Off to Boca!

The Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew, the 25th Chapter

“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘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, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Back in the Gilded Age, up in one of the “cottages” in Stockbridge, there lived two little boys, one a hopeless pessimist and the other, an over-the-top optimist.  The parents consulted a psychiatrist, worried their boys were both too extreme in their outlooks on life.  He suggested they fill one room with beautiful toys and put the pessimist in there and fill the other room with horse manure and put the optimist in there.  Then the parents checked on the kids.  They found the pessimist weeping, “Why are you crying?” the mother asked.  He said, “I just know that as soon as I touch one of these toys it'll break and I’ll be in trouble.”  They then looked in on the optimist.  With a giant grin on his face he was happily shoveling the mound of manure.  “Why are you so happy” asked the father.  He replied, “With all this manure, there’s gotta be a pony in here somewhere!”

A wealthy man entrusted three slaves with his money.  They weren’t asked to just hold it, they were to MANAGE it… like finance people manage a trust fund... and what he entrusted them with wasn’t chump change either.  A talent in today’s money would be about half a million dollars!  So these three were ENTRUSTED with half a million, a million and 2.5 million dollars as the master boarded his plane to Boca for the winter.  When he returned, two slaves had made money, but the third had dug a hole and buried what he had been given, so he wouldn’t lose even a penny.  The master was furious!  

The question is WHY... why was the Master furious?  The Master didn’t lose any money.  While he was on the beach sipping mimosas, he made 3.5 million!  So, why was he so angry?  The answer, I think, would make Wall Street folks pass out in horror.  The answer is... the money didn’t matter!  What this Master cared about, more than all those millions of dollars, was whether his slaves trusted him at his word or not.  When he flew off to Boca, he gave them something infinitely more important to him than his money... he gave them HIS TRUST.  

He TRUSTED them to DO THE WORK that he had done himself while he was around.  He knew the risks!  He understood, “past performance is no guarantee of future returns.”  But what REALLY pleased him wasn’t the money.  It was the relationship!  Those two slaves TRUSTED him at his Word!  They took what they had been given and risked it as the master had entrusted them to do.  Yeah, it turns out they doubled his money and I’m sure he didn’t poo-poo the profits, but for THIS master, making money wasn’t the MOST important thing!  What this master REALLY valued was that when he told them he trusted them... they BELIEVED him and got out there and DID what he had asked them to DO.  

The slave with the one talent… He just didn’t believe.  He thought, “The Master’s lying.  He SAYS he wants me to risk it all, but I know he’s harsh, unfair and cruel and I know I’ll be in hot water if I loose even a penny!”  So that slave chose to act, not out of the TRUST he had been given, but out of some imagined FEAR.  In FEAR he buried that talent to protect what he had been given against the slightest chance that it might one day, for whatever reason, slip away.  

WE, of course, are those slaves and our Master has entrusted us with some work.  What does our Lord require?  To do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.  What does our Lord ask of us?  To GO therefore and MAKE disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and TEACHING them to obey everything that I have commanded you.  

We have the same choice to make as the slaves in this parable.  Will we take the amazing gifts of this congregation… kindness, openness, genuine care for one another, a desire for justice, gifts of welcome and hospitality, a beautiful building and all the rest... will we put them on the line, and DO what our Master has asked us to do, with the same boldness Jesus showed in his life AND in his death?  OR, will we dig a hole and bury what we’ve been given, living in fear of the day it might all just slip away?

It’s the same choice those two Stockbridge brothers had too.  Will we end up wringing our hands at the changing world around us and just weep at what seems like the inevitable loss of all our toys, OR will we have the audacity to put a you-know-what eatin’ grin on our faces, pick up our shovels, stand shoulder to shoulder, and dig into the world out there… which I’ll be the first to admit looks these days a whole lot like a GREAT… BIG… PILE… of…. how about if we just say manure.   

This parable is the Church’s parable for our age… and not just Christ Trinity’s parable, but it’s THE parable of the WHOLE Church in our time.  Some congregations will face their future by digging a hole, putting into it all they have left and pulling the dirt in on top of themselves.  THIS, I am happy to say, is not a congregation like that!  This is the sort of congregation that take’s God at God’s Word… is ready to do our best, to do God’s business here in the Berkshires.  To me it’s clear, this congregation is ready to start digging, confident that somewhere buried in that great big pile of demographic shift out there… there is ABSOLUTELY a pony in there for us to find!  

You see, I think when we trust our Master is as Good as his Word... when we refuse to bury even a little bit of we’ve been given out of FEAR and INSTEAD decide to boldly and creatively dig with the amazing tools we’ve been given, deeper and DEEPER into that pile... I am convinced we WILL find that God has placed not just one pony in that pile… but a whole HERD of ponies so numerous that we’ll all be able to ride into a future full of abundant life and light!  AMEN!