Invest more in our 'meantimes' than worrying about the end times

Here we are on the second Sunday before we begin a new church year (Advent) when we’ll begin preparing for the birth of our Jesus.  Our lectionary readings today have to do with expectations as well… expectations about a coming age / the day of the Lord in a different sense – “the end times” (see also: the Parousia).  

Speaking about this, our imaginations can easily conjure images of Revelation, apocalypse, Armageddon, “Left Behind”, judgment day, etc..  Indeed, we’re hearing about a time of upheaval and godly accounting and judgment when some might be welcomed in and others might be left out or cast out.  This is part of our sacred stories and we shouldn’t just avoid these challenging passages because they make us uncomfortable.

Having said this... What if the end-of-times and judgment day isn’t what we should be focusing on here?  Remember, it has been reported that Jesus said we won’t know when these things will happen (Matt 24; Mk 13; Lk 21) and that the new ordering of things will surprise us and might not meet with conventional expectations. So, what if the Spirit is calling us to a deeper wisdom through these sometimes uncomfortable words about how we’re to live our lives in the meantime – how we’re to use what we’ve been given by God?  What if we are to hear more about ethics than eschatology?

In Zephaniah 1:7,12-18, we hear that our ultimate wealth isn’t based on possession of silver or gold (verse 18), but rather the choices we make – how and who we serve – en route to our final destination with God.  Only those people who ignore their accountability along this journey – who are complacent, presumptuous, arrogant, idolatrous, and selfish – need to fear the end of these times.

The Psalmist (90:1-12) reminds us that we’re only on this earthly journey for a limited time, that our bodies will be turned back to dust faster than we’d like to realize, and that we should seek God’s wisdom in our hearts each numbered day.

Paul reinforces these themes in his letter to believers in Thessalonia (1 Thess 5:1-11). Those who “live in Christ” need not fear the coming age (the timing of which we’ll never know – it’ll come like a “thief in the night”). We’re not to worry about the darkness or dwell there.  Instead, we’re to remain awake to the role we have as “children of light” in Christ and with faith, hope, and charitable love to “encourage one another and build up each other” (verse 11) along the journey.

And this brings us to the parable of the talents as rendered in the Gospel according to Matthew (Matt 25:14-30).  

As reminder, the stories in this book attributed to Matthew were written down after the second temple had been destroyed by the Romans, the early Jewish followers of Jesus were scattered and living under hostile scrutiny, and much of the generation of the contemporaries of Jesus has died.  Many were hoping for and anticipating the imminent return of the Christ who would redeem them and restore new order (an apocalyptic anticipation).  The author is Jewish writing to fellow Jews to convince them that Jesus is the greatest of prophets and, in fact, the messiah for which they had been waiting. It’s not surprising, therefore, that in this Gospel we hear Jesus proclaiming that there soon will be a time (after the “end of this age”) when God will re-order things in provocative, unexpected ways (ref: chapters 13, 18, and 23-25).  Jesus describes this new reign of God through a number of memorable parables that we’ve heard in the last two months, using familiar settings such as vineyards, wedding banquets, and feasts to emphasize that an things as they are will come, but more importantly for us, to illustrate how we are to relate to each other now in preparation for the new kingdom.

What we’re hearing this morning is part of what Jesus is sharing with his closest disciples right after he’s made quite a scene in the temple with his scathing critique hypocritical religious leaders (ref: chapter 23) and is now sitting on a nearby hill, looking back at the walled city of Jerusalem.  Jesus is telling his followers that soon will be the ‘end of the age’ when the old structures will be destroyed, the Son of Man will return, and there will be seemingly harsh accountings of who is seen as righteous and unrighteous by God.  Of course, the disciples want to know when all this will happen.  Jesus is clear that these things will happen sometime soon, but that the timing will be unexpected and that they should be ever ready. He tells several stories to illustrate what it means to be prepared.

This morning’s ‘parable of the talents’ the last of three parables he tells them that emphasize the need to be ever ready for the dawning of the coming new age.  This particular parable about the use of ‘talents’ particularly emphasizes stewardship, living courageously and generously beyond our fears, and cultivating ‘more’ from the seeds that we’ve been given so that we can share the abundance with our master upon his return (and with others here-n-now). 

A “talent” is a unit of measure referring to the equivalent of fifteen years of wages.  But let’s not get distracted by the particulars of how much money we’re talking about; let’s hear that the master is being incredibly generous with his slaves – essentially advancing them more than they’ll need for the time of his journey. Again, God (the master) is freely giving sustenance and means even before they’ve deserved or earned it.  So this story isn’t really about the talents, per se, is it?  It’s about the extraordinary generosity and trust of the master and the corresponding faith, hope, and action - or lack thereof - of the master’s subjects.  Let’s not be tempted too quickly into just assessing our use of financial investments as a reflection of our standing before God… although our use of material wealth is of concern, especially according to Jesus (and I’ll come back in a few minutes to some nice ways you might want to invest some of your material wealth).  We’re entrusted with “talents” (Greek: talanta) -  read: gifts, skills, abilities, aptitudes, resources - that we’re expected to use toward the building up of God’s estate / God’s kingdom.

And, let’s look at the slave who gets the most attention, albeit negative attention, from the master in this story – the one who received one talent (although less what the other slaves received, it’s still a staggering sum).  At first glance, particularly given all that has happened in our economy the last few years, we might consider this last slave as a prudent, careful, and cautious investor – opting to keep his cash in a safe-deposit box or under a mattress rather than risk it in the market.  Or, we might metaphorical extend this as maybe stay in the church building and immersed in familiar/stable traditions rather than risking evangelism and mission in a hostile and uncertain spiritual marketplace these days.  If we read closer, however, it’s clear that prudence wasn’t driving his actions (or ours sometimes), it was presumption and fear… he rationalizes his lack of action as a safe move for him and the master, but his choice really only served his self-interest, not the master’s kingdom.   

Given the master’s condemnations of this slave and the slave’s final disposition (thrown into the outer darkness where’s there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth), we can also hear that, from the master’s point of view, not to use what’s been given - to remain passive out of self-concern, to hide/store it out of fear of risk, or to justify lack of its use out of presumptive judgment/rationalization – is as offensive/sinful as being dishonest (like the unjust stewards in the vineyard) or wasteful (like the Prodigal son). Bottom-line: do not give into self-concern and fear.  Leverage what you’ve been given so that more is yielded for God and your godly family here-n-now.  “Use it or lose it”

This tale is not so much about doubling your financial investments, it’s about living and loving fully and generously and helping others do the same… making courageous and sometimes risky investments together with faith and hope.

When we play it too safe, when we comfort only ourselves with caution, we fall short of our responsibility and we risk “losing interest” in the wealth of our collective humanity.  Note that it’s only a few verses later (Matt 25: 34-46) that Jesus is explicit about the proper use of our time, talent, and treasure to feed the hungry, quench the thirsty, welcome the stranger, cloth the naked/vulnerable, and visit the sick/dis-eased and imprisoned/trapped.

CHARITABLE FINANCIAL INVESMENTS: If you want to leave here this morning with ideas about how to make godly use of some of your material wealth, you might want to consider offeringfinancial support to FiveTalents.org, a micro-finance, business and community development effort that is restoring dignity, hope, and sustenance in some of the poorest areas of our world.  

Or, if you’re moved to do something this month in honor of Thanksgiving or in prep for Advent, consider making a gift to Episcopal Relief & Development. Until Nov30, your donation to ERD will be matched dollar-for-dollar, essentially doubling your investment, just like in today’s Gospel story.  

And, of course, additional gifts to thediocesan Crossroads Campaign for the benefit of the Kansas Schoolfor Ministry are always welcomed.

Looking beyond what we do with our money, consider these two examples of how faithful servants have invested their talents and what the return on those investments has been.

ENDING SEGREGATION: On this day in 1956 (55 years ago), the Supreme Court found Alabama’s racially segregated buses to be unconstitutional, ending the “Montgomery Bus Boycott” that had lasted for nearly two years. Began on Dec 1, 1955 when Rosa Parks was arrested after she refused to give up her seat to a white person.  A year later, a federal court ruled to end segregation on Montgomery public buses.  However due to a series of appeals that kept the practice of segregation intact for nearly a year more, the boycott continued until on November 13, 1956 the Supreme Court upheld the district court's ruling.  http://www.montgomeryboycott.com/timeline_flash.htm

HONORING VETERANS:  Many of you probably recently remembers the labors of a fellow Emporian who, in 1953, initiated the movement to evolve the observances of Armistice Day toward recognizing and honoring all veterans from all wars and conflicts, which lead to the first nationwide observance of  Veteran’s Day in 1954.  In this same spirit of honoring and recognition of veterans, and still on the theme of benevolently investing our talents, Did you know that on this day in 1982 (29 years ago), the Vietnam Veterans Memorial das dedicated in Washington, D.C. to honor the nearly 60,000 who died while serving in our military forces there.  The design, chosen from over 2,500 applications, was by Maya Lin, an architecture student at Yale and daughter of Chinese refugees.  For this memorial project, “The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc. (VVMF) raised nearly $9,000,000 entirely through private contributions from corporations, foundations, unions, veterans and civic organizations and more than 275,000 individual Americans. No Federal funds were needed.” http://thewall-usa.com/information.asp 

CLOSING QUESTIONS (to prayerfully consider as we close our eyes and answer before our Master):

• What are the greatest talents you’ve been given to steward through your life (focus on just one or two)?

• Have you invested them with as much passion and courage as the Master expects?  What holds you back sometimes? (name the obstacles to God in prayer and ask for assistance overcoming them)? 

• What’s possible if we all more-faithfully invested the talents we’ve been given? (see it, say it, and ask God to help you live into it)

SUMMARY:

·         Although a thief might come in the night, we are all “children of light and children of the day” – we are to ‘keep awake’ and leverage our “breastplate of faith and love” with the “hope of salvation” (1 Thes 5:4, 6-8)

·         Entering the joy of the heavenly kingdom and banquet that is prepare for us is not about God’s judgment about the quantity of the returns on our investments, but about God’s discernment of the quality of our intentions toward God and toward our neighbors.

·         God is very generous toward us and grants us freedom to choose and act. We can squander our time and talents fearing our master, or outright ignoring our master… but much more is gained when we embrace our master’s trust and generosity and live courageously into the risks of our faith and hope with charitable love in our hearts, seeking to multiply and share the abundance that we’ve been given.

So, rather than worrying about the end times, let’s invest more of ourselves in our 'meantimes.'  Continue to ask the Holy Spirit to help you see how you ought to make the most of your God-given talents.

AMEN.