Don’t you think it’s a little odd that only one slave seems to be worried about the master’s reaction? If he were so harsh and unjust, shouldn’t they all be concerned?
All three are given large amounts of money, after all…much larger than slaves would usually be entrusted with. In Jesus’ day, a talent was worth 6,000 denarii throughout Greece, Rome, and the Middle East. Since a denarii was considered a day’s wage…6,000 denarii would be enough to support a family for approximately 16 and a half years…or roughly, around a million dollars.
So in this story, these slaves are entrusted with 5 million, 2 million, and 1 million dollars, respectively. But it seems the slaves who are given 5 million and 2 million don’t have any apprehension about their master or consequences they might face if things go badly…and as we all know, in the world of business, investing and trading …things can go badly at times. But they are not worried at all. They set out confidently and put the money to work. These two trust that their master understands the risks, they trust that he is just and forgiving…and they do their best with what they’ve been given.
But the third slave sees the master quite differently. He believes his master is harsh and cruel, vengeful and ultimately unfair…reaping where he has not sown, and so on. He is afraid of him and suspicious…and so he does absolutely nothing with the huge amount of wealth he is given. He buries it…and digs it up again, untouched.
Traditionally, people have seen this parable as simply about how we use our skills and abilities…whether or not we put them to good use. .in fact, we call those gifts “talents” now because of this parable. But what if this parable Jesus tells isn’t so much about what we do with our gifts….but how we perceive the one who gave them to us?
Given all that we have — our lives, our abilities, this amazing world and it’s infinite possibilities and the vast diversity of people that populate it…what do we believe about the God who created it all? Do we view God with distrust…with fear and suspicion? Do we think that God made us who we are…with all our various weaknesses and failings, and then is just sitting around waiting for us to fail so he can cast us into the outer darkness? Do we think God is vastly unfair…expecting us to be more than we are? Or do we resent God for creating a world we see only as ugly and filled with violence and tragedy…and leaving us on our own like some absent landowner?
That is the view of the third slave after all. And we see it all too often in our faith communities. The idea that God is some unjust judge….who tallies our failings and watches for our missteps so he can yell “Gotcha!”. The belief that the world is evil and we are surrounded by enemies. And those people live in fear…mistrusting the goodness of God…the goodness of God’s creation…the goodness of God’s people. Afraid of being “corrupted”… they hide away from the world…keeping themselves “pure”. Incurring no losses…but also no gains.
Perhaps, in this parable, Jesus is inviting us to see God differently. To trust God’s goodness. To see beauty and gift and wonder in the world and in others. To believe that God is gracious and understanding…that God believes in us and loves us….even during the times it feels to us like God is absent….like the landlord. Perhaps Jesus is inviting us to live with confidence and gratitude like the first two slaves …instead of fear and suspicion like the third.
There’s a scene at the end of C. S. Lewis’s “Chronicles of Narnia” where Aslan the Lion takes Lucy, Edmund, Peter and everyone to the New Narnia– basically, “heaven” or the “kingdom of God”. They get there and are blown away by its astonishing light and beauty. The New Narnia is a place where every blade of grass seems to mean more and where every creature sings for the sheer joy of the Creator. It is a place where everything is just so real in depth and color that the mere sight of a daisy takes your breath away and makes you weep for the sheer beauty of the thing.
But then, in the midst of all this splendor, the children see a group of dwarves huddled together, convinced that they are in a filthy stable –a place so dark that they cannot see their hands in front of their faces. Lucy is so upset that the dwarves are not enjoying the New Narnia that she begs Aslan to help them to see. Aslan replies, “Dearest Lucy, I will show you what I can do and what I cannot do.” Aslan then shakes his golden mane and a sumptuous banquet instantly appears in front of the dwarves. Each dwarf is given a plate heaped with juicy meats, glistening vegetables, plump grains of rice. Each also receives a goblet brimming with the finest wine anyone could ever imagine.
But when the dwarves dive in and begin eating, they start gagging and complaining.
“Doesn’t this beat all,” they lament. “Not only are we in this stinking stable but now we’ve got to eat hay and dried cow dung as well!” When they sip the wine, they sputter, “And look at this now! Dirty water out of a donkey’s trough!” The dwarves, Aslan goes on to say, had chosen suspicion instead of trust and love. They were prisoners of their own minds. They could not see Aslan’s gift of the New Narnia for they would not see it. Aslan can but leave them alone to the hell of their own devising.
I wonder if this isn’t the third slave’s problem. Like the dwarves, we all can become prisoners of our own minds…overcome by fear and suspicion and insinuations and hateful words. We see it happening all around us, don’t we? People who have become locked in a way of thinking that prevents them from living their lives with kindness and joy and love for others. People who see nothing beautiful in others…who choose to see filth and speak filth treat others as filth. All they see is darkness..they can’t see the grace right in front of them.
But God wants all God’s children to see the world as God sees it. To see the beauty around us…and to trust God’s goodness…God’s amazing grace. To trust God understands the risks of living in this world — sometimes there are great benefits…sometimes losses. To trust God understands what it is to be human — sometimes we do well. Sometimes…no so much. But God’s grace has no end. God’s love is abundant. In good times and bad. Whatever may come. God is good.
And when we trust that…when we believe that God is good…that is when we experience the beauty of God’s kingdom. Joy and hope..even in the face of all that is wrong in the world. Forgiveness and peace…even in the midst of our tears. Yes, faith in God’s goodness transforms us, just as surely as fear imprisons us in the darkness.
I’ve never liked the end of this parable…because it seems that it proves the third slave was right all along. The master is harsh and unforgiving. But yet, haven’t you seen that to be true for people without faith? When all they expect is bad news and hopelessness…they will see it everywhere. Like the dwarves, they are blind to grace…even when they are given grace in abundance.
Yes, when I understand this parable as Jesus’ invitation to live in faith…it makes more sense. Jesus wants us to change our vision…to see God’s goodness. To live, not with fear and suspicion like the first slave…but with confidence and gratitude. For we all belong to God. And we have all been entrusted with this precious gift of life. May we trust that God has not abandoned us…or this world. But is indeed, with us. May we trust that God has us and holds us and never lets us go. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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