Proper 28, Year A 2023: Matthew 25:14-30

  People love a good buried treasure story. Whether from following a map on an adventure or happening upon unexpected treasure in a new house, it’s exciting to find some unexpected wealth or just something cool. But no one wants to hear a story about the guy who buried the treasure - unless it’s a story about losing the map and how hard it was to then find the treasure. Someone burying treasure, or as it is called in today’s Gospel lesson talents, hanging out for a while, and then digging it up just to be back at square one is kind of lame.

So why does Jesus tell this story? To start, what is a talent? Context tells us pretty quickly it isn’t a talent show talent. We can figure out it’s some kind of money. I remember learning about this story in Sunday School and thinking of it pretty comparatively - as in 5:2:1, without really thinking about what that one was worth, just that it was clearly less than what the other two got. And in my head, I viewed it as each one of them getting a manageable amount of money. Like one got five shiny gold dollar coins, one got two, and one got one. And then the slave with one went into his backyard with a little trowel, dug a hole, plopped it in there, maybe brushed the dirt back in with his hand, put some kind of marker on it so he wouldn’t lose it, and went on his way. 10 minutes, all done.

But one talent is worth about 6000 denarii. One denarius was considered a fair day’s wage. So 6000 of those would take a laborer more than 16 years to earn if they worked seven days a week. Jews, of course, did not. At six days a week, that’s more than 19 years. So one talent is no small amount of money.

You can also see why who got more or less talents wouldn’t have been seen as an issue. No one would have seen it that way. Even the man with one talent still had a huge amount of money to deal with, as Jesus said, “according to his ability.”

More importantly, though, is that a talent isn’t a coin or a bank note. It’s a unit of weight used to measure silver and gold. I found differing estimates, as it varied across cultures and time periods. But on average, it converts to about 75 pounds. So that really ruins my story of the 10 minute job of burying this coin in the backyard. The effort this guy went to! How long would it take to dig a hole big enough to bury 75 pounds of precious metal?! Which makes Jesus’ story telling even more clever. It’s kind of funny that, upon the master’s return, he calls the slave lazy. He dug a hole big enough to bury 75 pounds - and then dug it back up again. I would not call that lazy. But then again, I’m being a little literal. Because he was being lazy. He knew that wasn’t what he was supposed to do. He clearly would have known something about finance and knew that if his boss had entrusted him with 19 years of wages it would not be proper to merely hidey hole it away. 

But fear is quite the motivator. Fear of failure, fear of not measuring up, fear of being in over your head. I see all of these in this story. Even though the master gave to each according to his ability, I have definitely had others have more confidence in me than I’ve had in myself. Maybe he felt he was in over his head. And then, if he started making comparisons, he saw that he was given markedly less than the others, so even if it was more than enough for him to handle, he still had it very subtly, yet clearly communicated that not as much was expected of him as was expected of the two who were given more - after all, the one who was given five talents was given more money than most would make in a lifetime. And fear of failure - the fear he copped to in the end, although his confession was full of excuses. That he was so afraid of attempting to work with his master’s money and losing it that he chose to do nothing with it - not even put it in the bank and have it gain a little bit of interest.

This story is, of course, a parable. Not a historical account. So, this time, Jesus isn’t really talking about money, but it’s something humans sure spend a lot of time and energy counting and obsessing over, so Jesus knew heads would turn and ears would listen to the story. In the very next chapter of Matthew, Jesus is betrayed and brought before the high priest on the way to his crucifixion. So Jesus is kind of wrapping up his teachings. Chapter 26 begins with, “When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, ‘You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.’”

The summary given through the master in Chapter 25, Verse 29, “for to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have in abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away,” seems very unlike Jesus on its face if we interpret the message to be about obsessing about getting more, as in his warning: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” But it is about giving; what am I doing with what has been given to me, regardless of the size? If my motivation is from a place of generosity and doing something with that generosity, I will be given more.  Jesus says the same thing back in Chapter 13 following his Parable of the Sower, and explains it even more clearly: “The disciples came and asked (Jesus), ‘Why do you speak in parables?’ He answered, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to 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. The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’’” (Matt 13:10-13)

So the talents are like the “secrets of the kingdom” of heaven. Even if you “only” have one, you really have a great amount of treasure but if you don’t “invest” what you have, if you don’t grow the kingdom, you’re doing it a disservice. Burying treasure in the ground, while it can make for a great adventure story, is not the best way to care for it. In the same way, keeping our faith secret is exactly what Jesus is telling us not to do. He is wrapping up his pre-Holy Week teachings and reminding us that if faith the size of mustard seed, when treated appropriately, can grow into a tremendous tree, faith the size of a talent - of 19 years of work - can become an incredible kingdom when it is treated appropriately. That our goal is not to bury our faith, only to bring it out at the End, safe and sound while having made no difference in our lives or in the world. But to show what our tremendous wealth of the kingdom of God can do. To take risks, be willing to fail, to live an unafraid faith knowing that to all those who have faith, more will be given and we will have an abundance. Amen.