The Parable of the Talents

In the four gospels, [Matthew, Mark, Luke and John], we have four different pictures of Jesus' life. As we know, the gospels are full of stories about the things that Jesus did, and the things that Jesus taught. But as we read these things, it seems very unlikely that the gospel writers arranged them in the order that they actually happened.

Since coming here to St. Bart's one of the things that I have been quite busy with is funerals.

On the whole, I can't say that I find them enjoyable, ...but one aspect that I do find interesting, is listening to the stories about the person who has died.

And when the family tell me these stories, they usually don't start at the beginning and tell me them in the order that they happened. ...Rather, they tell me something important about their loved one, (for example, "Joe lived for his garden"), and then they tell me collection of stories which fit in with that theme.

Then they might tell me something else, ("Joe also lived for his family"), and then they will tell be a selection of stories which illustrate that. ...And in this way they gradually build up a picture of what Joe was like.

In the same way, the gospel writers have built up a picture of Jesus and his teaching, by arranging things according to different themes, ...so that one story helps us to understand a bit more about the next.

So when we read a passage from the gospels, it's very important to see what comes before it, and what comes after it. Because what comes immediately before it, or after it, may well shed some light onto the passage we are reading.

A good example of this, is the 25th chapter of St. Matthew's gospel. Here we find three separate passages, all of which talk about the future:

- first, we have the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids,

- next we have the Parable of the Talents, (which was our gospel reading this morning),

- and finally we have a description of the final judgement, illustrated by the sheep and the goats.

So before we look at our gospel reading in more detail, let's see what the chapter as a whole is saying.

Well, the main thrust of the chapter is that we are to be ready for the return of Jesus.

As Christians, we believe that Jesus died on the cross, ...rose again from the dead, ...and ascended to heaven. But as we say each week in the creed, we also believe that:

"He will come again in glory

to judge the living and the dead,

and his kingdom will have no end."

That is what we are now waiting for, ...and the thrust of Matthew 25 is that we are to be ready.

One reason why we have to be ready, is because no-one knows "the day or the hour" when Jesus will return (v13).

When Jesus comes we won't have time to do those things which we always meant to do. He's coming to blow the final whistle!

That's the main point of the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids.

Insert the Parable of the 10 Bridesmaids

Another reason why we have to be ready, is because when Jesus returns, we will all then face the final judgement.

That's the main point of the third passage in Matthew 25. ...We read:

"All the nations will gather before him, and he will separate the people one from another ...as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats."

The first group will then receive eternal life with God, ...the remainder, eternal separation from God. And this judgement is made on the basis of how we have responded to Jesus and his followers (France, p355).

So we are to be ready. ...But what does 'being ready' mean exactly?

(Pause)

Well, part of the answer to that question lies in our gospel reading ...the Parable of the Talents.

Insert the Parable of the Talents

I just want to make two points about what 'being ready' means.

First of all, 'being ready' means that we are to be active, not passive.

Waiting for Jesus is not the same as waiting for a bus!

We don't just hang around waiting for something to happen. As Christians we musn't be pre-occupied simply with not doing wrong things, ...but we are to be actively engaged in the things that God has entrusted to us.

Of course God treats us all as individuals. He understands our individual personalities, ...our individual circumstances, ...our individual abilities. And so the type of work that God has entrusted to us will vary from one person to the next. St. Paul tells us in Romans chapter 12 that God calls some to prophesy, ...some to serve, ...some to teach, ...some to encourage others, ...some to give generously, ...some to lead, ...some to show mercy.

Similarly, the amount of work that God has entrusted to us will vary from one person to the next. In the parable, the master entrusted the first servant with nearly twice as much as he entrusted the second. And yet, because they both acted faithfully, the master gave them exactly the same words of praise.

It's always a great temptation to compare ourselves with others; ...and depending on who we choose, we either feel very proud of ourselves, ...or very inferior.

But instead, we should seek to discover what God is entrusting to us, (...both as a church, and individually), ...and endeavour to act faithfully in that.

So 'being ready' means that we are to be actively engaged in the work that God has entrusted to us. ...And secondly, this means that we must sometimes being willing to take risks.

You see, the third servant totally mis-understood what his master wanted, and exchanged service for security.

He went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master's money.

To us, that probably seems a rather strange thing to do, ...but in Jesus' day, if you wanted to keep something really safe, then burying it was by far the best thing to do.

The third servant was so frightened of losing this huge sum of money, that he decided to play safe ...and achieved nothing.

But doing the things that God has entrusted to us often means that we have to take a little risk.

- Perhaps we risk our reputation, ...We might say to ourselves, "What will people think of me if I were to do this or that?"

- Perhaps we risk our friendships, ...We might say to ourselves, "I could never invite my friends to come along to church, it might spoil our friendship."

- Perhaps we risk the cosiness of our church, ...We say to ourselves, "If we change things here, I don't know if I'll like it any more."

- Perhaps we risk our financial security, ...or something else.

But doing the things that God has entrusted to us nearly always involves us taking some risk.

Of course we need to be sure of what God is calling us to. He doesn't want us to be irresponsible, ...but as someone has once said, "Faith is spelt R.I.S.K."

So 'being ready' for Jesus' return means that we are to be actively engaged in the work that God has entrusted to us. ...and this sometimes means being willing to take risks.

I'd like to finish by applying this to two aspects of our own church.

One of the things that God has entrusted to us, is to tell people about the Good News of Jesus.

In the very last paragraph of St. Matthew's gospel, we find what we sometimes call 'The Great Commission'. Here Jesus tells his followers to, "...go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

Now where as it is certainly true that God entrusts different things to different people, the need to tell people about Jesus is something that God has entrusted to each one of us.

It's something that we need to be actively engaged in: ...deepening friendships with those outside the church, ...learning how to share this Good News, ...arranging special events for people to come to, ...welcoming people into our church, ...and so on.

And it also means that we must be willing to take risks. I don't know why, but none of us finds it easy to do these things. We all prefer to keep quiet and leave it to others.

There's much to be done, and together as a church we need to sort out how we can best go about it. ...But as individuals, we must start by asking ourselves this important question:

"Am I committed to carrying out this work that God has entrusted to me?"

(Pause)

This is something that we will be coming back to in the near future.

A second thing that God has entrusted to us is this: ...as a church we are expecting a baby!

I'm talking about the new congregation that we are hoping to plant at St. Bartholomew's School ...which was mentioned in the September News Sheet, ...and which is going to be subject of our Church Meeting on the afternoon of Sunday 2Oth November. Please put that date in your diary.

The thought of having a baby can be very exciting, [...although for some of us, the discovery that we are pregnant might come as a bit of a shock!]

But a new baby also means a lot of work ...in the months to come we can expect morning sickness, ...sleepless nights, ...exhaustion, ...fears and anxieties, ...and many frustrations.

At one level it is going to affect some people more than others. Shortly after our November Meeting we will want to establish a Core Group of people who will be actively involved with this church plant.

But at another level, it's going to affect all of us. As people take on new responsibilities for the church plant, they will have to relinquish their responsibilities here, ...and that means that we will have lots of vacancies to fill. And it's important that all of us support this baby with our prayers.

As before, there's much to be done, ...and together as a church we need to sort out how we can best go about it. ...But as individuals, we must again start by asking ourselves an important question:

"Am I committed to carrying out this important work that God has entrusted to us?"

(Pause)

'Being ready' for Jesus' return means that we are to be actively engaged in the work that God has entrusted to us. ...and sometimes this means being willing to take risks.

Telling people about Jesus, and planting a new congregation, are two of the things that God has entrusted to us, ...but they're not the only things.

We each need to ask God to show us the things that he has entrusted to us, ...so that when he Jesus returns he may say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."