Faithfully in the World

MATTHEW 25:14-30

PARABLE OF THE TALENTS

Falling right on the heels of the parable of the bridesmaids, Jesus seems to be defining what it is to be awake and alert. 

What he describes is the world as it is—rapacious business leaders haul in all they can by any means they can. Greed, desire, and self-interest rule. Two servants know this truth; one knows it, but refuses to engage in it. Two receive their reward; becoming wealthy and joining the powers that be. One is cursed and stripped of all he has. Jesus affirms that this is just the way it is.

It is a mistake, then, to read this parable as something like a stewardship sermon—which is the default interpretation. First, God has nothing to do with the businessman in the story. There are no equivalencies. Second, read closely, the two servants just join the game as it is. They double what they have. The assumption is that they did so through exactly the same means as their boss. The third does not. He does not even make the attempt to simply stick his proceeds in an interest-bearing account. He buries what he has. Third, he pays the price for his revolt.

So—what we really seem to have here is an interpretation of the final Beatitude—

Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

To live by the way of Christ is to live against the way of the world. To live against the way of the world is to invite rejection. There is a cost to discipleship.

This interpretation makes sense in the context of the parable. Being awake is knowing the world; being faithful is to care for the Least of These (parable of the sheep and goats that follows). Knowing the world means knowing the consequences of acting contrary to the world, but acting contrary to the world is the only means by which to embody the principles of the kingdom—self-emptying care for the neediest of all. 

Note that Jesus tells this parable at the end of his ministry. He knows the inevitable result of that ministry—rejection that will end in martyrdom. He teaches his disciples the truth of their discipleship—if they will be like Jesus, their end will be that of Jesus. 

The lesson for the church is to be as honest in our own offering to would-be disciples. The way of compassion is peaceful, holistic, and full, but it does mean standing against the way of the world as the world is. 

Are we willing to be that honest? Are we willing to see the kingdom for what it is? Are we willing to present the cost of discipleship alongside its benefits? Are we willing to see the Beatitudes as a process that leads to the cross? Can we see the good in that process?