Matthew 25: 14-30
In today's Scripture lesson, Jesus tells the parable of a wealthy man who abruptly goes on a journey, and before embarking on his trip he distributes his property among his servants. To one he gives — in modern, pre-inflation dollars —$1,000,000, to another, $400,000, and to a third, a mere $200,000.
The lesson unfolds with Jesus telling us that the one with a million invests his million and makes another million. The one with $400,000 turns it into $800,000. But the servant with $200,000 digs a hole in the back yard, stashes the cash in a coffee can, and waits.
At first glance it would seem that this third guy is so risk-adverse, that he is so afraid that he will lose the cash, he is so afraid of the consequences of losing, and is so afraid of the master's reaction if he does lose, he simply hangs on.
To be honest my first reaction is perhaps one that you may have. This third got the cash, but he limited his options. He limited the possibilities. Therefore Jesus is telling us in this parable for all of us to hurriedly get on the bus or into our cars or trucks and head off to the nearest office of Edward Jones or Morgan Stanley or Goldman Sachs investment firms.
But if you think about this scripture lesson as simply a reminder to invest what we have, then these words would hardly be good news for some of us who can barely keep up with our bills.
So, looking a little deeper at the parable, what was it that kept the one servant from producing more talents for his master? May be it is the third servants' fear, where as the others are confident. This third servant was afraid of his master and so he did nothing with what had been given him. He was more afraid than confident and only gave back the bare minimum to the one that gave him the talent in the first place.
But, to be honest with you, getting over our fears does not necessarily mean we have more confidence. Fear or getting over our fears fails to deliver long-term motivation. Perhaps that is one of many reasons why Jesus from my perspective actively avoids painting more images of angry God. Jesus may have recognized that fear or getting over fear is like a wild-fire --- once a small flame ignites, it's pretty hard to contain and difficult to direct.
There is a third possibility about this third servant and his reaction to the master. I found it in a story told in a sermon by Frederick Buechner. (Link) Pastor Buechner, a Presbyterian minister and writer, had an insight that may be helpful to us.
During a lecture at a conference Pastor Buechner shared a story from his childhood. It took place in the 1930's during the Depression when there wasn't much money; although there was prohibition there was an awful lot of drinking going on in the world and in his family. Pastor Buechner shared that one night his father had come back from somewhere. He had obviously had too much to drink. Pastor Buechner related how his mother did not want his father to take the car in his drunken condition so she gave the keys to then ten year old Frederick. When she gave the keys she also said "Don't let you father have these."
Frederick who at this time was in bed took the car keys and hid them in his fist under the pillow. His father however, came and somehow knew that young Frederick had the keys and said, "Give them to me. I have got to have them. I have got to go some place." Buechner related later how he didn't know what to say, what to be or how to react. He was frightened, sad and all the rest of it. As he lay there and listened to his father, drunkenly pleading, "Give me the keys," Frederick pulled the covers over his head and then finally, went to sleep with his father's voice in his ears and the keys firmly in his fist under the pillow.
After he told that story in his larger lecture, a participant came up afterward and said, "You have had a fair amount of pain in your life, like everybody else. You have been a good steward of it." That phrase caught Pastor Buechner off guard and it should us as well: "a good steward" of pain.
There are many alternatives we can do with pain. The most tempting is to forget it, to hide it, to cover it over, to pretend it never happened, because it is too hard to deal with. Pain is too unsettling to remember. Another alternative is to take our pain and live in a world of fantasy, a world that helps us escape because reality only brings us more pain. Or we can deal with pain as a conspiracy of family. Let us agree not to talk about things that cause pain. We cannot trust the world with those secrets. They are family secrets to keep hidden. Let the pain die with each generation.
Of course another alternative is to use our pain to win sympathy. We have a sob story that we can tell hoping that people will sob with us. We may even embellish what actually happened to our advantage or to one up the other person with a painful story. We also can also use our pain as an excuse; "If only I had gotten the breaks; if only those bad things hadn't happened, who knows where I might have been today."
Another temptation with pain is to allow pain to leave us embittered and trapped by it. The classic example of that is the tragic character of Miss Haversham in Charles Dickens's wonderful novel, Great Expectations. She was deserted by her bridegroom on her wedding day. He never showed up. After that painful event she sat for the rest of her life sitting in the room where the reception was to have been, her wedding cake slowly dissolving into mold, her dress turning to rags, imprisoned in sadness that she simply never could escape. All of these are options of dealing with pain.
But instead we can be "good stewards" of pain, take it and grow from it, use it to grow as disciples. Let us return to the third man in our parable, perhaps that one-talent man buried the richest treasure he had, not just the pain, but the most alive part of himself, buried it all in the ground. This third servant was never able to become who he might have been. If we see the parable this way it can explain the outer darkness the Master casts him into. The outer darkness is not as a punishment, as it is the inevitable consequence of what it means to bury ourselves. If we bury life --- like pain --- we never leave. Not only do we never really meet other people who are alive, we are alone; we are in the dark. If life is buried, if the pain for example is somehow covered over and forgotten, instead of growing, we shrink.
The other two servants are the ones who came back with more than they started out with. As the parable says, "they traded" or "put money to work." Those words from the parable are not an advertisement for Bank of America; rather it means that the other two "traded" with their lives. We were made to be life traders, because I have what you need, which is me, and you have what I need, which is you. That is the joy into which the Master invites his servants.
For example, to be stewards of pain is to treasure, or "trade," to the point where pain can become compassion and healing, not just for us, but also for other people. If we want to see that sort of thing in operation, the stewardship of pain, using pain for healing of ourselves and others, go attend an open meeting of AA or any of the related groups. That is exactly what people are doing in AA, sharing, trading their hurts, and their experiences and --- for healing.
But this parable is not simply a method for self help. One of the curious facts about each one of us is not what we believe or don't believe about God, but rather what we believe or don't believe about ourselves. The most pervasive tendency of Christians is to be reluctant servants. It is the belief that if God wants something done hopefully God will call on someone more able than me to do it. This parable is a reminder that there is no one else. It is you and me.
When Jesus was tempted by evil early in his ministry in the wilderness, Jesus did not go back to study the Old Testament, or look for someone else from the Bible Study to answer the questions, fearful that he did not have the skills necessary. When Jesus was rejected by his own community he did not conspire with his family and bury the painful rejection. When Jesus faced the most powerful people around, the he did not walk away from conflict and controversy, waiting for a moment when he was stronger. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane facing the certainty of death, Jesus did not abandon what he started.
The cross of Christ reminds us that out of the greatest pain endured in love and faithfulness can come the greatest beauty and our greatest hope. The stewardship of pain could not stay buried; there needs to be resurrection because out of pain comes life otherwise it is like a talent buried. Let us be stewards of all and risk all. To God is the Glory. Amen.
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