Friday, March 14, 2008
Psalm 10; Matthew 25:14-30"'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.'"
(Matthew 25:21,23)
The second "eschatological" parable Jesus tells regarding being prepared for the end and for his return has this economic dimension. Of course, perhaps the first one had an economic aspect to it in that the five foolish virgins were too cheap initially to bring extra oil...
While all three have to do with readiness and preparation, the first uses the image of wedding / celebration / relational / anticipation of union and joy while the second uses the stewardship of another's resources to make the point.
We have been taught to listen for the "gotcha" in a parable, that a parable has this one jolting twist that was supposed to reverberate in your heart and head as you walked away. I'm pretty sure that in today's parable it has to do with the one talent servant, either his wimpiness or the master's harshness with him.
But what I'm "stuck" on is how much this man entrusted to his servants ("to each according to his ability" v. 15). A talent was a monetary unit worth about twenty years wages for a laborer. Translated into our day, that would be anywhere from $300,000 (@ $7.50/hr) - $600,000 ($15/hr) or more.
That's a lot of money for a servant / slave to be entrusted with! And not only that, when the master comes to settle accounts, he says "you have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much." The first servant received anywhere from $1.5 million to $3 million. "At once" he went and traded with them and doubled his master's resources. Granted, the master knew that this guy had the ability to be entrusted with so many resources (this much money could employ a lot of laborers for a long time), but he also had the intrepidity, the fearlessness to just go out and start trading it. I guess the terminology in stock trading terms is that this guy had a "high risk tolerance."
I'm wondering what the "little" the servants were entrusted with is in reference to: how much the master actually owned, or to how much he was consequently entrusting to the servant. Either way, to me 3 million dollars is not a little! It's a lot of money with which to freely trade "at once" - no research, no dividing up the assets and letting some of it be risked in a high-yield potential investment, putting some in consistent performing mutual funds, and preserving a part for safe investing in bonds or CD's or even a money market or savings account.
The first two servants are addressed as "good and faithful," the third as "wicked and slothful." The first two did what was expected of them. Their faithfulness seen in both using their abilities to add value to their master's estate and in their seeming recklessness in trading with his money. Somehow they were confident and fearless; they knew either that this money was nothing compared to the master's vast resources, or that the master would be blessed by their seeking to not only manage, but multiply, his money. They knew that being entrusted with the master's possessions required an accounting, in fact, it required that they do something - ie. servants serve.
The wickedness and slothfulness of the last servant was not really in his doing nothing, he went to the effort of digging in the ground and hiding his master's money. It was, then, in what little he did, and his motivation for doing so - "I was afraid..." (v. 25). He did do something - but he did not serve his master, but himself. What he did was contrary to the purpose of the stewardship, contrary to the purpose of the talents. This reminds us of early on in the gospel when Jesus says that people do not "light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all the house" (5:15). [But lest we "over-spiritualize" this parable, let me be clear that I do think at least part of Jesus' point here is that there will be a material, economic accounting to be made on that day.]
So, do we enter into the joy of our master because we've been "good" (moral uprightness, avoiding sin, converted lots of people, added economic value to God's kingdom, etc.), because we were successful and have plenty to show for our efforts for the Lord? It's not payment for our work, but it does seem to be reward for faithfulness, and simple wisdom on the master's part in the stewardship of his stuff.
It's interesting how "faithful" and "slothful" seem to be antonyms here, as they parallel each other in the designation of the servants.
Good and faithful
Wicked and slothful
Fearless and faithful
Afraid and slothful
There's a real sense that in Christ we have already entered into the joy of our master. If we are baptized into him, then God says to us also, "You are my beloved child, with whom I am well pleased." Thankfully, Jesus did not remain "hidden" in heaven, but was faithful; he is the son who took on the very nature of a servant, and in faithfulness and in fearlessness risked everything on our behalf, and he has gained everything.
So we too, working with God who so powerfully works within us, cooperating with the Spirit who indwells us and who is transforming us into the image of Christ, with our hearts set on the goodness and faithfulness of God towards us, and on the joy set before us and his joy over us, use what has been entrusted to us to the glory of God.
"Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand;
forget not the afflicted.
Why does the wicked renounce God
and say in his heart, "You will not call to account"?
But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation,
that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless commits himself;
you have been the helper of the fatherless..."
(Psalm 10:12-14)
No comments:
Post a Comment