Today’s epistle reminds us “…the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” In 1 Thessalonians we are told to put on the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of salvation and hope so that all will go well for us when the Lord returns. In our gospel lesson when describing the kingdom of heaven, “Jesus said, ‘For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.” In each reading we must reckon with the notion that we do not know when the Lord will return.
In the gospel this was the case with the three slaves entrusted with money to invest for their master. And speaking of the slaves have you wondered why the Lord left only one talent to the wicked slave? I have. However in preparation for this lesson I came to realize one talent was equivalent to fifteen years of one’s wages. For me this realization shed new light on the slave’s dilemma. Now let us suppose each slave made $30,000 a year. That would mean the slave with one talent was entrusted with $450,000 or almost half a million dollars, an amount he or she would never have to invest under normal circumstances. For the sake of argument let us suppose the times were similar to today’s economy; his master will return like a “thief in the night”; and that the master was something of a Scrooge taking advantage of others, thinking only of personal gain and never of the wrong he did to others in the pursuit of lining his own pockets or stroking his ego.
Given these circumstances if a man ever needed friends, this slave did. But from the lesson we can assume none of his friends gave him good advice. Or they did and he was too afraid to take advantage of sound wisdom. Perhaps one friend reinforced his fear by admonishing him not to lose a penny. Another friend may have sought personal gain and alerted local businessmen to watch out for this inexperienced investor. We don’t know the pressures surrounding this particular slave but we do know he was paralyzed by fear.
Our Old Testament lesson this morning is from Judges, a time before the Israelites had kings and the only recorded time when a woman judged God’s people. We know the evil slave lived in the days of Jesus. So we know this salve could not seek the advice of a prophetess like Deborah who was in touch with God, a woman who could establish a winning strategy by calling on general Barak. A general, whose name meant blessing.
No these were the days when investors examined stock options like a blind man feeling his way through familiar terrain after a tornado hit. Times not unlike our own. From the gospel we learn that while the wicked slave was too frightened to research a good investment, another slave turned $2,250,000 into $11,250,000 and still another slave turned $900,000 into $1,800,000, but the wicked slave terrified and afraid buried his master’s money.
We live in uncertain economic times in a very rich country with potential all around us to make good investments. And some of us may even be financial investors who are trusted with large sums of other people’s money. But what do we do with our very own money? The money God has given us through employment, heritance or good fortune?
Each of us is entrusted with an income we are asked to invest in the work of the Lord. And like the slaves in the gospel message we are all asked to multiply our investment. The scriptures tell us to give and it shall be given unto us good measure shaken together and running over. To obtain more than we can consume, we are asked to give 10 percent of what we are entrusted back to the Lord. And just as in the case of the talents given to the three slaves, we too are given different amounts. One is entrusted with a six-figure salary each year, another with $70,000 a year and another with $30,000. But unlike the slaves we are also provided with a kind shepherd, who encourages us to build up one another in faith and love, and to put on the helmet of hope and salvation. Our good shepherd also admonishes us to encourage each other to use our talents wisely.
We pray for one another and we rise up in the face of social injustice, but do we pray to use our talents wisely? Information technology is the talk of the town. We own iPhones, blackberries, laptop computers, and digital cameras and hybrids cars, all of them good and useful things. In the case of hybrid cars we help our planet. We take cruises, flights abroad and shop at Macys. Some of us are workaholics and others are “hard pressed” not to use sick leave or vacation time, each and every month. But whatever our situation we are all entrusted with a specified amount of money and told not to mussel the ox that feeds us. We are asked to faithfully pay our tithes each pay period and told not to worry about bills or obligations such as saving for retirement or assisting family members.
But what in fact do we do? Are we petrified each pay period? Do we write a check for every bill, take out personal expenses and then pay 10 percent of what is left? Have we ever boldly pledged 10 percent of what we are entrusted? Are we like the evil slave too afraid to invest for our Lord? Are our hearts filled with faith and love? Do we believe God will meet our every need and the needs of our loved ones as we entrust His ten percent back to Him? Or do we keep up with the Jones? Are we the wicked and fearful slave, who buries his talent? Are we afraid God will desert us in a time of need? Are we afraid of saying “NO” to a loved one? Do we trust God when He says give and it shall be given unto you pressed down shaken together and running over?
As the psalmist wrote “… teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.” And may the glory of the Lord our God be upon us. Amen.