THE KEY TO LIFE: RISK!

(Preached on Sunday, November 13, 2005)

“...so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.  Here you have what it yours.”                                                 -Matthew 25:25

 

On the surface, this certainly seems to be an easy story for us to understand.  It is about investments and high yields.

Those who play the stock market will immediately recognize the value of risk and high reward.

Also readily understandable is the slave who is fearful of the market.  There are many stories from Wall Street that prove how prudent the fearful or cautious approach can be.

Certainly we can relate to this parable.

In fact, this parable is reenacted weekly on our television sets: by Donald Trump on “The Apprentice.”  After all, what does the Donald do each week but give some of his resources to guest servants, who slave away for him for the promise of securing a high-paying, one year job.  At the end of each show there is a reckoning, and accounting for what they have accomplished.

Invariably it is usually the person or persons who have taken the biggest risks that are retained, and the person who has tended to play it safe who hears those two awful words: “You’re fired!”

 

Sure, we get it.

But do we?

Is this really a story Jesus would tell?  Jesus, the great teacher of God’s unconditional love and mind-blowing grace.  How does this story fit in with what we know of his teaching and his life?

It seems full of judgment, and conditional love, and performance, and success, and testing and measuring up.  It seems perilously close to affirming works righteousness and the place for good works.

What is going on here?

 

There are several elements of this story we too often ignore.

First, the morals of this master: he condones usury, that is, the ancient term for charging interest on money lent.

A first rate no-no with God’s law as any good Jew knew.

Second, his treatment of the third servant is terrible.

Not only does he seem extremely harsh, but he punishes the man for doing a very acceptable thing with the money according to Jewish law of the day, which read: “Whoever immediately buries property entrusted to him is no longer liable because he has taken the safest course conceivable.”

The third servant has followed the letter of the law.

He has acted responsibly.  Yet the master seems not at all impressed with his responsibility and shrewdness.

Perhaps this master is not really a stand-in for God.

 

We also tend to ignore, or forget, the beginning of the story.

Jesus told the story as an illustration of the Kingdom of Heaven — of life in God’s realm, God’s corporation.

This is not about salvation or eternity or grace.  It is about life.

The other element we overlook is the master’s initial action.

“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them.”  The suggestion is that between the three servants the man has left all his property.

And then he goes away.  Talk about risk.

 

Remember, Jesus told this story toward the end of Matthew’s Gospel.

In just a couple of chapters, you know where this story will end; at the cross.  On the way to the cross, Jesus tells a story about a Master who called in his servants and gave them everything he had.  Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, to give away everything he’s got.

Maybe the Master does bear a resemblance to God. He takes a huge risk placing servants in charge of his property, and he gives them all of it.

The God of the Bible is into taking risks.

This Master in the story really trusts his servants.

It is entirely up to the servants to succeed or fail.

A very high risk strategy indeed!  But isn’t that just like God!

What has God done but placed everything into our hands?

 

In commenting on the fourth petition of the Prayer of Jesus (“Give us this day our daily bread”), Martin Luther defines God’s gifts as “everything our bodies need such as food, clothing, home, money, property, a devoted family upright and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, honor, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.”  In other words, God has given us Life!

The value of these things is incalculable.  Add to them our various talents, that is, our skills, capacities, abilities, passions, and spiritual gifts, and you have a level of graciousness that is beyond understanding.

God is truly good to us.

 

And all of this is placed into our hands for us to do with as we see fit.  What are we to do with them?  The parable suggests we can invest our treasures, our lives, for God’s sake, or we can play it safe, hoard and protect our lives, so nothing bad happens to us.

It has been suggested that the only difference between a deep rut and a grave is about five feet. In other words, one can die long before one dies.

The difference is alertness and full use of one’s gifts and faculties. 

That study I mentioned last week in the National Geographic about the three populations that live longer than average lives mentioned that two of the key traits that all three groups share in common are: 1. Be active every day and 2. Keep socially engaged.

So it really is true that the key to life is risk.

 

Now I don’t know about you, but I have trouble with that.  I struggle mightily with that tension between playing it safe or taking a risk.

I tend to be a cautious person.  I have to think everything out in great detail before taking any action.  I have to try to prepare for every contingency and make sure I have thought about all the pros and cons to be sure I am making the best choice and taking the right action.

The result may have been far too often that I have shut things down, smothered great opportunities.

 

Christopher Reeve, in a speech given in the spring of 2004, shared that the greatest lesson of his life after his accident that left him paralyzed below his shoulders, was the ability to live a fearless life.

“For many of us,” he shared, “the source of our fear is the loss of control.  But the more we try to control what happens to us, the greater our fear that we’re no longer empowered, that there’s no safety net, and that dangerous, unexpected things may happen.  Ironically, the act of trying to control what happens is what actually robs us of great experiences and diminishes us.”

He illustrated this learning not only from his own experience but also from what he discovered about scientists.  “The biggest problem in science right now is that researchers are afraid because they don’t want to fail.  Why?  Because if they fail, they might not get a grant and their livelihood is at stake.  So they say, Okay, another experiment.  They say, Let’s try this again, and try it again.  Meanwhile, there are hundreds of thousands of people with spinal cord injuries and millions of others with diseases and disabilities who are waiting until scientists and doctors get over their fear.”