Jeremy Duncan: This is a parable about the cost of doing the right thing and the judgment that comes with that. And the hard truth is sometimes that means there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And it's not because you failed, it's because you held fast to the way of peace. We are still under the banner of judgment. And I think one of my biggest hopes in this series is that we can help to reframe these conversations for each other.
Jesus is not telling these stories to convince us that God is out to get us. In fact, when we look closely and when we sidestep some of the bias that maybe we come to these stories with, I think what we actually find is that Jesus is telling these stories to remind us that God is on our side. The thing is, part of being on our side also means sometimes warning us away from the paths that will lead us to places we don't want to go. One of my guiding presuppositions in reading scripture is that I'm a pretty good parent, or at the very least, a parent who's doing their best most of the time. And so when I read scripture, I come with the trust that God is at least as good a father as I am.
If not, why am I wasting my time pursuing the divine? And so when I stand in judgment of my kids, my hope is that that is only ever to guide them, to shape them, to help them reach their imagination for who they want to become. Now unfortunately, that's not always true. My judgment calls often fall short of those ideals. Rachel, just this week, had to gently remind me to ease up on my tone as I talked with my son with a little more edge than I perhaps intended.
But I think that's the very point of believing in God, to trust in the perfect expression of love, even in judgment. And so last week we read a story of judgment against our ability to be ready enough for God. 10 guests, 10 virgins invited to a wedding party. 5 of them plan ahead, bring a little extra oil. 5 of them bring just what they think they will need to last until the time is right.
But when the bridegroom shows up and the foolish virgins have no oil for their lamps, they end up missing the party. And the simple surface reading of the parable seems to be, see, you need to plan ahead, and you need to work hard, and you need to always keep a little more effort left in reserve for God. The twist in the story though comes when you realize that actually all the guests, the wise and the foolish, they all fell asleep. All their lamps burnt out. Everyone missed the bridegroom's arrival.
And once you understand that, the parable takes on a very different character. The disciples ask Jesus, how can we know? How will we figure it out? When will you be back? And Jesus says, you can't.
The wise guests aren't the ones who got it right. The wise guests are the ones who planned for their own foolishness, those who knew they would miss it. And they trusted only that Jesus would be there to wake them up and bring them in when the party arrived. All that story reminds me of this line from 1st Corinthians. Paul says, Don't fool yourselves.
Whoever thinks they're wise should be a fool, because that's the only way you can really ever be wise. And here, Jesus seems to be saying something similar. Forget trying to time it. Forget trying to figure it out. Instead, just trust me to get you home.
Because the party was only ever grace to begin with. Now today, we're staying in Matthew 25 as Jesus plows right into another parable about the end of the age. But there are some fascinating things happening in this story and in the parallel that we find in Luke. So we're going to look at both versions today. But first, let's pray.
God of infinite grace, would you remind us today that the test of our lives is not in our ability to figure you out, or to place you on a calendar, to delineate your timing and your choices and your posture toward us, but instead simply to learn how to trust well, how to trust in our own foolishness, and ultimately, how to trust in your grace toward us. And so if we can let go of our attempts to control or box you in, even manipulate you into our timing, and instead embrace the journey of faith for what it is, a confusing, doubt filled mess of humanity invited toward the Divine, then we might actually find that Your grace has always been enough for us. When we are foolish, perhaps even more important when we imagine we are wise, will we learn what it means to turn our trust back to you? And when we fall asleep even for a moment and we miss your arrival, might we trust that you awake us and shake us and inspire us to begin our movement back toward you all over again. In the strong name of the risen Christ we pray.
Amen. Alright. A lot of work ahead of us today because we have a question about timing, a hard man, a small man, and a difficult choice ahead. But last week, we left off with a parable that ended in Matthew 25 verse 13. And so I figure, why don't we pick up today in verse 14, where we read, again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.
Now, we're just getting started here, but we've already got to stop and talk about something. Because in a lot of Jesus' parables, he will start by saying something like the kingdom of God is like. We saw that last week. Right? At that time, the kingdom of God will be like.
That's important because it helps us as readers understand what Jesus is talking about. The kingdom, the divine imagination set loose in the world. Here, however, there is a question. Because Jesus does not say that this story is about the kingdom, he uses the phrase, 'hospergar.' And that means something like, 'for just as then.' Or as the NIV translates it, 'again.' That's pretty good, because the phrase is meant to connect the story to come to what has preceded it. So here's a new image to consider, just as then.
The thing is, just as then is a pretty loose all purpose connection. Right? And so part of what we have to wrestle with today is whether the again is a connection to Jesus' imagination of the Kingdom, like the previous parable was, or whether the again is a connection to the at that time, which was actually the larger question Jesus was answering about when the end of the age will come. And scholars debate this. But I would say that consensus and my opinion personally is that Jesus is linking this parable not to God's kingdom, but to the larger question of the whole passage, what will the end of the age be like?
That's part of why we spent the whole opening of the sermon last week establishing the context from chapter 24. The disciples are asking Jesus a question. Jesus is answering them. And that's important because it sets the stage for all of these parables in chapter 25. But that means that this story is not a story about the Kingdom of God.
It's a story about how things will end. So let's keep that in mind, and let's keep reading. Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one, he gave 5 bags of gold, to another 2, and to another one, Each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.
The man who had received 5 bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained 5 more. So also the one with 2 bags of gold, he gained 2 more. But the man who had received just one bag went, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master's money. After a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received 5 bags of gold brought the other 5.
Master, he said, you entrusted me with 5 bags of gold. See, here's 5 more. And his master replied, good, well done, faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things. I'll put you in charge of many.
Come and share your master's happiness. Then the man with 2 bags came also. Master, same thing. You gave me 2. Here's 2 more.
And the master replied, well done, good and faithful servant. As you have been faithful with a few, I will put you in charge of many. Come and share your master's happiness. But then the man who had received one bag of gold came. Master, he said, I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown, gathering where you have not scattered seed.
And I was afraid, and so I went and I hid your gold in the ground. See, here is everything that belongs to you. Now, let's pause here. We're going to get to the big finale in just a second, but we've got to talk about this. Right?
I know you're a hard man, harvesting what you have not sown, gathering where you have not scattered. I was afraid, and I went and hid. Set aside your assumption for a minute here, and perhaps what you've heard of this parable in the past, let me ask you an honest question. Is Jesus talking about God here? The same God that Jesus describes as causing the sun to rise on the righteous and the evil, who sends rain on the good and the unjust, Matthew 5:44?
The same God that Jesus describes as scattering seed on the path and on the rocky soil, on the shallow and good soil alike? Matthew 13:9. I think you've got 2 maybe not great options here. Either Jesus is not describing God at all. Or maybe Jesus is describing a servant who does not understand God at all.
And my problem with the second option is that this servant's fears about his master are well, like immediately born out. Next verse. His master replied, you wicked lazy servant. So you knew that I harvest what I have not sown? That I gather what I have not scattered?
Notice here, this character doesn't dispute any of the allegations against him. He just rips into his servant. And he continues, well, then you should have at least put my money on deposit with the banker so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. By the way, you know what's illegal in Judaism, assuming we're talking about Jewish characters here? Charging interest on money that's loaned to someone else.
This character looks less and less like God to me as this story unfolds. But He continues, take that bag of gold from Him and give it to the one who has 10. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance, but whoever does not, even what little they do have, I will take it from them. And throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In other words, this guy, this wealthy master is exactly who his fearful servant thought he was.
A hard man who harvests what he has not sown, who gathers what he has not scattered, who casts people out for not making him richer than he already is. And that makes this an incredibly hard parable to make sense of. So let's start by looking at some details here. Let's start with these bags of gold. If you have ever read this story from an older translation, say, the King James, you may remember a reference to your talents here.
That is a transliteration of the original word that is used in the text, which is Talanton. Now, Talanton is not a reference to your talents or your skills or even your TikTok TOK worthy expertise. For example, my son desperately wanted to show me and wanted me to film how quickly he could eat a hot dog last week. For the record, you don't want to see that either. That is neither a talent nor a Talanton, because a Talanton is a measure of currency, or more specifically, a measure of weight.
In fact, it was an incredibly large measure of currency. One Talanton is about 36 kilos, which measured out into about 6,000 silver denare, which were the standard day wage at the time, which meant that each bag of gold in this story represents approximately 16 years of wages for the average person listening. So right from the start, we should realize this is an absurd amount of money. And just like most of the stories we've seen in this series, the stakes are meant to take us out of the ordinary, reasonable, everyday world we live in and to elevate us into a hyperbolic representation of the world around us. These bags of gold are a reminder to take the story seriously, but not to get caught up in taking it literally.
That's important when you're reading parables. However, what this is is a story about money and how we use it. And the standard reading of the parable is, at least here in Matthew, is that you're supposed to use the money that's given to you in wise ways. Maximize the return on investment. Take what you've been given and turn it into more.
And I happen to think there's a lot of truth to that, particularly those of us who live in the West, Those who have been given, just like the characters in this story, vast amounts of wealth based on almost nothing but our position in the larger story of the world. Personally, I do think we have a responsibility to use all of our wealth well, and not just in ways that benefit us, but in ways that contribute to God's ultimate agenda for the world. That you and I would work to return to God more goodness than even the grace that God has showered on us. If that's what we take from this parable, then honestly, I think we've read it well. Notice here, there's nothing in the story about acquiring more for yourself.
None of them servants in the story end up with anything. They all return all of it to their master. So this is not a story about your bank balance. It's about God's. And yet, what do we do with the end of the story?
The part where this hard man, this unjust master, praises the one who brings back obscene wealth and casts the one who brings back only what is owed to the master into darkness. That doesn't feel divine. Does it? And this is where I think jumping to Luke can be helpful. Because one of the things that we know about Matthew as a gospel is that the writer likes to group together teachings of Jesus thematically.
For example, he gathers together a lot of the common sense teachings of Jesus and places them in a single sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 to 7. And He gathers up another set of parables about the kingdom, and He lumps them together in another sermon in Matthew 13, the sermon by the sea. In Matthew 24 and 25, He groups together another set of parables. This time all about judgment and the end of the age, and He puts them together so that they can help to interpret each other. That's actually really helpful for us as readers.
In fact, it's very likely that Jesus, as a traveling itinerant preacher would have told the same stories and preached the same lessons over and over again, multiple times across various audiences. Therefore, it's likely even that these words and these tales would have been heard in multiple, perhaps even disparate contexts across Jesus' ministry. What's interesting here though is that Luke gives us what is very likely the original context for this parable. And we tend to think that because in Luke, the parable is tied to a specific encounter that Jesus is responding to, rather than just mixed in with other stories. And so this is Luke 19 verse 1.
And you might recognize this story as I read it. Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. But a man was there by the name of Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was quite wealthy. He wanted to see Jesus, but because he was short, he could not see over the crowd.
And just a little detour here. For fun, you may have heard this story. You may have even sung this song as a child, and you may have assumed all your life that Luke is telling you that Zacchaeus was a tiny little man. The text here though is incredibly ambiguous. It could be that Zacchaeus wanted to see who Jesus was, but because Zacchaeus was short, he could not see over the crowd.
It could also be that Zacchaeus wanted to see who Jesus was, but because Jesus was short, he could not see over the crowd. We actually don't know which one Luke intended. And in fact, we have writings from church fathers that actually assumed it was the latter. We stan a short king. Jesus was too short to be seen over the crowd.
Either way, let's keep reading here. Verse 4. So Zacchaeus ran ahead and climbed a tree to see Him since Jesus was coming that way. And when Jesus reached that spot, He looked up and He said, Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.
So come down, and he welcomed him gladly. Now all the people saw this, and they began to mutter and grumble to themselves, he has gone to be the guest of a sinner. But Zakiya stood up in front of everyone and said, look, Lord, here and now, I give half my possessions to the poor. And if I've cheated anyone here out of anything, I will pay that back 4 times over. And Jesus said to him, today, salvation has come to this house because this man too is a son of Abraham, and the son of man has come to save and seek the lost like him.
And so while they were listening to this, He went on to tell them a parable. Because He was near Jerusalem and the people thought the kingdom of God was going to appear any time. Now notice this, this parable is about the timing of God's kingdom. Makes a lot of sense why Matthew places it where he does. Right?
In a collection of parables about the end of the age. Right? But listen to the start of the same parable in Luke. He said, a man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then return. And he called 10 of his servants, and he gave them 10 minas.
Put this money to work, he said, until I come back. Minas are another measure of currency, technically, like Talanton, a measure of weight, a very large amount, this time a much more reasonable amount. One talent equals about 60 minas. But listen to this. His subjects hated him.
And they sent a delegation after him. We do not want this man to be our king. Still, He was made king and returned home, and He sent for the servants He had given His money in order to find out what they had gained with it. And from there, the story unfolds basically the same way it did in Matthew. The servants bring back their money.
Those who double it are praised. But the one who brings back only what the master gave him is punished and cast out. But notice here where Matthew perhaps hints at the idea that maybe the master in this story does not represent God. He's a hard man who reaps what he has not sown. I'm going to argue, there's very little confusion here in Luke.
Right? This man is hated by his subjects. He's an illegitimate king who's appointed over them. There's nothing in this story that makes me think this character is a stand in for God. And in fact, looking at the context of Jesus' conversation with Zacchaeus, I would argue this character is a stand in for the Roman Empire.
I mean, think about it. Zacchaeus is a Jewish man that works for Rome. He's a tax collector. That means his job is to extract the taxes from his people that are owed to a king the people despise. And often how this worked in Rome is that Rome would make a tax assessment of an area, and then they would sell that contract to a collector.
Zaccheus, in this story, is an Architelonus. That means that he would bid on these contracts with Rome. And then he would oversee a staff of collectors whose job was to extract whatever resources they could, from which Zaccheus would remit Rome's assessed value back to the capital. The scam being that whatever excess value he could extract from the people, that was his pay. That could be used to bribe the next contract with Rome or pocketed by his collectors under the supervision of someone like Zaccheus.
That's why Zaccheus says, look, if I've cheated anyone, I will return it 4 times over. The people resent him, not just because they don't like paying taxes, although that's probably a big part of it. They saw Rome as an occupying force, a king imposed on them just like in Jesus' story. But the real reason they resent Zacchaeus in particular was because by His own admission He's been skimming off the top overcharging His own people who were already suffering under the oppressive taxation of Rome. That's who Jesus goes to dinner with.
That's why the crowd is so enraged by the invitation. That's why the crowd is understandably pretty skeptical when Zacchaeus in front of Jesus promises to change His ways. And so Jesus, being Jesus, decides to tell a story. Friends, don't discount what Zacchaeus is promising. Zacchaeus, don't underestimate the consequence of what you're saying.
It will be like this. You will go back to your foreign king with only what is owed to him and it will not go well for you. The expectation in an unjust system is not justice, it is the status quo. And Zacchaeus, if your commitment is really to change that, well then you better understand the consequence of that choice. Is that really the path you want to go down?
See, essentially as I read it, this parable is Jesus saying, Zikis, I love what I'm hearing, but I see why your neighbors are skeptical. Do you really know what you're promising right now? Because it's not just restitution for what you stole, it's exclusion from the system that has afforded you all the privilege and the wealth that you've enjoyed for so long. See, this isn't a parable about the Kingdom. Jesus never says it is.
This isn't a parable about God's judgment. Jesus never implies that. This is a parable about the judgment, the cost of doing what's right. And the hard truth is sometimes that means there will be weeping and gnashing and teeth in your life, and it's not because you failed. It's because you held fast to the way of peace.
And you need to know this pain, suffering, consequence, even rejection, that's not necessarily because you failed God. Any gospel that tries to convince you the way of Jesus will always be easy is sadly a lie, because here's the truth. Healthy, honest relationships are hard. Maintaining a good and a just relationship to wealth, particularly when you are wealthy, is hard. Living at peace in a world that wants to shape your imagination with violence is hard.
Turning toward your neighbors when we are constantly told it's us and them is hard. Trusting that you won't get it right, but all you can do is count on Jesus to wake you up when the time comes, that's hard. But that's the point. Because the way is narrow and few of us find it and when we do, it leads us back to new life. And so at the end in Matthew, when Jesus tells the story again, this time to His disciples who ask what it will be like at the end of the age, the point of that story there is a callback to this story here.
Jesus is saying to His friends, Guys, do you remember what I said to Zacchaeus? Because someday each of you are going to stare down that same choice, and you're going to have to decide what you're willing to lose to stick with me. And it won't be easy, and it won't be nice, and at some point you will face the very harsh judgment of those around you if you do. All I can promise is that you will always be welcome at my table, just like Zacchaeus was. You see, once again, this story is not what we thought it was.
It's not a story judging our ability to do enough or return to God enough to warrant God's welcome. It is the reverse. It's the invitation to a new way forward, trusting that the narrow path gets us home even when we don't deserve it. Let's pray. God, for all the times that we have chosen the wide road in front of us and the praise of others, the admiration of our bosses, the accumulation of more of what we've been told to acquire.
And in that, we've rejected the narrow way, the way of justice, the way of standing up for our neighbors, the way of protecting each other. God, we helped. We ask for your help to reinvent our imagination of what if possible in these moments, that judgment is not necessarily a bad thing, certainly not the judgment from you that redirects us, but even sometimes the harsh criticism of those around us who look at our choices and don't understand why. But if we can align our steps with you, with the grace and the peace, the path of doing what is right even at a cost, then might we come to trust that your spirit will be with us and new life will bubble up inside of us. In the strong name of the risen Christ, we pray.
Amen. Hey. Jeremy here, and thanks for listening to our podcast. If you're intrigued by the work that we're doing here at commons, you can head to our website commons.church for more information. You can find us on all of the socials at commonschurch.
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Have a great week. We'll talk to you soon.