done, good and faithful servant.