First Presbyterian Church
Eyes and Talents
Sermon for November 13, 2005
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Our first reading is found on page 572. Listen for the word of God as we read it together in Psalm 123.

1 <A Song of Ascents.> To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!

2 As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, until he has mercy upon us.

3 Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt.

4 Our soul has had more than its fill of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.

This ends our reading of the psalms. Our gospel reading, found on page 28 follows the story of the wise bridesmaids who are prepared for the bridegroom's entrance, and go the wedding, while the foolish bridesmaids miss out. In the previous parable of the master and the wicked servant, the master is compared to God, and the servant likened to sinful humans. The message of these two stories is “Be wise! Be ready! Be prepared. You don't know when the final celebration comes, so be ready all the time.”

Today we're going to read the familiar but confusing parable of the talents. Usually it gets interpreted as “use your talents, or God will take them or you away.” But that message doesn't take into account all the disturbing features of the story. So I have a different interpretation to offer today. 1 Mark will be interpreting it as we go.

You'll notice at the beginning, Jesus does not start out saying, as he has done so often in Matthew, “The kingdom of heaven is like,” or “the kingdom of heaven may be compared to...” The story is about a wealthy man distributing eight talents to his managers. A talent is fifteen years worth of income. Figuring on minimum wage at 6 days a week, it's roughly equivalent to a little over a quarter of a million dollars. So the man is unloading over two million dollars to his slaves. Even though they are slaves, they have tremendous responsibility and power. In those days, the rich elite in Palestine were acquiring as much land as possible by foreclosing on peasants as often as possible. Then the new landowners could convert land from subsistence farming to cash crops. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Matthew 25:14-30.

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 power. Then he went away.

16 The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents.

Probably a little insider trading, or maybe some drug dealing. That's the fastest way to make a killing.

17 In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents.

So he only made a half a million dollars. He still knew how to exploit his resources.

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.'

He doubled his money at once, but his master came back after a long time; no doubt he had plenty of time to double that money and make plenty of profit for himself. Maybe I should ask him for a little incentive to keep the whole thing quiet.

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.'

Only the master would call five talents, or $2.6 million “a few things.”

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.'

Not even I would call two talents, or a just a million bucks, “a few things.”

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 seed; 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.'

This ends our gospel reading.

So we have the third slave, accustomed to the luxuries of being part of such a fabulously wealthy household, thrown out to the outer darkness, where people's teeth chatter as they shiver in the cold. It is the third slave who is the hero of the story, who exposed the master as someone who profited from other peoples' work. But he was not a shrewd man. He didn't make any arrangements for his own well-being.

Do you think his fellow residents in the outer darkness are going to say to him, “Thanks, you sure told off ‘The Man.' Come on in, you can share our fire.” Or will they dismiss him as getting what he deserved after riding the gravy train of ‘The Man' for so long?

It's hard to be a whistleblower. Not too many people thank you. You lose your job, your colleagues, and your status. No one trusts you.

Just after this parable, it says when the son of man comes, the king will invite the blessed who aided him to inherit the kingdom. The righteous ask the king “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?”

And the king said, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

So the whistleblower in the outer darkness just might have a chance if the righteous are ready and prepared to offer kindness and hospitality to whoever needs it.

Paul too speaks of being ready and prepared as he responds to their concerns about the end times, the coming of Christ, the day of the Lord, the judgment. Our epistle reading is on page 203. He has just told the Thessalonians not to worry about their friends and family members who have died; they too will be with God. Christians need not grieve as others do who have no hope. Listen for the word of God as it is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11.

5:1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you.

2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

3 When they say, "There is peace and security,"then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!

4 But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief;

5 for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.

6 So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober;

7 for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night.

8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober [already having] put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

9 For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.

11 Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.

This ends our reading of God's word.

Anthem “I want to be ready”

Labor pains do come on suddenly. Nowadays, we have a variety of medications to use to help with pain during labor, to slow or speed up labor, but in biblical times, they didn't. Once labor began there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. And Paul is saying that the peace and security of the Roman empire is not going to last forever; their power will be destroyed as surely as a woman in labor will give birth. Even so, labor pains do not come on with no warning ahead of time. A woman has nine months to notice what's going on with her body. The Romans had plenty of time to notice the dissent and unease in their empire. They chose to continue their violent ways.

Paul was letting the Christians in Thessalonica know that they don't have anything to hide. They are armored with faith and love, and the hope of salvation. They can encourage and build up one another, unafraid, no matter what comes, knowing they are alive in Christ.

When we have a strong sense of what is right, it holds us in good stead. When we know we are following Christ, seeking the truth, it gives us energy for even troubled times. The most productive committees I've served on have been filled with secure people unconcerned with appearances or reputations or wealth; they just want to finish their task well. When we are confident in our faith, when we know God loves us, we don't have to prove we are better, stronger, or smarter than our colleagues; we can just work together.

We turn our eyes to God, looking for cues and clues on what to do. Even when that truth is difficult or dangerous. Paul wrote of protecting ourselves with breastplates and helmets. In biblical times, breastplate armor was probably made up of metal and leather. Today, bullet-proof vests are made up of material like thermoplastic elastomers, commonly known as zylon, which protect better than leather and metal. Most of the time.

In 1998, the Japanese company that made zylon warned its customers that zylon's protective properties didn't last as long as expected. In 2001, the chief researcher at an American body armor company did his own tests and found that zylon degraded quickly after exposure to light, heat and moisture. So researcher Aaron Westrick urged the company president to “immediately notify our customers of the degradation problems,” let those with pending orders cancel them and cease all executive bonuses to save money so the company could pay for a replacement initiative. “Lives and our credibility are at stake… We will only prevail if we do the right things and not hesitate. This issue should not be hidden for obvious safety issues and because of future litigation.”

He was fired.

In summer 2002, company executives prepared a memo for their board of directors recommending two options. “Solution 1: We continue to operate as though nothing is wrong until one of our customers is killed or wounded or Germany, Japan, Dupont or some other entity exposes the Zylon problem.” The memo warned an officer wearing one of the vests might be killed. “In the eyes of law enforcement, we will either be stupid for not knowing or greedy and uncaring for knowing and not doing anything about it.”

The second option recommended the company publish an ad denouncing the vests and decline to make them unless customers knew of the problem and still wanted them.

The executives chose solution one. In addition, they arranged for the company that made zylon to reimburse them, promising to use the money to fix vests already sold in the United States. Instead, they just took the money.

“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.”

If this was a parable, it would end here. Those of us in middle management or on corporate boards might shake our heads at injustice, and perhaps wonder if the whistleblower really knew what he was talking about. Surely, corporate boards aren't that greedy. No right-thinking American citizen would endanger people's lives this way. Those of us who are struggling economically might agree with Jesus that the world is this way. Greed and evil thrive. Why fight it? Turn cynical, and take care of your own.

But it isn't a parable, it's a news story that came out last September. Government law enforcement agencies continued to buy the bullet-proof vests. The Secret Service bought them for the president and his security detail.

In 2003, one police officer was killed and one seriously wounded while wearing the vests. 2 Finally, the company warned its customers. Now, the company is in bankruptcy and faces federal charges of endangering lives. A grand jury verified Aaron Westrick's story.

I don't know if justice will be served or not. I hope so. But we can't put all our faith and hope in government, not even in the justice department. We can't put our faith and hope in finances, especially not in quick returns for little effort. We can put our faith and hope in God, and so be ready for whatever comes. As the choir sang this morning, we want to be ready, and God can use that willingness to begin to bring about the realm of God. Being ready means caring for others, even when it costs us something. Care for others is always in season.

1 I am indebted to William Herzog's discussion of this parable in chapter 9 of his book Parables as Subversive Speech, and to Doug Adams' discussion in chapter 4 of The Prostitute in the Family Tree.

2 Solomon, John. “Maker of Bulletproof Vest May Face Charges,” Sept. 26, 2005, Associated Press.