Dan Herold | Matthew 25:14-30 | November 20, 2016
(Sermon begins at 2:17)
Two weeks ago, we saw Jesus heal ten lepers as he began his last, long journey to Jerusalem. We saw Jesus’ uncommon mercy, which led to uncommon gratitude from one of the lepers. Last week, we followed Jesus into Jericho, his last stop before Jerusalem. In Jericho, Jesus stayed with the tax collector Zacchaeus, who showed us that gratitude leads to generosity.
Now, just a few days after Jesus visited Jericho, we find him in Jerusalem just three days before his death on the cross. He is in the temple teaching the people for the last time. And just like he often did, Jesus uses a parable—an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.
Today, as we wrap up our short look at what Jesus teaches about gratitude, we are going to look more closely at the parable he told in Jerusalem 3 days before he died for our sins. And as we do, we are going to see how thankfulness shows itself through faithfulness.
In our Gospel reading for today, Jesus told us that the kingdom of heaven is like
“a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them” (Matthew 25:14).
From the amount of money he gave his servants, it appears this was an exceptionally rich man.
A talent was about 75 pounds. That means that: to the first servant, the rich man gave roughly $1.5 million to take care of. To the next, he gave about $600,000. And finally to the third, he gave $300,000. Then he went away on his journey.
Immediately the servant who received $1.5 million put it to work. He invested it. He worked hard with it and doubled it to $3 million. The second servant took his $600,000 and also put it to work, doubling it to $1.2 million. The third, however, took his 75 pounds of silver, his $300,000; put it in a box; and buried it in the ground to keep it safe.
A long time went by. Finally the master returned from his long journey and decided to settle accounts with his servants. The first servant came forward. He gave his master the 3 million dollars and explained how he had worked hard to double his master’s money.
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’” (Matthew 25:21).
The second servant came forward. He showed his master the $600,000 he had earned for him. The master responded in exactly the same way.
“Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:23).
But then the third servant came forward. He dug up his $300,000 and gave it to his master. He then proceeded to make excuses for not having earned anything more. He blamed the master. He said that he was worried that the master would get mad if he invested it and somehow lost it.
“You wicked, lazy servant!” the master replied. “You could have at least put the money in the bank and earned some interest for me!”
Then, the master gave his $300,000 to the first servant and threw the lazy servant out into the street.
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So what’s the point of this parable? Well, the master in the story is God and we are the servants. One of the first things we learn from this parable is that God doesn’t give everyone the same gifts. There are certain things that come easily to some people while others have to work very hard to get similar results. God gives us all different gifts and different blessings.
There are people out there who seem to come by everything easily. It seems like they have everything handed to them on a platter and never have to work hard at all. There are people out there who are more naturally gifted than you or me. There are people out there who don’t work as hard as we do and yet have better paying jobs, bigger homes, and more money.
But before we complain about how unfair that is, remember that even though God gives different gifts to different people, he blesses all of us with more than we deserve. Even the servant who only got one talent still received a lot—$300,000 is not just the change you find in the couch cushions. Instead of comparing ourselves with those who have more than we do and focusing on what we don’t have—let’s remember what we do have.
Look at all the wonderful blessings God has entrusted to your care—a home and furniture, cars, your children and grandchildren, your spouse, your friends, your body, your church. They all belong to God, and yet he has entrusted those amazing treasures to you and to me. He asks us to take care of them, and the only thing he expects from us is faithfulness.
The first servant earned five talents. The second earned only two. Yet God didn’t say to the second guy, “Why didn’t you earn as much as that first guy?” No, he told him, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” Even though he didn’t earn as much as the first servant, he did his best with what God had given him.
That’s what God wants from you and me—that we recognize what he has entrusted to us and that we use those gifts to the best of our ability. Yet we don’t always do that so well, do we? Like the third servant, we are often lazy. We like to make excuses.
Think about in our lives how often we don’t do our best. Think about how, as parents, we tell our kids to go play in their room because we feel too tired to play with them. Think about all the time we waste at our jobs, standing around talking, working at only half speed. Think about school. How often did we actually study as hard as we could have? Or what about our church—How often do we try to come up with an excuse to stay home on Sunday morning? We usually don’t give God our best. We tend to make excuses like that third servant.
Thankfully, though, God gave his best for us. Even when we are not faithful, God is faithful and will forgive us. God forgives your wastefulness. God forgives your pride. It’s all been washed away forever through Jesus. God is not going to punish you. He is not going to throw you out into the darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. When your time comes, your Savior-God is going to throw open the gates to heaven and say, “Well done, good and faithful servant! . . . Come and share your master’s happiness!”
Isn’t that amazing? Even though you are unfaithful in so many ways, God is still going to say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” He is going to say that because, when he looks at you, he doesn’t see your failings and faithlessness—he only sees how Jesus faithfully served, how Jesus faithfully lived, how Jesus faithfully died in your place.
But now, having seen Jesus’ faithfulness to us, we can respond by thankfully and faithfully serving him. Do your best. Don’t lower your standards. Don’t accept mediocrity. Strive for excellence in everything you do no matter how insignificant it might seem to you. In God’s eyes nothing about any of us is insignificant. God never has to pretend to be interested in his children—he always is keenly interested in what we are doing and wants to see us use the gifts and talents he has given us.
For the last three weeks, we have talked about what it means to be thankful. Take a hard and honest look at what God has done for you. Recognize all that he has given you. See Jesus. See his forgiveness and love. See the heaven that is waiting for you. Look at your children and spouse and your whole family. Look at your friends and relatives. Look at your homes and all the things you own. Look at your church family. God has been so good to you. Give him thanks. Do that by being faithful with all which he has entrusted to you.
Amen.