Ted Johnston—Year A Proper 28
Anthony: Our third pericope of the month is Matthew 25:14–30. It is the Revised Common Lectionary passage for Proper 28 in Ordinary Time, which this year comes on November 15.
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. At once 16 the one who had received the five talents went off 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, 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.’
So, the first two servants seem to act from trust, while the third servant acts from fear and from a distorted picture of his master. “I knew you were a harsh man.” So, I’m curious, Ted, from a Christocentric Trinitarian perspective, how does Jesus reveal the true character of the Father, and how does what we believe about God shape the way that we participate in his kingdom based on what we’ve read?
Ted: Yeah, here’s another one of these parables that is often used as a club over people’s heads. And it’s not hard to use it that way if you’re so inclined, because there’s a certain harshness to it, at least at first blush. But here a master goes away and leaves his servants with responsibilities to fulfill. The master has a certain expectation and trust in these followers. And notice again the theme we saw before.
There is a long time to wait, and the issue is who will be ready again — after this long time of waiting — who will be ready when the master finally comes back, returns? And readiness is defined as having faith, that is trust in the master. There’s that, those you hear those resonances of themes here, which are really important. And I think that it’s important to see how the master gifts all three. There’s that grace precedes judgment theme again.
Anthony: Yes. Yes.
Ted: Yeah, but a key point in this parable is that faith in Jesus, trust in Jesus, is not passive. It’s active and living faith, participating in the work that the master is doing, participating in the work that Jesus is doing, making the most of the opportunities that he provides. The parable represents these opportunities as talents, at least in this translation, which is a very large sum of money, and there’s been various guesses as to how much money a talent was worth in this day, but suffice it to say, all three were given a whole lot of money. Amazing opportunities, if you can equate the talent with opportunities.
Different amounts, though all very large, are given to each servant according to their ability, and a return is expected in proportion to the sum of what was entrusted. Key point here, the point of this parable is not about earning salvation through works. The three are already included. The three already are receiving the largesse, the wealth of the master.
No, rather it’s about trusting Jesus, it’s about faith, receiving what Jesus has given, and then joining him and using those gifts to share with him in serving others. I think you have to draw those conclusions when you understand the context of what Jesus is doing and saying during this period of Holy Week leading up to the cross.
It’s significant that the two faithful servants receive identical commendations from the master even though the scale of their responsibility, and therefore their achievements, is different. Thus, we learn that what counts is a faith-filled response to whatever the master gives. So, it’s not about superiority, inferiority; it’s about the generosity of the master. So, what about this third servant? His fault is that he doesn’t recognize the master’s goodness. He doesn’t see the master as generous. So instead of responding in trust, in a response that would be appropriate to the generosity of the master, he responds with what? Fear, which is a form of unbelief.
Hoping to avoid doing anything wrong, he finishes up doing nothing. And rather than trusting the master, rather than trusting Jesus to be the generous one that he is, the fearful servant views him as a hard task master. And thus, when the master returns, he is not ready, for he does not trust, does not truly know the master. So, when Jesus says, “I never knew you,” that’s not because Jesus is stupid, it’s because there was not that relationship of reciprocal knowing.
Anthony: Yeah.
Ted: And so, again, what is the standard of judgment? What is the criterion of judgment? It is knowing Jesus, trusting Jesus, being responsive to him, sharing him, who he is, and what he’s doing.
Oh, because trust, faith is a dynamic thing. It’s not just about acquiring knowledge about Jesus. And ultimately, as we know, the faith that we have in Jesus is a faith that he has, which he shares with us. It’s all his gift And once again, judgment equals grace. Judgment comes wrapped in grace, and grace precedes accountability.
So again, the same basic criteria, but just in different stories saying the same thing. And you can imagine the disciples going like, “What?” “What’s Jesus getting at now?” And I don’t know if it took one, one month, two months, two years, or whatever for them to understand. And Jesus promised, “The Holy Spirit will teach you what I told you.” They got it. They got it.
Anthony: Yeah. They got it.
Ted: But, …
Anthony: And it …
Ted: It’s so contrary to the economy of the world.
Anthony: That’s right. That’s right. And that’s why I appreciate what you said about God’s generosity because often we’ll come to a text like this, and we’re just hoping that we’re not the, the third slave, right? That we have not been trustworthy with what we’ve been given.
Ted: Yeah.
Anthony: But it’s in knowing God. The Apostle John said as much in John 17:3, “Eternal life is this, knowing God and the one whom he sent, the Son, Jesus.” That’s where trust grows. And I also really appreciated what you said because it can seem like the master wasn’t generous with the third slave. However, as you alluded to, a talent is a significant, maybe decade’s worth of earnings.
Ted: Yeah. He was set up for life from the very beginning. Yeah.
Anthony: That’s right. So, God was just super abundantly generous in every case, and I think we cannot lose sight of that when we come to a difficult text like this.
Ted: That’s key. Yeah.
Anthony: So, the master invites the faithful servants to enter into the joy of your master. What if the heart of this parable is not simply about accomplishing more for God but again sharing in the life and joy of the Triune God? How might that change the way that we understand faithfulness, vocation, and even Christian mission?
Ted: Yeah, that is clearly being inferred here. We need to learn more about that, and actually we will learn more about it in the next passage we look at from Paul’s epistle. But fundamentally trusting Jesus is a dynamic relationship that includes our sharing in what he’s doing, our participation. And the joy we experience is our sharing in the joy of the Lord himself. As we’re told in Scripture, it was for the joy set before him that Jesus went to the cross.
Anthony: Yes, come on.
Ted: I love — there’s a book called The Joy of Jesus, which unpacks that passage in chapter after another. And we often think of Jesus being dour and down, and he had some stuff to be dour and down about, no question about it. But fundamental to the heart of Jesus is one of great joy because he sees the end. He sees the outworking of the plan that Father, Son, and Spirit have had from all eternity.
And this parable certainly is about responding to God with thankfulness and trust. But that thankfulness and that trust involves real participation. And not just hiding away the gifts that God has given, but to use those to share in what Jesus is doing. And in doing that, you’re sharing in the joy of the Lord himself.
Anthony: Amen and amen.