2nd Last Sunday in the Church Year
November 13, 2005
Chaplain Christensen
Text: Matthew 25:14-30
The cry of children on the playground, "It's not fair!" is never far from our lips. We look with envy on the good fortune that comes to our neighbor and mumble, "It's not fair." Behind that judgment, of course, stands the assumption that God is not fair, that we deserve something more, something better than our classmate, our co-worker, or our neighbor.
The Gospel is not about fairness--it is not about our getting what we deserve. If it were, it surely would not be Gospel, good news. The Gospel is about the lavish grace of God in Christ Jesus-grace by which we are saved without any merit or worthiness on our part. Fairness would mean that we would get only the results of our sin. Fairness would mean that we get punishment rather than pardon, hell instead of heaven. God does a most "unfair" thing. He lays the punishment of our sin on the back of His Son and in exchange He lays the righteousness of His Son over our sin. If you insist on fairness from God, you demand damnation. Delete the category of "fairness" from your spiritual vocabulary.
God is the donor of all that we have. James puts it like this in his epistle: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning" (James 1:17). What do you have that you did not receive? "We brought nothing into this world and it is certain that we can carry nothing out" writes the Apostle Paul in his first letter to Timothy. All that we have is from the hand of the Father who has created us. That's what we confess in the Catechism: "I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all that I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil." Then, remember how Luther brings the Explanation of the First Article to a conclusion: "All this He does only out of fatherly, divine, goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true."
All that we have is from God. He can take no credit for the gifts that He has given us. It's all from His "fatherly, divine, goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me." And the gifts we have been given are not small or insignificant, even though we often take them for granted. God is the giver of all these gifts and as they are His gifts, He is quite free to distribute them as it pleases Him. Just as the master apportions out the varying number of talents to the different servants, so God has not given each human being the same set of abilities, skills, and circumstances. Yes, we are all equally redeemed by the blood of Christ. But that doesn't mean that we are equally endowed and equipped. Paul uses the imagery of the human body to illustrate just this point: "If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleases." In the parable, the master gives something to each of his servants. To the first, he gives five talents; to the second worker, two talents are given; while the third man receives one talent. Now it should be noted that a talent was the greatest unit of accounting in Greek money--about ten thousand denari. A single talent--the amount given to the last servant- is the equivalent of approximately a lifetime of wages for the average working person. That's no small amount of money!
The master distributes his talents to his servant and then he leaves town. When he returns, he calls in the servants to give an accounting of the money that was entrusted to them. The man with five talents brings his master ten talents. The servant who had been entrusted with two talents hands over four talents. Finally, the man who had been given one talent turns that solitary talent back over to the master. The first two servants are commended for their stewardship, while the final servant is condemned as wicked and lazy.
Commenting on this parable, Martin Franzmann says "Every gift of the Christ imposes its claim on the recipient and asks of him fidelity, whether that gift be large or small . . . The Christ measures a man not by what he has received but by his fidelity to what he has received" (Concordia Bible With Notes, 64). It is the way of faithfulness to make the most of the gifts that God has given us, to use them, invest them, and yes-even take risk with them that these gifts might bear fruit.
The one-talent man is not judged because he had only one talent but because he was unfaithful to the gift that had been entrusted to him. He took his little shovel and in his own mousy apprehension that the master was as small-minded as himself, he tucked away the talent in the ground. One writer says that "laziness, not lowliness drafted this servant's plan." So when the master returns to collect what rightfully belongs to him, this servant comes with excuses. "Lord, I knew you were a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours." This unfaithful servant comes to the master with resentment and blame. He comes with a "nothing-attempted, nothing-lost, noting-gained" attitude that is contemptible. He is judged and cast out of the master's presence.
This parable draws us back to the gifts that God has given over to our stewardship and ultimately back to the Giver Himself. The Giver is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who gave us His Son as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world and in giving us His Son, the Father gives us all things. In the gift of the Son, we know that God is not a hard man, reaping where He did not sow, and gathering where He has not scattered seed. We know that God is the author and giver of every good and perfect gift. He gives His gifts not that they might lie buried in the sand, but that they might be put to use freely and faithfully to His glory and the good of the neighbor.
God grant that through the body and blood of His Son that we might be strengthened in faith toward Him and in fervent love toward one another to so use His gifts and at the end of our days hear His words "Well done, good and faithful servant. . .enter into the joy of your Lord." Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
This sermon was adapted from a sermon by the Rev. John Pless, found in University Lutheran Chapel Sermons Archive, entitled “USE IT OR LOSE IT” Matthew 25:14-30 (Trinity IX, 1 August 1999)
Chaplain Christensen
Text: Matthew 25:14-30
The cry of children on the playground, "It's not fair!" is never far from our lips. We look with envy on the good fortune that comes to our neighbor and mumble, "It's not fair." Behind that judgment, of course, stands the assumption that God is not fair, that we deserve something more, something better than our classmate, our co-worker, or our neighbor.
The Gospel is not about fairness--it is not about our getting what we deserve. If it were, it surely would not be Gospel, good news. The Gospel is about the lavish grace of God in Christ Jesus-grace by which we are saved without any merit or worthiness on our part. Fairness would mean that we would get only the results of our sin. Fairness would mean that we get punishment rather than pardon, hell instead of heaven. God does a most "unfair" thing. He lays the punishment of our sin on the back of His Son and in exchange He lays the righteousness of His Son over our sin. If you insist on fairness from God, you demand damnation. Delete the category of "fairness" from your spiritual vocabulary.
God is the donor of all that we have. James puts it like this in his epistle: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning" (James 1:17). What do you have that you did not receive? "We brought nothing into this world and it is certain that we can carry nothing out" writes the Apostle Paul in his first letter to Timothy. All that we have is from the hand of the Father who has created us. That's what we confess in the Catechism: "I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all that I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil." Then, remember how Luther brings the Explanation of the First Article to a conclusion: "All this He does only out of fatherly, divine, goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true."
All that we have is from God. He can take no credit for the gifts that He has given us. It's all from His "fatherly, divine, goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me." And the gifts we have been given are not small or insignificant, even though we often take them for granted. God is the giver of all these gifts and as they are His gifts, He is quite free to distribute them as it pleases Him. Just as the master apportions out the varying number of talents to the different servants, so God has not given each human being the same set of abilities, skills, and circumstances. Yes, we are all equally redeemed by the blood of Christ. But that doesn't mean that we are equally endowed and equipped. Paul uses the imagery of the human body to illustrate just this point: "If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleases." In the parable, the master gives something to each of his servants. To the first, he gives five talents; to the second worker, two talents are given; while the third man receives one talent. Now it should be noted that a talent was the greatest unit of accounting in Greek money--about ten thousand denari. A single talent--the amount given to the last servant- is the equivalent of approximately a lifetime of wages for the average working person. That's no small amount of money!
The master distributes his talents to his servant and then he leaves town. When he returns, he calls in the servants to give an accounting of the money that was entrusted to them. The man with five talents brings his master ten talents. The servant who had been entrusted with two talents hands over four talents. Finally, the man who had been given one talent turns that solitary talent back over to the master. The first two servants are commended for their stewardship, while the final servant is condemned as wicked and lazy.
Commenting on this parable, Martin Franzmann says "Every gift of the Christ imposes its claim on the recipient and asks of him fidelity, whether that gift be large or small . . . The Christ measures a man not by what he has received but by his fidelity to what he has received" (Concordia Bible With Notes, 64). It is the way of faithfulness to make the most of the gifts that God has given us, to use them, invest them, and yes-even take risk with them that these gifts might bear fruit.
The one-talent man is not judged because he had only one talent but because he was unfaithful to the gift that had been entrusted to him. He took his little shovel and in his own mousy apprehension that the master was as small-minded as himself, he tucked away the talent in the ground. One writer says that "laziness, not lowliness drafted this servant's plan." So when the master returns to collect what rightfully belongs to him, this servant comes with excuses. "Lord, I knew you were a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours." This unfaithful servant comes to the master with resentment and blame. He comes with a "nothing-attempted, nothing-lost, noting-gained" attitude that is contemptible. He is judged and cast out of the master's presence.
This parable draws us back to the gifts that God has given over to our stewardship and ultimately back to the Giver Himself. The Giver is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who gave us His Son as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world and in giving us His Son, the Father gives us all things. In the gift of the Son, we know that God is not a hard man, reaping where He did not sow, and gathering where He has not scattered seed. We know that God is the author and giver of every good and perfect gift. He gives His gifts not that they might lie buried in the sand, but that they might be put to use freely and faithfully to His glory and the good of the neighbor.
God grant that through the body and blood of His Son that we might be strengthened in faith toward Him and in fervent love toward one another to so use His gifts and at the end of our days hear His words "Well done, good and faithful servant. . .enter into the joy of your Lord." Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
This sermon was adapted from a sermon by the Rev. John Pless, found in University Lutheran Chapel Sermons Archive, entitled “USE IT OR LOSE IT” Matthew 25:14-30 (Trinity IX, 1 August 1999)
posted by Luther Memorial Chapel at
11/15/2005
