Pentecost 24

December 1, 2017 in Sermon by Scott Landrum

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; 15 to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17 In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18 But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20 Then 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.’ 21 His 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.’ 22 And 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.’ 23 His 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.’ 24 Then 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; 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But 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? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29 For 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. 30 As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

“For 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,” said the master. Jesus’ words here are appalling to our notions of fairness and justice. They are too good and too harsh to be true, at the same time. So deep is our need to fix this theological knot that often we simply gloss over it, ignore it, pretend it isn’t there. In fact, one commentator suggested preaching from another passage as if that will make it go away. It won’t because what we are dealing with here is God. Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, preachers have for ages fashioned strategies to tame Jesus’ words here. As usual, the suggested course of action rebounds on you the hearer. Be wise, be smart, don’t squander your life, your money, the gospel. Do this, do that, but whatever you do don’t be like the wicked slave. Don’t be lazy, don’t be afraid, don’t make the master mad. The injustice runs deeper still. Is Jesus telling us that God can be bought off with our success? The master sure seemed happy when he looked at his high performing stocks. Is that the key? Who is this God? Who knows? About the only thing certain is that he is God and we are not, reaping where he did not sow and gathering were he did not scatter. There’s some more unfairness. Seems mom was right about life and God! God won’t behave. He won’t play by the rules. What a terrifying prospect that we can’t control God by what we do or don’t do. I wish we could get away with the attitude of the people Zephaniah spoke against in the first reading. “The Lord will not do good, nor will he do harm,” they thought. We can take him or leave him they reasoned, but they were wrong. “Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord’s wrath; in the fire of his passion the whole earth shall be consumed; for a full, a terrible end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth,” the prophet goes on to say.  What is even more terrifying is that when we look at our lives. When we confess all the things we’ve done and left undone. When we’re honest about who we truly are, it’s apparent that we’re the wicked slave. We should be afraid. Luther picked up on all this in his instruction to us in the Small Catechism.
In explaining the 10 Commandments Luther says over and over we should fear and love the Lord so that . . . we should obey, etc.
Based on what we heard, it’s not hard to understand the fear part. But how do you love this God whose wild? We’ll you and I don’t if by love we’re talking about a warm fuzzy. God’s not really interested in how we feel about him. God wants something much greater than our emotions. He wants our trust. Yet, the same question comes up, how do you trust this God whose wild? The answer is you and I don’t unless God makes us trust him.
He does this by giving himself in his word of promise, a word that isn’t based on your moods, abilities, experiences or anything else. His word isn’t kept from you because of your failure, sin, inability or anything else. In fact, our faithfulness or lack thereof really isn’t the point. God’s not playing fair here. He’s being abundantly generous to you because Jesus Christ is the faithful one. He gave himself for us. He is the one to trust. Furthermore, he’s not waiting on you to decide. He’s not waiting for you to think about it. The wild God comes to get you ready or not. There at the font he claims you. There at the communion rail he holds you. Jesus comes in the words from this pulpit that I am all too happy to give again; you are forgiven unconditionally for his sake. Fear not, the wrath of God against you is gone. Fear not, no more hell to pay for you. You are free. That is your promise. Do not hide that promise in the ground. Use it when sin, death and the devil accuse and terrify you. Use it when life hurts, use it when God is silent. Tell them Christ has promised that you belong to him and all will be okay. Encourage one another with these words. Amen.