What did the first two have that the third lacked?
It’s not really about how much money they were given.
It’s not really about how much money they made.
It’s not really about their work ethic,
whether they were busy bees or lazy bums.
It’s about faith, it’s about hope,
and it’s about love.
Gospel: Matthew 25:13-25 - [Jesus said to the disciples:] 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.’ ”
The master had given the slaves money for
caretaking –
and he left no instructions that we hear.
All we hear is that one received five talents,
another received two,
and one received one – each according to his
ability.
A talent was a good bit of money.
That’s all we really need know.
So it was that one traded with the five and made
five more,
the next traded with the two and made two more,
and the one hid the one talent away and made no
more.
The two were rewarded, the one sent away.
What did the first two have that the third lacked?
It’s not really about how much money they were
given.
It’s not really about how much money they made.
It’s not really about their work ethic,
whether they were busy bees or lazy bums.
It’s about faith, it’s about hope,
and it’s about love.
You remember 1st Corinthians 13:1-13:
‘Love is patient, love is kind,
love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or
rude.’
And so forth.
It is often read at weddings,
because of the word love.
But if we read the whole chapter,
it ends with the words,
‘And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three,
and the greatest of these is love.’
To abide means to dwell in, to remain in, to live
in.
What did the first two slaves have that the third
did not have?
They had faith, hope, and love.
Faith, that the master knew exactly what he was
doing
when he gave them money to take care of.
Hope, that they would share in the master’s joy
when he returned.
And love, the greatest thing, that desired the best
for the master,
that even in the midst of the planning and the
trading
imagined the joy on his face when he returned
and found that he had more than he started with
when he went away.
It was not their skill in trading which was the key
part –
nor even their industrious nature –
it was in having faith in the gift,
hope in the reward,
and love for the master.
We look to the third slave,
We see that he wanted no part of this
responsibility,
and so, he hid away the master’s money,
ready to fulfill the letter of the law and no more.
We see that in place of faith, hope, and love
he had doubt, despair, and hatred.
Doubt of the master’s favor and beneficence,
despair of receiving a reward,
and, finally, hatred for the master,
who had laid this burden on him.
And so when the master returns,
he saw, as we do, the faith, hope, and love of the
first two servants
and the doubt, despair, and hatred of the third.
If it were just about money
and how much had been made or not been made,
the story would have been different –
the third servant would have traded and lost
everything
and been fired for his lack of skill in trading.
Instead, he is dismissed, if you will,
because out of hatred for his master
he did not even do the bare minimum for him,
that which would expose himself to the least amount
of risk
of losing the master’s money.
The fact that he did not do even this betrays his
attitude.
And so, in the face of the accounting we must give
to God
when we come before him,
the Church is presented with two options:
faith, hope, and love;
and doubt, despair, and hatred.
When I hear that I am called to give account to
God,
it is natural for me to wonder
whether I have made enough of myself,
whether I will have earned a place in his joy.
However, I am called to turn away from myself
but to the God who has faith in me, hope for me,
and love for me.
Faith in God that he knows exactly what he is
doing,
that he has given me
exactly according to the ability he granted me.
Hope that indeed he will receive those who serve
him into his joy,
and love for him, eagerness for him to receive that
which is his,
which has multiplied because of the faith he has in
me.
I make no claim of how much is multiplied.
Perhaps it is a doubling, perhaps one-half of one
percent,
but we cannot mathematically determine
what God has multiplied or not multiplied in us.
It is not for us to quantify, not for us to add up
our good deeds,
for that would be a doubting and despairing
enterprise.
Instead, with faith, hope, and love we are called
to act for God.
I have used before from this pulpit the example of
Molly Greene,
who died tragically in the summer of 2019.
In 2001, she and her husband founded Water Mission,
a ministry we support that finds solutions
to the global water crisis,
and also, in word and deed,
proclaims faith in the living water, Jesus Christ.
What words do you think she heard
when she was called to give account to God?
Was she called forward as that servant
who gave honor to her Master,
or called out as one who refused to do
even the least she could have done?
I think we all agree on what she heard,
and the joy into which she had entered.
But we must not lose sight of the understanding
that it’s not because she founded an organization
which brings many people safe water,
but her faith, hope, and love
in the One who called and equipped her.
The same Jesus who saved her empowered her, and
empowers us.
We don’t look at ourselves and ask, ‘What have we
done like that?’
but we want to have the same faith, hope, and love
in Christ
that we may be empowered
to do whatever God has allotted us to do
according to our ability and our circumstance.
In St Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, he
writes,
‘If the
eagerness is there,
the gift is acceptable according to what one
has—
not according to what one does not have.’
As we await the restoration of God,
may that eagerness be ours which we see in
Jesus’ parable,
the eagerness we see in the endeavors of the
saints:
the eagerness of faith, hope, and love.
