The Parable of Our Talents

Our scripture passages today represent two main posts in the story of our lives.  These two posts are wisdom, and money.  Interesting concepts to put together, but as we approach Stewardship Sunday next week, maybe there is something in these passages that will guide us toward a wise use of money as members and friends of Spring Glen Church.

Will you pray with me?  “Dear God, Sophia, wise one, holder of all wisdom: grant us wisdom about money, and help us see money through your divine eyes.  Amen.”

Wisdom.  We often speak of wisdom, but exactly what is it?  Is it a characteristic, or perhaps an application of that characteristic to life?  The dictionary definition of wisdom is deep understanding that relates to and applies perceptions, judgments and actions into our lives.  Wisdom is the application of deep understanding into our world.  True wisdom is action in the face of complexity, with wisdom seeing the world through truth that cultural or social norms may have rejected.  Using these definitions, we might think about wisdom and money in different ways in our lives.  Wise ways of thinking about using money: we all can use that!

Our Hebrew Scripture today comes from the Book of Wisdom, in some Bibles called the Wisdom of Solomon.  The first part of the book is a lively discussion about wisdom as opposed to folly, relying heavily on the Book of Proverbs for its metaphors and descriptions.   In our passage today, as in Jewish culture generally, Sophia, or wisdom personified, is described as a beautiful woman.  This description also says that wisdom may be difficult to obtain, but that she is easily recognized and self-evident.  This helps us understand a first characteristic of wisdom; self knowledge.  Wise people know themselves and their foibles well.  Only when we know ourselves can we be wise.  Think about someone you know that is wise—their self-knowledge is profound and evident, isn’t it?

Sophia here is straightforward, hastening to make herself known.  Sophia is up-front, obvious to all, and easily recognized, and these add up to the second characteristic of being wise; being sincere, open, honest and direct with others.

Finally, Sophia sits at the gate where she is publically known and sought after, demonstrating actions that are consistent with her full persona.  These are the third and fourth characteristics of wisdom: others recognize those who are wise and seek them out for advice, and a wise person’s actions are consistent with their deepest ethical beliefs.  So our passage today actually defines the classical understanding of wisdom with these four applied characteristics:
• A wise person has excellent self-knowledge
• A wise person exhibits candor, being honest and open
• A wise person is actively sought for their advice, and
• A wise person acts in concert with their deepest ethical beliefs—they talk a wise talk and walk a wise walk.

Now, using these characteristics of wisdom, let’s apply what we have learned to our Gospel lesson of Jesus’ Parable of the Talents. 

This parable presents four characters to us.  The first is a master or boss, who is described as, “a harsh man, reaping where he did not sow, and gathering where he did not scatter seed.”  What do you think about this description?  Is this a good honest boss?  Is this someone we immediately recognize as wise?  Well, greedy and successful perhaps, but not wise.  Let’s keep this in mind as we think about this parable.  Next, we have three workers, or as they are called, slaves.  The workers are given assets, each according to their ability.  What does this mean to you?  The more capable one was given more money to work with.  The least capable was given the least.  We already know who was “successful” at the beginning of the parable, but successful at what?  Who measured the worker’s ability, and with what criteria?  Since the boss gave out the money, the boss was the one who used his own definition of success to measure ability.  The boss rewarded those who acted as he did.

As the parable plays out, we find the boss’s appraisal of the worker’s abilities was, in fact, correct.  The successful or “good” workers did well, and the “bad” worker did poorly.  So, no surprise here, at least so far. 

But what is going on here?  Who acts wisely, and who acts in folly?  Who is the hero, who is the villain?  Well, let’s re-tell a modern version of this parable, and see if we can uncover a new way of looking at the Parable of the Talents.  What talents are we measuring here?

Once upon a time, a Wall Street hedge fund tycoon was leaving on an around-the-world luxury cruise, so he called in his assistant managers.  He assigned the hedge fund assets to each assistant manager according to their ability.  To one he gave 5 billion dollars, and this one doubled his money.  To another he gave 2 billion dollars, and this one doubled his money.  But one assistant only got 1 billion dollars, and instead of investing it, he buried the billion dollars in the back yard because he was afraid the market would tank and he would lose everything and the boss would throw him into prison.  And this worker said, “Mister Tycoon, you are a greedy and harsh boss. You gain huge profit from others and gather where you did not scatter by hedging derivatives.  Your dishonesty terrifies me, so I hid all of your capital in the ground because I can’t cheat everyone like you do.  Here is your money back—every penny.”  Well, the tycoon got very angry, and gave that worker’s assets to the one with 10 billion dollars, saying, “For those who are successful like me, I give them even more.  But for those who refuse to make money like I do, I take everything away.  You’re fired.  Throw this worker into the homeless darkness where he will weep and have only dirt to eat and gnash his teeth.” [pause]  In today’s language, which characters are the 1%, and which is the 99%?  Or, who is the wise one in this parable? 

Think about this parable reflected in your life for a moment.  Do you work for an economic system that gets richer as the poor get poorer?   In your life, do you live a life of self-knowledge, open and honest speech, and ethical action?  Maybe the answer to these questions will change who we begin to see as the hero in this parable. 

Applying this parable to our lives now, I want to talk candidly about wisdom and money in our context.  Next Sunday is Stewardship Sunday, and we all have some thinking and praying to do about money and church and wisdom and talents and gifts and treasures.  I have thought a great deal about my pledge to this church, this ministry, this community of faith, and I hope you have also.  And I have been thinking about this parable, and how it asks me to act wisely about money.

There are two basic ways to look at the world as far as money goes.  Our culture and society teach us that we live in a world of scarcity where there is never enough.  However, Jesus taught that we live in a world of abundance where God will meet our needs.  There is a huge jump from cultural scarcity to God’s abundance.  Our folklore talks about the glass being half-full or half-empty.  But Jesus teaches a third model, and that is that the glass holds far more than we have right now, so there must be more on the way.  This is a model of extravagant abundance.  Our God is a God of abundance, so how do we wisely live this truth into our lives?

Like many of you, I have been rich and I have been poor.  But I learned early on that poverty and wealth is more than just how much is in my wallet.  Poverty is a systemic disease, a systemic state of mind.  The tycoons at the top systemically cause poverty.  And the tycoons at the top can also cause abundance if they are not so greedy.  Many people have lost their jobs in this last recession, even if they did nothing wrong—even if they acted rightly and wisely.  This parable reflects exactly what is happening in our culture today; folks at the bottom are losing their jobs because of greed at the top.  But God’s graceful abundance teaches that if we share our abundance, that God will sustain our abundance.  God’s way is exactly opposite our culture’s way of thinking about money and abundance.  So let’s review this parable in the light of wisdom,  money and abundance.  Remember, we recognize wisdom with the action characteristics of self-awareness about money, living openly and honestly about money, sharing advice, and wise use of money that matches our deepest ethical beliefs.  So, first, we must be self-aware of money issues.  Which character is self-aware about money in the parable, and which ones were captivated by greed?  Are you self-aware of the power of money in your life?

To make wise decisions about money, we must also be open and honest.  Who was the open and honest character in the parable—who spoke truth to power?  If we are to be wise about money, we need to be open and honest about it, so let me model open and honest talk and tell you about my pledge this year.  I am going to pledge to Spring Glen Church, and my pledge will be a tithe.  I do not tell you this to say anything about what you do—that is between you and God.  But as your spiritual leader, I want to be completely open and honest talking about even difficult things, so I want you to know I will give the first 10% of what I earn back to God and this church.  I am NOT saying or even inferring that you should tithe 10%, again, that is for you, your family and God to determine.  But I hope and pray that you will openly and honestly set some specific percentage of your income aside to give to charity and the church.  We live lives of extraordinary abundance around here, and Jesus’ teachings compel us to wisely and compassionately share God’s extravagant abundance.  Share, and wisely ask yourself if you can share a bit more this year to reflect your deepest ethical and spiritual passions.

Finally, a wise person’s actions match their deepest ethical beliefs.  The parable character that wisely lived his deepest faith into his world unfortunately lost his job, but even so, his actions directly reflected his wisdom and ethics.  Wise people live their wisdom into the world.  I invite you to live your passion about this church of God’s people by wisely pledging to our church.  Our pledges reflect who we are and whose we are.  Our pledges say we are interested in going fishing around here, and not just going fishing, but helping others to go fishing.  Join me in living a life where our actions wisely reflect our deepest spiritual and ethical passions.

So, as you re-tell the Parable of the Talents in your life, which character are you?  Are you willing to sacrifice something to live your ethical and spiritual passions fully into your life?  I ask God to grant us all wisdom about money as we consider and pray about our pledge to Spring Glen Church.  Amen.