There is an argument in the church
that is probably as old as the church. It is an argument about grace and works.
We say that we are saved by the grace
of God. And we say that faith in this grace is all we need. We don’t have to do
anything to deserve God’s love and God’s saving grace. But, on the other hand,
we have a lot of rules, a lot of expectations about how we should live and be
in the world.
We say that when we are living a life
of faith we will receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit and we will begin to see
the fruits of the Spirit in our lives. We say that God’s grace enables us to
live such lives and bear such fruit. To
become the kind of person about whom the master might say, “Well done, good and
trustworthy servant. Come, enter into the joy of your master.”
The problem is that we tend to get
confused about it all. We become very concerned about whether or not we are
worthy of God’s grace. And once that has happened, once we have put the
proverbial cart before the horse, we have really forgotten all about God’s
grace.
And the big problem there is that when
we have forgotten about God’s grace, there is absolutely no joy of the master
to even consider entering into. That’s a problem. And that was the problem of
the one-talent slave.
When summoned, this man came forward
and said, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you
did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter
seed; so I was afraid.” There was no joy there for this slave.
This
parable comes in the middle of a set of three parables in which Jesus is
painting a picture for his disciples of what the kingdom of God is like.
In this set of three parables, he is
saying that somehow, someway, some people will see the kingdom and others won’t
see the kingdom.
He says in the first parable, it is
like ten bridesmaids, waiting for the groom. Five of them are wise, but the
other five are foolish and they miss their opportunity to enter the wedding
banquet. Then in this parable, he says it is like a master who is preparing to
go on a long journey and he summons his slaves to him. He has decided to
entrust the management of his property to these slaves, so he distributes his
funds among them, to each according to his ability.
The master apparently thought the
first slave had great ability. He gave him five talents. The second slave fell
short of great, and he gave him only two talents. And the third slave, who is
just so-so, received a paltry one talent.
But hold on – let’s consider the kind
of money we are talking about here. A talent was a unit of currency, the
equivalent of 6,000 denarii. A single denarius was the usual daily wage for a
laborer. So get out your calculator and see that one talent is the equivalent
of about 16.5 years of labor – that is, if you worked seven days a week, 52
weeks a year.
The low guy on this totem pole
received what might possibly be a lifetime’s worth of wages. The next guy got
two of those and the best guy got five. Literally, he was handed five times as
much money as he could expect to earn over his adult life.
Granted, this wasn’t a gift. The
master handed over these sums to his slaves as a trust. The master was
expecting his slaves to steward these
funds – that is to say, make good use of them, manage them responsibly, while
the master was gone.
The first slave went to work and
turned five talents into ten talents, by trading wisely. The second slave did
just as well with the amount he was given, doubling his money. When the master
returned, they proudly handed over these very impressive gains.
But the third slave was different. He
took that single talent and he buried it in the ground. He thought that was the
safe thing to do. His master said that was wicked. It was also driven by fear.
His fear prevented him from seeing the
possible.
When the church has this argument
about grace and good works, when we get confused about which comes first – the
grace or the works – we have this phrase: works righteousness, the idea that we
gain our righteousness by our good works. And it is easy to think this parable
of the talents is all about works righteousness. But it’s not about that. what
it’s really about is Christian living, which involves taking risks.
The master handed over an unimaginable
sum of money to his slaves, and this slave who received one talent – a whole
talent – sees it only as a burden. We might see the giving of these talents as
an act of divine grace. But this one-talent slave missed that completely. He
sees no grace; no possibility, no hope, no joy at all. And why would he take a
risk in those circumstances?
It is tragic that he missed out on the
wonderful opportunity that the first two slaves seized – the opportunity to
take what they were given, take the risk required to make something amazing
from it, and ultimately to enter into the joy of their master.
But to get there, the risk was
absolutely necessary. Let’s take a moment to talk about why.
So many things in this world are
viewed through the framework of transaction – like, you be nice to me and I’ll
be nice to you in return. Transactional
thinking is so deeply ingrained in us that we have a very hard time imagining
God’s grace. Because grace is the opposite of a transaction – it is a gift.
So why, then, you might ask, is something
expected of us in return? Whether you call it works righteousness or
Christian living, you’re saying I have to give something back, right?
The answer to that is that the
relationship we enter into with God is something altogether different.
Imagine this: the grace of God is
poured out on the world like a river that flows all around. This river and all
its rills and gullies and streams are all around us and we have the option –
the invitation – to jump right into it, to flow along in it, to become a part
of it. God’s river of grace.
We might read the grand story of the
scriptures as something just like this. From beginning to end, it is a story
about God – God’s creative acts and God’s amazing grace. Throughout the story
we see different characters enter in, becoming a part of the story. It is as if
they jump into the river of God’s grace and flow along for a while, doing the
work of God for a period of time, then making way for others.
But in that same grand story we also
see examples of characters who are at odds with God. Those who seem to resist
the river of grace, never jumping in. Never becoming a part of it.
It’s as though some people can’t see
the river. They might see only a dry wadi, with nothing of life in it.
Certainly not something you would jump into.
Here is the nub: You won’t take a risk
if you see no possible gain, no joy. You won’t take a risk if you haven’t
already felt the grace penetrate your skin like drops of healing water.
But if you have felt that, then you
know that the best life is there waiting for you, all the joy, on the other
side of risk.
Come in; the water is fine.
Photo Credit: Efe Kurnaz (@efekurnaz) | Unsplash Photo Community
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