“Burying as Resistance”
Rev. Betsey Moe
19 November 2023
St. Alban Episcopal
Mission, Antigua Guatemala
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 ability. Then he went away. At
once 16 the one who had received the five talents went off and traded
with them and made five more talents. 17 In the same way, the one who
had the two talents made two more talents. 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.’ 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.’ 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.’
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, 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.’
What are you doing
with your life?
No, seriously, what
ARE you doing with your life? Do you dislike that question as much as I do? I
know I am not supposed to compare, but it always feels like the people around
me are doing so much more than I am. Many ex-pats are ambitious, starting organic
farms and theater companies and female-run coffee roasting businesses. My
Guatemalan colleagues give 150% to what they do, travelling to remote areas of
the country to accompany and empower community leaders.
If that’s not bad
enough, I just found out this week that my friend’s 17-year-old daughter had
her first book-signing.
What are you doing
with YOUR life?
This is the question I
ask myself whenever I read this parable. What am I doing with my life? Am I
doing enough? Is what I’m doing the best thing I could be doing with my time,
with my particular gifts? Because apparently, if I don’t do enough with my life
and bury my talents, I risk being thrown into the outer darkness where there is
weeping and gnashing of teeth.
What is this parable
about? I know Jesus said the way is narrow, but whatever happened to grace
through faith and not works? If this story is gospel, why do I feel so anxious
when reading it?
There are a few clues
in this parable that invite us to consider that it may not be as
straightforward a moral tale as it seems at first glance.
First, the whole
premise of leaving these huge sums of money in the hands of servants, expecting
them to invest, sounds a lot like the corrupt dealings of the wealthy in the
Roman empire. In Exodus, God’s people were told not to take part in activities
in which interest was charged, most likely because it involved taking advantage
of desperate people who needed loans. “You shall not exact interest when
lending my people money” (Ex. 22:25). The investing of money was considered
“dirty,” which is the likely reason this master gave that investment
responsibility to these three servants. What’s more, the master is known as a
“harsh man who reaps where he does not sow.” It’s difficult to imagine God or
Jesus as a master like this – a harsh man who passes on his dirty work to his
servants.
The second detail that
seems a little off in this parable as straight allegory is that the third
servant is the fail, the one we are NOT supposed to be like. And that’s strange
because in story-telling of the time, if there is a series of examples given,
the last example is the one we are supposed to imitate. The Sower, for
instance, sows seed that first lands on hard ground – not good, then on rocky
ground – not good, then among thorns – not good. But then, it lands on good
soil. Ahh! A man is attacked by robbers. First, a priest passes by – not good.
Then, a Levite passes by – not good. But then, a Samaritan comes and stops and
takes care of the man. Ahh! So maybe we should pay more attention to this third
servant and to his actions, even though he is punished in the story, because we
should expect him to be the hero.
The other detail that
calls a “traditional” reading of the parable into question is the moral of the
story given by the master: “To all who have, more will be given, and from those
who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.” This lesson sounds
like a saying describing the empire, not a truism about the kingdom of God.
Jesus has said in his sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit
the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they
will be filled” (5:3-5).
It seems to me that
this parable, which, by the way, does not make any claims to be describing the
kingdom of heaven, is a description of the corrupt ways of the empire, where
the poor have to do the dirty work of the wealthy, where the rich get richer
and the poor are cheated out of what little they have. It seems to me that the
third servant is the hero here, refusing to participate in the corrupt
investment system of the empire, even though it meant risking his own
well-being. He buried his talent as a form of resistance.
The parable of the
talents is not a warning to us that we better DO SOMETHING worthy with our
lives or be rejected by God. No, God’s love isn’t like that. It’s bigger than
that. God loves the world so much God has determined to defeat the powers of
evil and to partner with us, meek and fearful as we may be, to do so. The
parable describes how living in
partnership with Jesus Christ often means going against the flow, NOT signing
over your life to the frantic, corrupt, consumer-based systems of this world,
and that resisting the system is not going to be easy. Really, Jesus is
repeating in story form what he just told them outright in chapter 24 about the
consequences of being a disciples in this empire: “Then they will hand you over
to be tortured and will put you to death” (v. 9).
Acting faithfully in a
corrupt context is so hard because we are a part of the system! Resisting
requires more courage and determination and self-sacrifice than any one of us
has on our own. But here is the good news of the gospel; this is how much God
loves us and the whole world: Jesus Christ himself was this third servant. He
refused to participate in a system that preyed on the poor and the vulnerable.
And for the sake of this corrupt, upside-down, hurting world, he was thrown
into the outer darkness, and what little he had was taken away from him.
But that was not the
end of Jesus’ story. He rose out of the darkness, having defeated the powers of
death. And he came and appeared to his disciples. At the Great Commission at
the end of Matthew, he wrapped his disciples up in his mission of redeeming this
corrupt world of which they were a
part, promising that he would be with them “to the end of the age.”
Brothers and sisters, we
now have the Spirit of Christ with us and are invited to join our lives with
the third servant, refusing to collude with the powers of this world – knowing
that they will not win in the end.
What are you DOING
with your life? If someone asks you that, if you ask yourself that, may you
respond with, “I’m joining my life to One who has the power to redeem.”
Image: https://www.knowableword.com/2018/04/13/context-matters-the-parable-of-the-talents/
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