Behold! The Turtle!
Matthew 25:14-30
When Diane and I began seriously dating, I ran across a book one day entitled, The Two Sides of Love.[1] The book is one of those introspective relationship books that’s supposed to help you have a balanced love with your spouse. The book uses characteristics of four different animals and asks you, “Which kind of animal are you most like in your loving?” There’s the lion – who is a leader, not afraid of making decisions, and wants immediate closure. There’s the beaver – who is careful, reads instruction books, wants to do things right, and can be focused on the past. There’s the otter – who wants to have fun, can motivate others, ignores the fine print, and will avoid confrontation at all costs. And finally the golden retriever – who is tremendously loyal, longs for deep and close relationships, wants to please others, and can be very stubborn when they feel they’re right.
I thought it would be fun to go through the book together and discover which kind of animal we were! Diane reluctantly agreed to do this with me and I guess I should have trusted her instincts because our dissecting, evaluating, and probing darned near killed off our relationship! I don’t remember which “animals” we thought we were but I still have the book on my shelf…though I’ve wiped away most of the blood from that experience. I don’t think it was the book’s fault that it was not a great experience; it was more my implementation of the concept that failed.
Since I’m not always the sharpest pencil in the box I thought I’d take another run at animal-likeness-application…only this time do it with you folks instead of my wife because with you folks, it probably won’t destroy my marriage (little joke there). Anyway, as I was thinking about this text for today, this question popped up in my mind, “If Cane Creek was an animal, what kind of animal would we be?” Are we courageous like a lion? Fast moving like a deer? Stubborn and set in our ways like a mule? Curious like a raccoon? Affectionate like a loyal old dog? Are we like pigeons sitting on a wire up above the parking lot – always dropping “stuff” on those beneath us? I probably better stop there because our minds are going in lots of different directions. If this church were an animal, what kind of animal would we be?
This question is an identity question. Who are we, as a church, and what kind of stewards are we with what God has entrusted to us? Now in your minds, some of you have already jumped to money with what I’ve just said. We hear the word, “stewards,” and immediately our minds go to the offering plates. After all, this is stewardship season in the Church. All over churches are trying to meet their current budgets and figuring out next year’s. But our text is about much more than money. Money is simply the vehicle in the text. But it’s not the big idea of the parable Jesus told.
Matthew’s Gospel was written to a church waiting for Jesus to return.[2] The past several weeks our texts have been focusing on Christ’s return. Church people at the end of the 1st century were expectant. They were longing for Christ’s return. And I think Matthew includes this parable in his Gospel because church folk at the end of the 1st century needed to gauge where they were, and where they were going in the future, because no one knew just how long it might be until Christ returned. We still don’t.
This is still a good question for the Church in any age – where are we and where are we going? To stick with the metaphorical question I asked at the outset, Matthew uses this parable to prod people to ask, “What kind of animal are we as a church?” The servants in the parable illustrate people who seize opportunities while they wait for Jesus’ return…and also people who let opportunities pass.
So what about this parable? One feature of parables that makes them so attractive is that they force us to decide. Parables are not just warm, entertaining stories, but they are, in the words of A.M. Hunter, “instruments of controversy.”[3] They challenge the listener to choose which side of Jesus you’re going to be on – are you with him or not?[4] If you listen carefully to this parable, you’re not allowed to just sit on the sidelines, are you? We’re drawn in and this parable calls us to wake up and choose what kind of follower of Jesus we are and want to be?
In the parable, a businessman goes away on a trip and leaves his employees in charge of his fortune. The text uses the word, “talents” to describe this fortune. Most of the time when we read this passage and come to the word, “talent,” we get sidetracked. We think of ability, skills, and what we can do in exceptional ways. That’s not the Greek idea of talanta at all. We should translate this word into something like, “…a huge bucket of solid gold…” or “…winning the multi-state lottery five times over.” The talanta in Jesus’ day was the largest denomination of currency in the 1st century world. Each talanta was worth about 6,000 denarii, which would be more than what an average worker would earn in their whole lifetime combined…and then some! A talanta was almost an incalculable amount.[5] So these employees were left with huge amounts of money to invest with an expectation that they would increase what has been entrusted to them.
One thing we have to figure out from this parable is: what is our talent? Remember, we’re not talking about abilities here or how well we can sing, dance, hit a baseball, or drive a nail. And we’re not even talking about meeting the church budget. So what’s the fortune God has given to us? I believe we should think of the “talents” here in this parable as the huge love of God, the enormous supply of grace God gives, the complete forgiveness we’re offered, and the rich blessings from God. Basically, we’re talking about the wealth of the Gospel. If that’s what the “talents” are in this parable, then what are we doing with God’s riches in our lives…and in this church?
In the parable, each employee, or servant handles what he’s been given differently. The first employee had a 100% return on what was given him. If we’re talking about God’s riches, then this servant shared God’s riches and this sharing was blessed. The second employee doubled his share too, though it was a far lesser amount. And the third employee didn’t do a thing but bury it in the yard. The focus of this parable is on the last employee[6] and this guy reasoned that it’s better to keep what you have than to try for more and risk losing it all.[7]
Here’s where, if we’ve been critical of the last servant, that the chicken comes home to roost, if you will. How many of us in the church have the mentality that it’s better to preserve what we have than risk it all? It’s better to keep the members we have than risk losing some with a venturesome idea. It’s better to do something we know will work then risk doing something we fear might fail. I’m not sure what kind of animal this would make us but I believe this mentality is common in churches of all sizes and in all locations. I understand this mentality and it’s my own natural inclination. The safe way is what I almost always choose. But I have to ask myself: Does God want me to hoard his love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness? Are we to always choose the sure thing, the easy thing, the safe thing in life?
It seems to me as I study the Bible, and the ways of faith, that there’s no responsible use of God’s blessing that doesn’t involve risk.[8] We never grow as individuals or a church unless we cross the safe boundaries and become vulnerable to failure, rejection, and loss. You won’t learn to ride a bike unless you’re willing to fall down a few times and maybe risk being laughed at by those who can already ride bikes. Bernard of Clairvaux observed that people who do not progress in the spiritual life, regress. There is no standing still.[9] You have to risk something. Are we risk takers?
The parable of the talents confronts the church of the twenty-first century, as it confronted the church of the first century, with a critical choice. How will we use our vast resources? How will we treat God’s gift of mercy and grace? Will we continually focus on our own security and build walls of protection where only those of us on the inside can enjoy the benefits? Jesus said that those who seek to save their lives will lose them[10] so we’d better be careful here. Or will we take the treasure of the Gospel out into our neighborhoods, and into our relationships with others? Will we invest it and risk it and then let God handle the outcome? The church is never at greater risk than when it tries to protect itself. Ironically, the church is never safer than when it’s risking everything.[11]
So what kind of animal should we consider being as the church…as church people? We might build up our egos more if we thought of ourselves as a leaping gazelle or a courageous lion. When the kids and I play on the floor and pretend we’re animals, we almost always choose the most powerful, fastest, or largest ones. But most churches I’ve ever been part of don’t seem that powerful, don’t move that fast, have not been that big, and we’ve certainly not always been that courageous. Maybe that’s a good thing we’ve not been than courageous because it has kept us dependent on Jesus. If we’re realistic, I think the most appropriate animal for us to be like might be the turtle. Yes, the turtle! Behold the turtle![12]
Have you ever watched a turtle go somewhere? For a turtle to move, it has to stick it’s neck out and become vulnerable. It has to risk. I’ve never seen a turtle move by staying within its shell. I’ve also never seen a turtle move exceptionally fast either. Perhaps this is an animal that churches…and church people…would do well to remember. Realistically, most churches don’t move very fast. Some of us wish we’d never move. Some of us get frustrated because we don’t move fast enough. Realistically, the turtle’s pace might be the pace churches move. But the key here is movement! We have to stick our necks out! We have to risk and become less safe with God’s riches!
I’d like to challenge you to stick your neck out in this way, fellow turtles. I want each of you to think of 2 people you know that don’t have a church home, that don’t know about God’s immense riches of grace, love, and forgiveness. And I want you to risk sharing your faith, and your life, with those two people. It may not happen fast. In fact it probably won’t. But we each need to hear the Gospel imperative from this parable today. We are to share God’s riches. We are to invest ourselves in the lives of others and trust God for the results. If we each would commit to doing that, faith tells me that God would bless this investment exponentially.
So let’s move out turtles! Let’s stick our necks out! Let’s share God’s wealth of love and grace with those who don’t know the riches the way we do.
Amen.
[1] Gary Smalley & John Trent, The Two Sides of Love (Pamona, CA: Focus on the Family Publishing, 1990).
[2] See E. Carson Brisson’s article, “Between Text and Sermon: Matthew 25:14-30,” Interpretation, July 2002, Volume 56, Number 3, p. 307.
[3] Archibald M. Hunter and Joachim Jeremias, Rediscovering the Parables (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1966), p. 15.
[4] Carolyn Dipboye, “Matthew 25:14-30 – To Survive or To Serve?” Review and Expositor, Volume 95, Fall 1995, p. 508.
[5] Some of this exposition of the Greek word, talanta, comes from work done by James Howell in “Trojan Horse,” Living By the Word, The Christian Century, November 1, 2005, p. 19.
[6] For Jesus’ hearers, the servant who didn’t do
anything with the talent was undoubtedly the religious establishment. We don’t know whether they were scribes or
Pharisees. See Matthew 21:45-46. The religious leaders had hoarded the
treasure of God’s mercy and Jesus didn’t want that pattern repeated in his
followers.
[7] David C. Steinmetz, “Title Enrichment,” Interpretation, Volume 34, April 1980, p. 173.
[8] David C. Steinmetz, “Title Enrichment,” Interpretation, Volume 34, April 1980, p. 175.
[9] David C. Steinmetz, “Title Enrichment,” Interpretation, Volume 34, April 1980, p. 175.
[10] See Matthew 16:25.
[11] Some of the hermeneutical applications I’m using in this section come from Carolyn Dipboye, “Matthew 25:14-30 – To Survive or To Serve?” Review and Expositor, Volume 95, Fall 1995, pp. 510-511.
[12] The central metaphor of this sermon comes from a quote I read in an article entitled, “The Long Tail,” Homiletics, Volume 17, Number 6, November-December 2005, p. 28.